I'm a Santa Cruz girl!

[Mix]

Today I was lucky enough to meet Gartergal and pick up my two new atratus guys, Bracken and Silver; named for Santa Cruz creeks, in homage to their heritage ;) (If this turns out to be an insult to the guys, I am sorry, but there's no way for me to be personally checking out the best creeks).

They are beautiful and have me wrapped around their (metaphorical) little fingers already. Bracken is slightly bigger and rather outgoing, while Silver is happy to curl up and recover from the journey home. Both guys settling in well.

I will post pics when they've had chance to properly feel at home, and sit still long enough for me to get a good shot!

On a side-note, I think garters were the only way to fill a garter-shaped gap, since Lily died. They don't make me forget her, but actually appreciate the time I had with her all the more. :)

Very excited. And smitten.

[Mommy2many]

I cannot wait to meet them! (From across the pond):D

[Mix]

I can't wait to show them off! ;)

[gartergal]

:D im so glad they have such a lovely home :p

[Mix]

Thank you! I should say my Santa Cruz girls! :D

[Mix]

And now they are girls for sure, Bracken is now Laguna instead. :)

[guidofatherof5]

I think Laguna is a great name.

[Mix]

Thank you! She has a blue-ish tinge on her lower sides, so it really suits her.

[Mix]

I got a couple of photos of Laguna this afternoon; they're not great as I don't have a fancy camera (and I wish they showed her colour better), and I thought using a flash would scare the bejeesus out of her! I'll hopefully get some better ones soon. Silver declined to be photographed :rolleyes:

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//717/L21311a.jpg

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//717/medium/L21311b.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

That is the only snake on my wish list for the year. Beautiful.

[Mix]

I agree, they are beautiful. It may sound silly, but I love their head and body shape. :D I really hope I can get some good pics, showing that lovely turquoisey shade on Laguna. Silver is more olive, but with a more mustard/orange dorsal stripe.

My melanistic easterns (hopefully coming later this year) will complete my wish list (for this year, anyway), although I'm contemplating a san fran, and hubby really liked some lime-green checkereds we saw. ;)
Then I will need a silver eastern to complete my dream list. *Waits patiently for a loooooooooooooooong time*

[gregmonsta]

On a side-note, I think garters were the only way to fill a garter-shaped gap

The truth :D it is. Congrats on the newbies ;)

[Mix]

Thank you!

Happy to report that these healthy girls needed no 'adjustment' time - both chomped down on trout fillet with gusto. I think Laguna in particular is going to be a rather large snake. :)

[Jeff B]

I like your naming and Laguna looks great, congrats on your new arrivals. Just curious, I see you have cats, are British Shorthairs a commonly seen breed over there? Reason I ask is we just got a blue Brittish Shortair kitten last fall (to replace our 18yr old maine coon that passed RIP) and we had to go to great lengths to find one as they are fairly rare here in the US and everyone says, "what kind of cat is that?" By the way his name is Belfast ;) I don't understand why they aren't more popular in the US, he's a teddy bear.

[drache]

beautiful snakes - congrats
these are at the top of my wish list as well

[Mix]

The british shorthairs are gorgeous cats (the blue is my favourite!), but they are quite pricy.
Most people tend to have 'mongrel' cats as the family pets, with the pedigrees being somewhat less common. I'm sure plenty of people have them, but you don't really see them much, and I think they may be kept indoors as 'house cats' or show cats, as they are more valuable.
If you were out walking through a neighbourhood, you'd most likely see tabby cats, black and whites, and maybe tortoiseshells. Mainly shorthaired, but I do see a few longhaired. I had a tortie for about 16 years, and she was the best cat. My two now are black on white and white on black, and absolute terrors. But, you gotta love 'em!
My neighbour had a Maine Coon, which was just beautiful. Sorry to hear you lost yours, but congrats on the new guy.
Belfast is a lovely, original name, by the way! :)

[Mommy2many]

I would also love a Silver Eastern. Absolutely beautiful garters in their simplistic form.

[gartergal]

Thank you!

Happy to report that these healthy girls needed no 'adjustment' time - both chomped down on trout fillet with gusto. I think Laguna in particular is going to be a rather large snake. :)

lol yes they have a massive appetite :D im glad your happy you will have to pop round one day and see the rest :p the names are ace aswel :D

[reptileparadise]

Good to see you're liking the atratus, they certainly do have an appetite ;)

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Nice snakes!!!

[Mix]

And finally, I can reveal the elusive....

Silver!
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//717/medium/LS220311b.jpg

And more!
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//717/medium/LS220311a.jpg

And a curly Laguna
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//717/medium/L220311.jpg

Sorry about the poor quality, I had to brighten the heck out of the second one, just to see her.
But, you can kinda see a bit of the bluey shade on the closeup of Laguna. Wish it were clearer.

[ConcinusMan]

They remind me so much of northwesterns it's not even funny. One of these times I'm going to find one that is a "mock atratus" and you guys will see. The resemblance is uncanny.

[kibakiba]

They do look a lot like northwesterns, just without the side colouring. They even have the facial shape of them.... Making them adorable as heck :D

[ConcinusMan]

I find solid brown, grey, or black ones with no markings other than a single dorsal stripe all the time Chantel. In fact, last spring I found a decent sized female that looked just like that atratus except of course, no blue/green thing going on, and she was dark chocolate brown. Still, she looked a lot like an atratus. A lot like that atratus. That's what I'll do, I'll get a line of mock atratus' going.:p

[kibakiba]

Around here, they have a distinct tan colour on their sides. I've seen a pure black one here but I don't think it was a garter. Maybe a small snake. I have seen ones in different areas with a different colour. I've never seen one here without the tan stripe.

[ConcinusMan]

You find another pure black one and you've hit the jackpot. I'll pay good money for that. It was likely a melanistic northwestern. good morph breeding potential if you have a melanistic. Heck, they're cool just as they are. There really is no other snake you would find where you live, that is all black. Had to be a melanistic garter snake.

[kibakiba]

Maybe a melanistic other kind of snake :p I guess it sucks I fell into a thorn bush trying to catch it. I have a thing for dark snakes, I guess I still have that gothy teen sort of thing going on with the snakes ;) Guess I'll be out looking for the little black one when I'm also looking for others... Somehow, I hope I don't find any snakes... I'll get attached. Haha.

[ConcinusMan]

We're off topic and sorta hijacking. I'll put my reply to that ^^^ in the oh so quiet thread.;)

[Mix]

I don't mind the hijacking, always happy to be hearing about melanistics!

Don had a melanistic ordinoides a while back:
http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/general-talk/6410-new-pics.html

And I think I might be adding an anery red-sided to my wishlist... :)

[ConcinusMan]

Yeah I know. They're relatively common, as are axanthic and/or anerythristic ones. Just like the melanistic easterns, if you know where to look you can find quite a few of them. I'm still searching for my new melanistic ordinoides population. The population where I used to find them fell victim to the bulldozer.

[Mix]

:( Not good.

I'll be looking forward to seeing any you find.

[gartergal]

hey how you doing :D hows the santas any updated pics ?
to my surprise i walked in on the wc red sided mating today :eek: lol :]
the santa cruz i kept back are getting rather large now! :]

[scorpion0151]

they look really nice :)