New additions

[ssssnakeluvr]

this beautiful couple arrived today...... Butler's garters!

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF0022.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF0024.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF0025.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

Great looking snakes, Don.
From the looks of the 1st photo, I would say you might have more in the near future.

[ssssnakeluvr]

he didn't get to hook up...she already is gravid...can feel a bunch of llittle lumps in her already!!!!! :D

[guidofatherof5]

Sounds like you have a great breeding male there.
I thought that was the polite way to word it.:D

[jitami]

Nice :)

[count dewclaw]

Great additions!

[gregmonsta]

Loving the yellow on those :D

[drache]

very nice, Don
congrats

[ssssnakeluvr]

and here's a couple more additions.... :cool:

melanistic wandering garters, have an adult pair, are different from easterns...are solid black, no white on chin!

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF3023.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF3024.jpg

a very gravid wandering.....

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF3030.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF3031.jpg

[ssssnakeluvr]

and an awesome radix!!!!!

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF3009-1.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF3008-1.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF3007.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Hey Don, about that radix...

It somehow got sent to the wrong address!!! it was supposed to be mine!!!:p

[drache]

oh Don
I am so jealous now
can I have those melanistic wanderings please?

[Zephyr]

Good luck with the butler's. That male is really something.

[guidofatherof5]

That's a great red radix.
I should know, I held her long before you ever got her:D

[ssssnakeluvr]

she is nice!!! need to swap some babies from your albino and some babies from mine next year...she isn't gravid...or if she is, its way early... will be breading her with my red phase x snow from Scott that I got a few years back....

[charles parenteau]

WOW so nice the radix! THe melanistic is jet black..I 've seen just one in my life like thaT,The one I caught...I love it very much!

[ssssnakeluvr]

aaaaaaand here's more..... a trio (1.2) of mountain garters t elegans elegans

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF4001.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF4013.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF4011.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF4010.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF4004.jpg

[ssssnakeluvr]

also caught a trio of fence lizards...here's a male and female...

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF4028.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF4029.jpg

[ianrambell]

I hope she does great for yoou keep my updated with her first feeding and so on. Some females start to pop in fall.

[ssssnakeluvr]

she's eating good already....fed thursday....sucked down chunks of salmon!! hopefully she was a late breeder!!

[drache]

very nice,Don

[ssssnakeluvr]

got another trio today......2.1 chicago garters!!! the female is gravid!!!

[drache]

very cool
congrats

[ssssnakeluvr]

and here they are......

male.....after pigging out

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF6011.jpg

other male...think he is gonna shed

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF6010.jpg

female....big and sweet looking!!!

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF6013.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF6014.jpg

[ssssnakeluvr]

and a couple more shots of her

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF6015.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF6017.jpg

here's a shot of my female mountain garter....talk about an oinker....pinkie mouse and fish!!!!!

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF6028.jpg

and another snake I got....male eastern het for snow

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF6026.jpg

[ssssnakeluvr]

here's a shot of one of my valley's....eating already

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF6022.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/DSCF6021.jpg

[Odie]

Just picked up these two while gardening :cool:
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/Mick_01.JPG
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/Mick_02.JPG
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/Rush_01.JPG
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/Rush_02.JPG

[guidofatherof5]

Looks like that Valley could lose some of that tail.
She's beautiful.

[ssssnakeluvr]

yea, her tail is a bit mangled....several of the females have messed up tails....not sure what has been getting them...have never seen any rodents in the area where I found them...and the males tails are fine, no injuries.... :confused:

[Millinex]

I've noticed this in my recent herping as well, no idea why the females seem to get attacked more than males..

[Stefan-A]

I've noticed this in my recent herping as well, no idea why the females seem to get attacked more than males..
They're larger, slower and easier to spot, gravid females have reduced mobility, males seem to be more easily startled... Or it could just be that females are more successful at fending off attacks and surviving injuries.

[Millinex]

I'd go with the second theory. My big female took a pinkie and 5 fuzzies today and is still extremely fast and fiesty. She's much faster in my book than any males I've seen!

[drache]

those are some nice new additions
and I think that females of many animal species come with better survival skills than males, since they have young to protect

[Stefan-A]

The question could be answered if the male:female ratio was known.

edit: anyway, I found this:

Geographic variation in the frequency of scarring and tail stubs in eastern gartersnakes (Thamnophis s. sirtalis) from Michigan, USA
http://www.uttyler.edu/faculty/jplacyk/documents/Tail_stub_finish_000.pdf


As with past studies (Willis et al., 1982;
Fitch, 2003), tail stub frequency tended to be
sex-biased with more females exhibiting such
wounds than males. Why this bias exists is not
known, but it may be the result of more females
surviving tail attacks than males. Male
tails differ from female tails in that reproductive
organs are found there, but it is not known
if damage to these organs can be fatal. That no
gender difference in body scarring was found
may also indicate the possible severity of injuries
to male tails.