People in Dartmouth are being told to be on the lookout for a big, black snake.

Halifax Regional Police issued an advisory Friday after a man reported he was bitten on the toe while walking on a path in a wooded area near Fenwick Street in Dartmouth earlier this week.

The man described the snake as being 28 centimetres long and black. He was checked over at the hospital after suffering some effects from the bite.

Andrew Hebda, zoology curator with the Nova Scotia Museum, said it may have been a garter snake. Although they are rare, sightings are not unheard of.
 
"Although we only have five snakes in Nova Scotia, one of them is very variable in colour. The report we had heard was that it was a snake that was quite dark and perhaps some diamond shape patterns on its back," he said.

"One of the snakes that is extremely variable like that is, of course, the Maritime garter snake that can be anything from bluish checker board colour to jet black."

Garter snakes are not venomous, he said, but a bite could cause some people to suffer a reaction to the snake's saliva.

People should be cautious around garter snakes, Hebda said.

"If provoked they can be quite aggressive and, as a matter of fact, they've been known to give the odd nip to the individual trying to handle it," he said.

"Anybody encountering any type of wildlife should treat it like wildlife."

Hebda said if you don't know what an animal is or how to handle it, it's best to call in the provincial Natural Resources Department or municipal animal control officers.

Animal control officers searched the Fenwick Street area on Thursday and Friday, but found nothing.