ID/Colors morph=?

[Lee]

I stole the picture of this snake from another site, this I'm told is eastern garter but I'm not so sure myself, any idea what color morph this is?
lhttp://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/nir/Albinos3.jpg

[garterking7]

thats not an eastern garter snake because it is to pale. They are darker than that but I dont know what kind of garter snake that is.

[Josh]

i dont know much but maybe a maritime???????? i really dont no thats a guess.

[Sid]

I'm no expert, but it looks like T. rufipunctatus (Narrow-headed Garter)

Sid

[GarterGirl]

I don't really know.
It does look a little like a
maritime garter.

[Stefan-A]

I'm no expert, but it looks like T. rufipunctatus (Narrow-headed Garter)

Sid
I'm not an expert either, but I'd definitely say that's not a rufipunctatus. :) The narrow-headed looks a lot more like a typical Nerodia than a typical Thamnophis.

Wouldn't rule out the eastern or the maritime garter.

[drache]

it looks like an albino something or other
the eyes have that reddish tint
and it seems to me that there's some, more sandy coloured kinds of albinos
I'm a total novice at the ID thing though

[Lee]

Here is a bit more backround on this snake..It was found on the eastern limits of the T.s.sirtalis range along with a bunch of other easterns. Several pictures of several different T.s.sirtalis to show the color variety in them. These included normal, high red, blueish and what appears to be a martime X eastern cross...
Maybe it is a hypo melanistic eastern?

[adamanteus]

There is a photo of an aberrent T. s. sirtalis very like this in Garter & Ribbon Snakes by Mara.

[Stefan-A]

There's also a very similar T. s. sirtalis in Garter and Ribbon Snakes by Bartlett & Bartlett.

We're not talking about the same book, are we James?

[adamanteus]

No, but maybe the same picture? I think aberrent colouration is not that rare in sirtalis.

[Stefan-A]

Should be easy to check if it's the same picture. :) The snake's curled up on some dry leaves on sand or sandy soil, with the tail twisted so that the underside shows. Does it sound about right?

[adamanteus]

The leaves and the sand are there, but no venter showing. The pic is credited to R.D. Bartlett though. Two pics from the same series?

[Stefan-A]

Subcaudals show, but no venter. Could very well be from the same series.

[ssssnakeluvr]

that's an aberrant eastern garter, t sirtalis sirtalis.....someone on here caught it a few months ago and posted pics, they released it...... aberrant easterns aren't uncommon.

[Lee]

This was actually a new picture I thought, is it really just an old one?

[stonyloam]

Do you mean this one? I found this blue one last year (have been looking for it all this year). It has similar markings to the one in the photo. It is either an eastern or a maritime.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/blue_gartet_snake.jpg

[GarterGuy]

Maritimes and Easterns look very similar, usually it's the spotting pattern that gives them away, but it's not 100% accurate. With the locality data though (the eastern most range of T.s.sirtalis), I'd have to agree with the others and say an aberrant colour of Eastern garter. Maritimes are no where even close to this range. I'd probally have to guess it's possibley an amelanistic individual. Very interesting specimen.

Roy

[Thamnophis]

Looks like an albino-ish normal eastern.