Spring Photos 2010

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Yesterday I had the day off so I spent all day outside. me and my brother hiked through the woods for about 2 hours, then we walked home, got the dog and took him back for swimming in the creek (he LOVES this). After that I decided the afternoon sun was in the right spot and the shade next to my house provided the perfect lighting for some serious snakeage. Sadly, there are no flowers out yet aside from the goldenrod and the daffodils.

Here is Blossom... I can never stop taking pictures of her. Sadly, pictures don't do her justice, the camera takes away her glow.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953130.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953118.jpg

The flame I caught makes me more proud with every shed. This animal is coloring up immensely, I think she will breed in the 2011 season. My erythristic male is in love with her and wants with all his heart to breed with her, I had to break up the group because he would not leave her alone... and she's still too small for me to be comfortable with breeding her. This year I must select a suitable male from the farm so that the offspring will truly be potter county flames!

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953103.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953104.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953098.jpg

My smaller female infernalis... boy is she grouchy! Like all infernalis... if they weren't so pretty I would not work with them! They are worse than similis!
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953108.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953111.jpg



http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953114.jpg

The male terrestris, he's quite a handsome fellow.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953115.jpg

Dumbo, my axanthic plains male. Tiny little thing but growing and I just love those little "ears"
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953033.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953035.jpg

Iowa albino male plains. For a while I was afraid for this one, he's always been a bit of a runt and used to only take small meals. Recently that has changed, he put on weight and is growing!
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953042.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953043.jpg

Axanthic Iowa albino female... I lucked out with this snake. If your monitor is adjusted properly you should be able to see the blue glow she gives off. It's VERY cool. If your monitor is off even by a little, you may not be able to see it. It's *almost* impossible for the camera to pick up.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953044.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953046.jpg

My male Santa Cruz. These snakes are so damned pretty that it hurts my eyes sometimes.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953052.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953058.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953060.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

And the winner for prettiest belly in all of the garter snakes goes to.... atratus!
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953063.jpg

Here is my female, she is lighter in color, like a turquoise blue! The male is a better and less picky eater than her but she's coming along. She looks much smaller in these photos than she really is!
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953067.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953068.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953070.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953071.jpg

My male natrix natrix. He is unrelated to my females, who are solid black and gray without spots. Do you know why you never see photos of my natrix? Because the little #*&(#'s never, for any reason, hold still! They are much more persistent than garters.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953073.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953074.jpg

Here is that male checkered that I picked out of an otherwise ordinary bunch of babies. He glowed, and he still does. He is literally lime green, but sadly, my camera won't capture his real color and the way he glows in the dark.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953078.jpg

His head is very pretty.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953082.jpg

My female albino redsided. I much prefer normals and snakes with melanin to albinos but I have to admit this thing is AWESOME!
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953006.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953007.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953008.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953009.jpg

I don't think I introduced this pair properly yet. From the same guy I got the male natrix from, I picked up this pair. These are erythristic flames from Scott. As small as they are, they are so colorful and I can't imagine what they will look like as adults. Especially the female. They are small enough now that the erythristic part has not even really kicked in yet!

The male:
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953017.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953018.jpg

The female:
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953012.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953014.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Garters/2953016.jpg

I photo'ed a few other snakes during this session as well. I will throw you guys a little sampler of them:

Alistair, my pastel boa constrictor imperator.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Boas/2953168.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Boas/2953171.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Fluffy, my male hypo het albino red blood python... for those of you who don't know I LOVE blood pythons. His partner Cupcake is in shed.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Pythons/2953132.jpg

Sprinkles, my female Sumatran Short Tailed python (black blood). Ooooo she gives me tingles. So shiny...
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Pythons/2953141.jpg

Together...
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Pythons/2953135.jpg

That's all for today folks! Any and all feedback is appreciated! Thanks for taking the time to view! Happy Easter! (I took Ra to see the easter bunny...)
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/33cc3b5a-1.jpg

[Snakers]

sweet snakes and pics!

[snakeman]

My amle albino redside is all bug eyed like that one.Awesome pics

[jitami]

Very nice, as usual, Shannon... I envy your energy, your snakes, and your photography skills :) I'm not a fan of boas & pythons, but Sprinkles is awesome!

[ssssnakeluvr]

awsesome snakes and photos!!!!!!

[Stefan-A]

Yay, Natrix! :)

[gregmonsta]

Simply gorgeous :D

[Mommy2many]

Awesome pictures, Shannon!

[BUSHSNAKE]

LOVE,love,LOVE the santa cruz garters, they are sexy to me!

[tminc]

Stunning,like WOW! What a great collection.

[ConcinusMan]

All of your Axanthic Iowa albino's and albino red-sided's are belong to me! And shannon, empty your mailbox. I need to send you a PM! change of plan. I can't ship until Monday!

[stripe&houdini]

My Thamnophis elegans elegans looks just like the santa cruz garters. He's my first one, and he's wild caught near Squaw Creek, in Calafornia. If you have never been there, go to Olympic Village Inn. The creek flows right bright by the parking lot, and if you go upstream or downstream, you should be able to catch a lot of garters.

[ConcinusMan]

yeah, they can look very similar but there are dead giveaway features that distinguish the two from one another. You can go to just about any woodland waterway in norther CA or parts of Oregon and catch elegans and atratus too. Very large, feisty ones I might ad. Aside from their plain coloration, they're one of my favorites.

I really like this zaxanthus (used to be classifed as a ssp of atratus)

http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/images/tazaxanthusmt3.jpg

[jitami]

My Thamnophis elegans elegans looks just like the santa cruz garters. He's my first one, and he's wild caught near Squaw Creek, in Calafornia.

I'd love to see pics of your elegans... mine can be seen here: http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4091

[ConcinusMan]

ooohhh, handsome.