Blue (eastern) garter snake

[stonyloam]

This is a photo of a wild eastern garter snake that I found last summer at my home in western NY, close to Rochester. It is a real beauty. I have seen hundreds of wild garters over the years, but never one like this.
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/blue_gartet_snake.jpg

[Cazador]

Terry,

That's what I'm talking about! I've never seen a captive one like that and wouldn't have guessed that's what you were talking about. What a snake! I'd love to see a hundred more pictures of it, but I realize you caught it years ago. Did you keep it, and was it at all aggressive when you caught it?

Rick

[Sid]

Wow that's an unusual color morph for a T. s sirtalis. Gorgous! thanks for sharing the photo.

Sid

[adamanteus]

Fantasic looking snake Terry. Have you kept it?

[Snaky]

Very nice one. Most be great to find it in the wild:)

[Thamnophis]

Those Eastern garter snakes are very variable. Beautiful animal.

[drache]

what a beautiful snake.
I love the blue morphs, and the patterning as well as the colour on this one is amazing!

btw - can anyone enlighten me, as to the difference between a Florida Blue and a Blue Stripe? I am not at home, where I can look at stuff more easily.

I just looked at Scott's sites. He used to separate them into two distinct subspecies and apparently now he doesn't. I thought one was T. sirtalis sirtalis florida and the other T.sirtalis similis.

[GarterGuy]

Hmmmm.....I'm wondering if that's not a Maritime garter (T.s.pallidulus) rather than an Eastern garter (T.s.sirtalis)????? The spotting on the body, lack of a mid-dorsal stripe and just the colour scheme really remind me of pics I've seen of other Maritimes. Either way, very pretty snake.
Roy

[stonyloam]

Thanks everyone! I am glad you liked the photo. As for the ID, I am certainly not an expert, but I believe that the eastern is by far the most common around here. I have added a couple of photos to my gallery that might help in the ID. Our (around our house) most common snakes are garter and eastern milk snakes (up to 3 1/2 feet). Had 3 baby milk snakes in the garage last fall, so I put them in the woodpile so hopefully they will winter over OK. I did not keep the blue one, it is probably better off in the wild. I saw it twice last year once at the edge of the yard near a swampy brushy area and the second time under the shrubbery next to the house porch. I am hoping it will be back this spring. It is raining today so there are only a few youngsters in the sunroom this morning, when it warms up I'll try to get some good photos to post.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/100_0257.jpg

[abcat1993]

Wow, that barely looks like a garter with those wild colors.

[snakeman]

I would lean toward a maritime garter too.Either way it is awesome!Similis ia the blue stripe garter.Sirtilis is the florida blue.Similis have a much darker appearance than the florida blues.They don't get quite as large either.

[Cazador]

Rhea,
Kitkat has experience with these and has been doing research for an article that she plans to write here (http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets/index.php?title=Blue_Garters_from_Florida). Hopefully, you'll have time to wait, but in the meanwhile, you are correct that the Florida blue is a morph of T. s. sirtalis, and the bluestripe is T. similis.

Roy,
Now you know about my... erm vast (?) talents for ID'ing snakes, but that does sort of resemble some of the T.s. pallidulus that I've seen, though never with that blue coloration. Whatever it is, it's an exceptional snake!

Rick

[stonyloam]

Not knowing any better I would think that it might not be T.s. pallidulus (not based on any particular knowledge of snake identification on my part) but we are (in western NY) probably outside of the normal range of that subspecies and I would expect them to be pretty rare around here, and the local snakes (local being around my house) seem to be brown with similar markings (below). The one that I photographed in the sunroom appears to have the same markings as the blue one, except that it is brown. Then of course I could be an idiot and they are all. pallidulus. Oh well in either case it is still a cool snake.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/100_0589.jpg

[GarterGuy]

Ok, did some digging......very hard to find much information on T.s.pallidulus, almost as hard as finding any! (Can't wait 'til I get mine in June!!!!!!) Anyways, from what I could find, the only real descriptions of the subspecies is that it's mid-dorsal stripe is very faint or abscent. Unfortunately, we've all seen Easterns with faint or abscent mid-dorsal stripes. They also say that the spotting on the snake is well defined, which again can go with both subspecies......but I'm thinking from all the pics of T.s.pallidulus that I've seen, their spotting looks different then T.s.sirtalis.....and I'm really thinking that these look a lot like the Maritimes that Ryan at Valley Pets had posted pics of. I also found that T.s.pallidulus does range into NewYork state, and is considered a native species to the state along with the short head garter (T.brachystoma), the eastern ribbon snake (T.sauritus ssp.) and eastern garter. So can they be Maritime garters in New York....YES, are they Maritime garters........well to the best of what I can figure out, I think they are, or may also be a cross of T.s.sirtalis and T.s.pallidulus, since they're just subspecies. How every you look at it, that's one very gorgeous snake and I'm glad to hear that he's still out there in the wild to make more gorgeous snakes someday. :D
Roy

[stonyloam]

Thanks Garterguy. If they are T.s.pallidulus that is even more exciting because they seem to be far less common than the eastern. Except of course here. All (except for one big green one who's nose you can see in the corner) of the snakes (7 small brown ones) seem to be very similar in color and markings. If I can get a group photo I will post it in the gallery.

[mikm]

WOW and wow-er, :eek: lol ... How great is that ??? Those are beautiful animals you have hanging around that garter luvin' sunroom of yours !!! :D

much thanks for sharing your wealth,
marian

[ssssnakeluvr]

SWEET!!!!!! I want one!!!!!!!!! :eek: :D

[drache]

Having them come visit is kinda even better than owning them.
Your light bulb is like mom's bird feeder.

[ClosedCasket88]

i recently took a trip sunday to a river of my favorites to w\see wat was out . the bus didnt go all the way, so i ended up hiking a few miles to my spot , then it was getting dark n kool,still found 2 garrters and a bullfrog
a third garter was found dead next to a pondby my girlfriend.
it had solid clean bright blue striped with blue in between the checkers and its head was almost turquoise . it was freshly dead probly by a crow or a hawk or some sort of bird of prey

could these colors have been becuase of the death? i am almost certain these were its natural colors. i wish i had a picture of it . it was rediculously awesome looking ,ive caugth eastern garter in ym day with blue in them but not like this .

your lucky find looks like my "stripeless"easterns they cheker up when they get bigger and they got a bit of bright blueish green in them but notweer near as kool as yourguy .
you have a lucky yard/ area of property
enjoy the spring

[Cazador]

Hey Ryan,
I think both of the possibilities you raised (about the blue coloration) are possible.
Rick

[ClosedCasket88]

so your saying the color could possibly contributed from its death?it was rather fresh . it looked very natural , his underside was very unique.the funny thing is ,the garters that were alive that i caught were totaly orange/brown in color, very dirty looking typical easterns, then yards away the dead one was probobly the most beautiful garter ive ever seen to this day and if evryone on this site seen it they would probly agree,
this guys tops all my fav western typ garter even the san fransicso .this guys colors were just rediculously different i almost cried when i seen such a beautiful thing dead

[Cazador]

It's a shame it's dead. Blue coloration is quite a bit different than brown and orange, so you might have had a really unique and beautiful morph there :(.