Buck! (and possibly future additions)

[Buck]

It has been suggested to me that I could dedicate a thread to my snake(s). So here it is!

Buck is ?his? name! I've had him for about a week now and he's eaten just a single guppy so far. He's a Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi (Valley Garter). I'm thinking about breeding guppies, as the local pet store has no true feeder guppies and charge $5 for each one.

Right now his tank is pretty basic, a little bit wider and deeper than his length. There's a large water dish, a tall, circular piece of driftwood, and a small hide. I plan on improving his tank and maybe even getting him a buddy very soon. Anyways, I'll stop talking, here's more pictures of the one and only: Buck! XD

71027103710471057106

[guidofatherof5]

Buck is looking good.

[Lisa4john]

I really like his bright yellow color. Nice looking snake friend. :)

[ProXimuS]

Buck is very pretty:)

[Buck]

Thank you all! :) I'm just wondering, I'm not 100% positive he's actually a male - Is there a way any of you guys could help me sex 'him'? The reasons I'm led to believe he in fact is a male are: he's active, he's thin, his tail doesn't taper too abruptly, and he's small (although he's certainly not done growing...)

[Light of Dae]

Post a couple pictures showing his vent n tail, the straighter the better, underside is best as well.

Very beautiful snake

[katach]

You could post a pic of the underside of his tail, where the vent is. That should help us.

[ProXimuS]

Here is a thread to show what type of pics to post: http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/breeding/5069-sexing-pics.html

[guidofatherof5]

Here's a link to a thread that will help you sex the snake yourself or show you the kind of photos to post so we can lend a hand.
http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/breeding/5069-sexing-pics.html

[Buck]

He's not cooperating very much, but I got a few okay pictures. :)
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[guidofatherof5]

She's not cooperating.:D

[katach]

My guess would be female.

[RedSidedSPR]

Obviously female.

I could be wrong, but that's my story and I'm stickin to it :p

[Light of Dae]

I think "buck" maybe more of a "Rudy or Ellie" We'll let other comment on that though.

[Buck]

lol XD well... it seems I have a little girl! :D I'm not quite sure if changing her name would be appropriate though, considering I've already named her "Buck" in several posts. I was considering the name Rudy before I settled for Buck though... Oopsy!

[ssssnakeluvr]

valleys are awesome garters! in the wild they feed mainly on frogs... lots of them will eat worms... chopped worms are good to mix pinkies or pinky parts in =) I also use chopped tilapia with mine, lot cheaper than feeder fish!

[i_heart_sneakie_snakes]

She is lovely!! I love my valleys and they love live fish :)

[Buck]

Thank-you for that tip :) While I'm at it, here are more pictures XD

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[ProXimuS]

I would think female in some pics....But not too sure. Cute nonetheless:)

[-MARWOLAETH-]

I really like her colour scheme. Good looking fitchii:D

[snake man]

Nice looking snake.

[Buck]

I'm beginning to obsess over taking pictures of Buck! Her name doesn't really suit a her....
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[guidofatherof5]

I like your obsess.;)

[Lisa4john]

How about Bonnie? Or just B, she is yellow and black...? Then "Buck" would just be the full name, B for short. :D

[Buck]

B might work out after all XD Thanks Lisa

[Lisa4john]

Sure thing, glad I could be of assistance. :D

[Kantar]

like Smurfs and Smurfette, you can rename your snake Bucket :D

[Buck]

Me: "Hi Bucket, how are you?"
Buck: *stares like I'm a freak*
Me: "What??"

lol XD perfect

[Lisa4john]

Wouldn't that be Buckette? ;)

[-MARWOLAETH-]

What about Babs? I still call my snake Garry out of habit because I thought she was a male and she doesn't seem to offended:D

[Buck]

lol I'm sure she won't be offended. I'm starting to work on her new tank! It's 2-3 times bigger than the one she's in now and I think she'll really enjoy it.

[Buck]

I have more pictures!
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[guidofatherof5]

Can't see them. Says Invalid Attachment specified.

Try loading each link on its own line.

[Buck]

Okay...
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[ProXimuS]

Buck sure is cute:)

[katach]

Does she have any substrate in there? If not you should put something in there. Aspen, carefresh, paper towel, compressed aspen pellets, reptile carpet. Lots of options, and it will make her even happier. :)

[Buck]

I didn't when I took the photos, but shortly after I added the aspen shavings that I have for my mice :)

[thamneil]

Very nice fitchi! Lots of red on that girl. Jealous.

[Buck]

78127813781478157816
Here's my beautiful little girl :)

[jscott67]

lol XD well... it seems I have a little girl! :D I'm not quite sure if changing her name would be appropriate though, considering I've already named her "Buck" in several posts. I was considering the name Rudy before I settled for Buck though... Oopsy!

I used to work for a fellow who called everybody Buck. As his first female employee, I was dubbed the Buck-ette! See it can be feminine!

[ConcinusMan]

It has been suggested to me that I could dedicate a thread to my snake(s). So here it is!

Buck is ?his? name! I've had him for about a week now and he's eaten just a single guppy so far. He's a Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi (Valley Garter). I'm thinking about breeding guppies, as the local pet store has no true feeder guppies and charge $5 for each one.

Right now his tank is pretty basic, a little bit wider and deeper than his length. There's a large water dish, a tall, circular piece of driftwood, and a small hide. I plan on improving his tank and maybe even getting him a buddy very soon. Anyways, I'll stop talking, here's more pictures of the one and only: Buck! XD

71027103710471057106

That's a puget. They look like this on the Island. There are no valley garters on the island at all. They occur in the drier climate of the interior. Don't worry, you wouldn't be the first, and won't be the last person to call these valley garters. I have found ones that look like this as far south as Lewis Co. WA and valley garters don't occur in western WA at all. They live east of the cascade range, and in the valleys of the cascade mountains.

[Buck]

I don't live on Vancouver Island, actually, just a small city close to Vancouver on the mainland.

Also, are you sure? (It's just that a lot of people seemed to agree that it was a Valley Garter)

How do you tell the difference, other than habitat range?

[ConcinusMan]

You pretty much don't tell them apart aside from range. For some reason I thought you got the snake on the island. The weird thing is that you'll find snakes that look just like that on the island and in parts of western WA but they aren't fitchii. They are found in pickeringi populations and share traits of both ssp. Southern B.C. is a rather confusing area since there seems to be areas of integration so it gets very difficult to tell the difference between what is a red version of a puget, and what is a fitchi. It very well could be a fitchi or a puget, or both, or neither I suppose. Where you draw the line between the two can be quite arbitrary since they are both just T. sirtalis'. Looks to me like snakes around there have traits from both subspecies, in varying degrees.

For some reason I thought you got this one where only pugets occur so I thought it would be a red phase puget.

I know this one isn't exactly like yours but check this out. It's a puget. I know this because it was found in a thick population of pugets and it's way outside of fitchi range. Same population also had bright colored ones dang near indistinguishable from your snake. If I go farther south, I find pugets that look more like concinnus than fitchi. But that's among lots of other snakes that completely lack red.
http://oi45.tinypic.com/nqd1r5.jpg

[ConcinusMan]

http://imageshack.us/a/img832/955/sirtalis1.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img257/3272/sirtalis2.jpg

I think that the northern end of the island and the southern B.C. coastal area are intergrade zones.

[Buck]

I'm confused now XD lol Thank-you for this information though! I'll try to research it a bit more, but for now it's unknown. :P

[Mommy2many]

Buck is a really pretty girl! try earthworms. She should love them. Good luck with her.

[ConcinusMan]

I'm confused now XD

You're not alone. Garter snake taxonomy has always been confusing. DNA sampling has answered a lot of questions but much more sampling is needed. Appearances are deceiving. DNA never lies.

The close proximity of S.F. garters and very similar looking infernalis' for example. They look a lot alike, so it was always assumed they were very closely related. The reality is, each one of those subspecies is more closely related to garters in other parts of the country, than they are to each other. Like I said, appearances are deceiving. ;)