Spring photography HUGE DUW

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I am LOVING the weather, and I could not resist spending my day off photographing a BUNCH of my young garters. Also included are my albino dekay's, my gravid erythristic water snake, and a mud snake!

And now for a bunch of garter snakes, most of which are yearlings now and some of which will possibly produce offspring next season:

The wild-caught flame eastern, she's blossoming into a REALLY nice snake. A beautiful new bloodline of flame this will surely make.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742227.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742225.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742223.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742221.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742235.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742233.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

My male carteret country erythristic het schuett albino, he is starting to really color up and so is the female (not pictured). When I recieved them in january they were both just brown.They both still have a long way to go colorwise, They are both going to be knockouts and I fully expect to see high quality albino reds from their pairing!

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742201.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742194.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742193.jpg

My male Similis, getting a nice blue to him!
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742191.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742188.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742186.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Female wild caught red plains - bad pic
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742248.jpg

Male Eastern Blackneck - this pair should produce smokin' babies!
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742150.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742152.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742160.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742161.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742165.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742171.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742176.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742185.jpg

Female High Black oregon Red-Spotted, not a morph, but a selective breeding project of mine. that's right, I am seeking to breed the red out of Oregon Red-spots. I am aiming to produce an all black snake with a red head and green stripe. in my opinion, this look is SHARP.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742145.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742144.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742143.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742142.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742140.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742135.jpg

Female Nebraska Amelanistic Plains- she's beginning to get a lot of orangish red on her sides... making for a very attractive snake!
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742130.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742127.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742124.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742123.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742122.jpg

This is a wild caught eastern I collected and decided to keep last year. She's really a striking shade of brick red, she looks like a maritime, but she is indeed, from a sirtalis-only range and is a true eastern.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742092.jpg

My male California Red-sided, Mesa. This is the closest one can come to owning a san francisco garter without actually doing it! (which is illegal)
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742089.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742087.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742084.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742083.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742082.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/5742073.jpg

Next is my gravid Erythristic Banded Water snake - bred to a hypo male. She looks like she is getting rather close to delivering. I am watching for her to go into shed. She enjoyed the sunbathing.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Other/5742289.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Other/5742291.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Other/5742295.jpg

Now here's a mudsnake, I had a lot of requests to get closer to the eyes of this snake, I did my best, it's VERY hard to photograph a snake that is this shiny, small and wiggly!!! This little sheister sucked down all three of the salamanders in his feeding deli cup on friday. He was supposed to eat one and save the other two for later. They were big, so he's one happy little bugger!

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Other/5742285.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Other/5742277.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Other/5742276.jpg

Next is my wild caught albino Florida Dekay's Brown snake storeria dekayi victa That I know of, is the only one in existence. Sure has grown, but is STILL a tiny snake. A note about this snake. People keep telling me to breed this to the northern dekays in my area. But no one seems to realize that there are separate subspecies of these snakes, JUST like garters. I need to keep this subspecies pure. Breeding this snake to a northern brown would be just as bad as breeding an eastern garter thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis to a california red-sided, thamnophis sirtalis infernalis. I just thought I would clear that up while I had the chance!! I plan to acquire a group of florida brown's soon.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Other/5742260.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Other/5742257.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Other/5742255.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Other/5742254.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Other/5742253.jpg

That's the end! Please let me know how you liked this batch.

[prattypus]

Very beautiful series of shots! The red spotted project sounds awesome. That red plains is a beaut as well. As to owning a San Fran, my 6yr old niece gave me this advice: just take some red nail polish to my red sided and she'll help me keep it a secret. If you find your snake room too full for the next round of young uns, send me a list...

[TwistidMutations]

Nice animals. seeing the pics of your pugets make me really wish i didn't sell mine.also great shots of all good luck on that nerodia!

[guidofatherof5]

Great looking snakes.

[GartersRock]

My god....

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Nice animals. seeing the pics of your pugets make me really wish i didn't sell mine.also great shots of all good luck on that nerodia!

I didn't post any pictures of my puget :confused::confused::confused:

[prattypus]

I didn't post any pictures of my puget :confused::confused::confused:
perhaps the blue of the similis threw 'em off? With the Pugets, Similis, and the Florida Blues, let's just call em all smurf garters.

[Stefan-A]

Very nice photos and snakes, Shannon. :)

[Hornets23]

Awesome snakes and pics shannon!

[lestat]

They are all so great looking. The picture of the mud snake looking straight forward is perfect, the shiny complextion is good. That picture could win any picture competion.

How easy do you find keeping the Black necked garters, they are so nice but i cant make my mind up wether to get some.

[gregmonsta]

Amazing shots as always :D

[drache]

great photos, Shannon
and the snakes . . .
when can I come visit?

[Isisnofret]

Wow, that are great photos and wonderful snakes O_o

[adamanteus]

Some beautiful photographs again, Shannon.

[ssssnakeluvr]

those are some awesome photos!!!!

[bigj2484]

the blackneck is awesome and so is the mud snake and I love the yellow background are the blacknecks breeding this year or next

[Snake lover 3-25]

wow great pics as always shannon!!!! wonderful!!!

[MasSalvaje]

"I have seen a lot of cool things in my life but that was AWESOME!"

Thanks for sharing Shannon!

-Thomas

[Sid]

Really great photos and snakes, Shannon.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

They are all so great looking. The picture of the mud snake looking straight forward is perfect, the shiny complextion is good. That picture could win any picture competion.

How easy do you find keeping the Black necked garters, they are so nice but i cant make my mind up wether to get some.


I found that at first, my blacknecks were challenging. In my book, challenging is fun, but to some it's not. By challenging, I mean that they were very shy about taking food at first, they would only eat when I promised I wasn't looking... haha, they are VERY partial to eating fish. They love fish. Live guppies in their bowl. Once i took them out of the rack system and put them in a viv, with a basking light, they transformed. Now, they ZOOM at the front of the tank all day and can never get enough to eat. They love salmon jello more than anything! Now they are eating salmon jello and pinkies, either unscented or with the jello, however I am doing it.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

the blackneck is awesome and so is the mud snake and I love the yellow background are the blacknecks breeding this year or next

I am hoping for next year. They are only coming into their first spring now, so they need another year to mature ;)... even if they were BIG enough, I don't feel it's a good idea to push snakes to breed as early as they can.

[Snaky]

Great Series, Shannon! Thanks for posting it :)

[Tora]

I know this is an old post now, but how's that red-spot project coming? Those were some gorgeous snakes!

[Albert Clark]

Kudos to you on the amazing collection! Great projects, and thanks for the info on storeia dekay. I didn't know that.

[Tommytradix]

she dosent work with garters anymore. i actually was just at her house last week picking up a huge rack i bought from her lol

[Albert Clark]

That's fine. She still had some pristine animals.