3. Why are there so many snakes in the Interlake area?

Snakes, like all other kinds of wildlife, need food, water and shelter to survive and produce young. While food and water are plentiful in Manitoba's Interlake region, and other parts of the province, it's the availability of winter dens in limestone bedrock that make this area an ideal home for red-sided garter snakes. It's only by amassing below the frost line that snakes are able to survive Manitoba winters. The dens themselves, a network of crevasses and caverns extending to the earth's surface, were formed by underground water that eroded and collapsed the limestone.