BC and Albertan gartersnakes

[joeysgreen]

Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi- Valley Garter Snake
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g315/joeysgreen/BC%202007/th.jpg

Thamnophis e. elegans - Wandering or Western Terrestrial Gartersnake

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g315/joeysgreen/BC%202007/th-2.jpg

And some home grown thamnophis sirtalis pariatalis - Red sided Garter Snake

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g315/joeysgreen/reptile%20show%20and%20garter%20den/DSC00121.jpg


I hope you like them all. I am still looking to find some radix and I'll have Alberta's three species covered :)

Ian

[ssssnakeluvr]

Nice pics!!! Love the red siders from up there...would love to have a pair or 2!!!!! Nice wandering...western terrestrial is a different snake, not in Canada....some day I will make it up to the snakes dens...have wanted to since I was a kid!!! :cool:

[Elliot]

Nice pictures.

[joeysgreen]

Thanks guys. What is the latin for western terrestrial? This one was in BC and the pamphlets to local parks called them western terrestrials. You can never trust common names eh :)

This den is actually a short commute from Edmonton, the more famous dens are further east in Manitoba. Still, I can't complain about several hundred snakes!

Ian

[ssssnakeluvr]

wandering garters are thamnophis elegans vagrans, western terrestrials are thamnophis elegans terrestris.

[joeysgreen]

oh okay. You also just pointed out a brain fart I had, I called the wandering thamnophis e. elegans when it should've been e.vagrans. How far north do the terrestris go? Do you or anyone else know if it's the same subspecies of elegans in BC and Alberta?

Ian

[ssssnakeluvr]

t e terrestris is only along the coast of California up into Oregon. Only t e vagrans up there.

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, Ian :)

[ssssnakeluvr]

brain fart eh???? have those on a regular basis here...lol!!!!!!!!

[GarterGuy]

Very nice pics. Would love to see some pics of the T.radix from that area. I really like the T.e.vagrans pic too.....neat angle!

Roy

[adamanteus]

Hi Ian, welcome to the forum. Great pictures! Sorry I'm so late greeting you, I somehow missed this thread! Oooops!:o

[Lee]

Great pictures !

[drache]

great pics and welcome to the forum

[GarterGirl]

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g315/joeysgreen/BC%202007/th.jpg


What a beauty!
And a cutie!

Awww
I want one:D

[GarterGirl]

Great pics Ian! ;-)
Welcome to most wonderful forum
in the world!

[joeysgreen]

Thanks again guys. I just lost my camera at the drag races last weekend so that'll be all the pic's for a while :(

Ian

[KITKAT]

Thanks again guys. I just lost my camera at the drag races last weekend so that'll be all the pic's for a while :(

Ian

I have had several cameras from ebay for great prices. I always buy a model that is JUST phased out for a new version, and buy items that are new in the box. Have never had a problem.

I once had a camera full of photos that was stolen from my trunk while at a motel in Georgia. Losing the camera was not the pits... it was losing the photos I had on the card!:(

[Steve C]

Great pics Ian. Those are some good looking garters.

Steve

[ti-pite]

Thanks guys. What is the latin for western terrestrial? This one was in BC and the pamphlets to local parks called them western terrestrials. You can never trust common names eh :)

This den is actually a short commute from Edmonton, the more famous dens are further east in Manitoba. Still, I can't complain about several hundred snakes!

Ian
Hi Ian!

I just joined after finding this forum a few minutes ago.

since i was a kid i've dreamt of visiting the Narcisse dens. Recently I found out about a den near Stony Plain. Do you know where it is exactly? I would love to visit it and teach my kids about these amazing creatures!

pierre

[adamanteus]

Hi Pierre, and welcome to the forum.:)

[ti-pite]

merci James, vous etes bien gentil.

I had garters as a kid, plains, red sided, etc. Found in the bush near my parents' cabin at the lake in northern alberta.

I'd love to start again and get my kids into it. Fond memories that they could have one day.

[Thamnophis]

Hello Ian, welcome here. Nice pictures.

[adamanteus]

merci James, vous etes bien gentil.

De rien. Bienvenue ici.:)

It is nice to make plans for your childrens' happy memories!

[Lulu Bennett]

lol welcome to the forum sweety its nice to have you here.

ti-pitemerci James, vous etes bien gentil.


adamanteusQuote:
Originally Posted by ti-pite http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/images/green/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/general-talk/1302-bc-albertan-gartersnakes.html#post22091)
merci James, vous etes bien gentil.

De rien. Bienvenue ici.:)


and in english lol

[joeysgreen]

Hello Piere, the garter den is northwest of Stony by Lake Eden. You probably won't see anything this time of year, but everywhere in the area is full of red sided garters. Keep in touch, and I'll show you in the spring exactly where it is (so much easier than trying to explain it). In addition to here, I'm a member of the Edmonton Reptile and Amphibian, the forums are down now, but will be up near the end of this month.

Ian

[ti-pite]

Hi Ian,

This is very interesting. I will definitely take you up on that generous offer.

I will be looking out for the edmonton reptile & amphibian forum.

Pierre

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, Pierre :)

[ti-pite]

Hi Odie from Oregon.

You or other pacific coasters might have an idea regarding my next question. I was visiting Galiano island, just east of Vancouver Island, in July with the family. We came across about half a dozen garter snakes while hiking, one in a tidal pool, two up in a mountain, the rest in wooded lowland areas. I do not know what type they were. They were all the same colour. Mostly a drab greyish colour with lighter colour stripes. One of them was quite tame and allowed the kids to stroke him gently on the back of the head for a couple of minutes.

We wanted to take him home with us but I pointed out to the kids that we had no way of properly caring for it during the long trip back to edmonton.

Pierre

[adamanteus]

Could have been T. ordinoides or T. s. pickeringii...a photo would help. I don't suppose you took pictures?

[ti-pite]

Our 15 month-old grabbed & dropped our new canon camera in the sand at the beginning of the trip!!! camera broken, full of sand. No pix. But no worries, the nice people at Canon in Calgary fixed it for free!!

I just found a picture on the net that most resembles what we saw. It is ordinoides according to the source. I tried to upload it here but my computer keeps jamming.

[joeysgreen]

Pierre, a good place to identify Canadian herps to the species level is Welcome to CARCNET (http://www.carcnet.ca) . There is a pic of an ordinoides, but the pickeringii doesn't make it to the border, and thus, isn't listed.

Ian

[ti-pite]

Thanks for that! good website! cant wait for the french side to be done so i can learn the french names too.

man this fun.