Baby Valley Garter

[Loren]

Found a tiny little valley garter (Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi) at my parents place yesterday, so I snapped several pics of it. This is the one that turned out.

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

[adamanteus]

Nice snake, nice photo.:)

[Stefan-A]

Nice little snake, Loren. :)

[Gijs & Sabine]

What a sweety ♥♥
And an excellent picture :eek:

[Loren]

What a sweety ♥♥
And an excellent picture :eek:

That little "sweety" already knew how to flatten its head out and throw strikes. :) Never acually bit me though- not that I would care if it did.

It wasnt really digging the photo shoot, so that was the only pic in which it was sitting still.

I'm happy to find a baby at my parents, along with a young adult last week. Hadnt been seeing too many for a while. I also got a good close (but not too close) look at a skunk.

[anji1971]

He is a tiny one!
Very nice find, Loren.:)

[Lori P]

Great coloring, I like him. Skunk, huh? Get pics of that one?

[Loren]

Great coloring, I like him. Skunk, huh? Get pics of that one?
Just some video with my cell phone- probably not even worth watching(havent gotten around to it yet).
I would have liked to have walked up to it and gotton a close-up(it seemed very freindly:D), but didnt have my camera on me at the moment.

[lestat]

A very nice looking snake. I would love a pair of them.

[crzy_kevo]

man i wish i could get me one of them but im pretty sure all i can get around here are easterns

[ssssnakeluvr]

cool little snake!!!! I need to get another female...I have to male valley garters and an ooooooold female...

[Garter_Gertie]

Gosh, Kev. Don't say it like that! Like "Eastern" is a bad word! :D

"Eastern" is a subspecies of the Common Garter, Themnophis sirtalus (don't judge me on my spelling. Just what I learned today! :D) A Common Eastern Garter = Themnophis sirtalus sirtalus, which is what Winnie is. Here in MN, we also have another subspecies of Themnophis sirtalus, the Red-Sided Garter, Themnophis sirtalus cinnuatus (Did I get my subspecies correct? I'm not cheating and looking!).

We have a second species of garters in MN, the Plains garter, Themnophis radix (did I get the species correct?). While I don't know the correct latin subspecies names - Themnophis radix whatever - I do know the common names and they are the Eastern Plains Garter and the Western Plains Garter.

Got to keep studying a bit more! :D But I know we have TWO species and each o'those two species have two subspecies, for a total of four different kinds of garters in MN!!!!!!!!!!! :D

[ssssnakeluvr]

Gosh, Kev. Don't say it like that! Like "Eastern" is a bad word! :D

"Eastern" is a subspecies of the Common Garter, Themnophis sirtalus (don't judge me on my spelling. Just what I learned today! :D) A Common Eastern Garter = Themnophis sirtalus sirtalus, which is what Winnie is. Here in MN, we also have another subspecies of Themnophis sirtalus, the Red-Sided Garter, Themnophis sirtalus cinnuatus (Did I get my subspecies correct? I'm not cheating and looking!).

We have a second species of garters in MN, the Plains garter, Themnophis radix (did I get the species correct?). While I don't know the correct latin subspecies names - Themnophis radix whatever - I do know the common names and they are the Eastern Plains Garter and the Western Plains Garter.

Got to keep studying a bit more! :D But I know we have TWO species and each o'those two species have two subspecies, for a total of four different kinds of garters in MN!!!!!!!!!!! :D

never heard of cinnuatus????? red sided garters are thamnophis sirtalis parietalis...

[Loren]

I think you are trying to say Thamnophis sirtalis concinnus - Red spotted Gartersnake. :)

To clear up some possible confusion, there are also Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis- red sided garter snakes.
Both are sub-species of the common garter- T. sirtalis.
Concinnus has a somewhat small range in oregon and washington, parietalis has a large range- much of the midwest and canada.

[Garter_Gertie]

It was parietalis I meant. Thank you so very much, Loren! Told you I still have studying to do! :D But I'm excited I've gotten down what I did today. Garters are starting to 'firm up' in my head and stuff being said around here is getting a bit clearer.

Again, thanks, Loren!

Don, I *told* you not to go on my spelling! LOL!

[ssssnakeluvr]

It was parietalis I meant. Thank you so very much, Loren! Told you I still have studying to do! :D But I'm excited I've gotten down what I did today. Garters are starting to 'firm up' in my head and stuff being said around here is getting a bit clearer.

Again, thanks, Loren!

Don, I *told* you not to go on my spelling! LOL!
I wasn't trying to get on your spelling...I'm used to misspelling...just check NikkiSixx's posts...lol!!! :eek: I was wondering if you were meaning red sided garters.... =)

[Loren]

Its a bit much to keep track of at first- I still have to double check alot of the T. s. fancy names myself.

[anji1971]

I'm still confused by some of the names, but it slowly gets better.
And even though I can usually tell what the snakes are when I see pics, I'm still not confident enough to speak up about my guess. :o

[jitami]

Sweet baby... thanks for sharing Loren!