My first garter hunt

[HazAnga]

Well this is my first time herping for garters. I went out towards where I used to live as a kid and maybe a 15 min bike ride from there is a park and through that particular part of the park a train track goes though it. And then beside the park is kind of an open area where there's lots of old railway tie's and scrap wood and other things for garters to hide under. And if you go down further there's a whole bunch of piles of sand (perfect for making dens in) there about 6 feet high or so and about 8 feet or more in diameter at the base. A co-worker of mine lives not far from there but the other way from my old house, and has been over at this place quite a few times with his sons herping for garters and other things. Well I went out today with another co-worker and his step son and we caught a total of 6 smaller garters, and saw about another 3 or 4 bigger one's.
I did bring my camera (smart thinking on my part :D) so here's some pix

Here's the first 2 that we saw and caught (They were under separate railway ties but within 4 feet of each other.
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0329.jpg
This is the third one we saw, the pic is kinda blurry though, sorry
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0331.jpg
Here's another pic of the 3rd that we caught and the forth one as well, I kept the one with the solid colour and just the dorsal stripe. They were hiding under a couple pieces of 'OSB' Orientated strand board that was laying between two of the sand hills.
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0332.jpg
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0339.jpg

[HazAnga]

This is the 5th one we saw it was hiding under a slab of asphalt. It looks like the tail was pinched short some time ago.
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0333.jpg
It looks like it was going into blue phase
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0334.jpg
set it free on the piece of asphalt.
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0335.jpg
This is the 7th one we saw (yes i know i skipped one but i missed getting a picture of it while we were out)
This one we saw was hiding in a small shelf/hole in the sand pile
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0336.jpg
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0337.jpg
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0338.jpg
We had seen another one before that one but it bolted right off into it's den, which was sorta covered by an old tree base that had been dug up at some point.

[HazAnga]

I decided to keep 2 of the ones i caught, for a little while at least.
This one is the one that i missed getting a picture of, it has some different patterning.
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0340.jpg
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0341.jpg
The head was different too, I think it's cool
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0342.jpg
It's got a nice white belly that sorta goes up the sides a little further then average.
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0343.jpg
This is a closeup of the back
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0344.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

Looks like it was a good trip.
Great looking wild scrubs. Looks like they're eating well.

[HazAnga]

Here's the other one I brought home for a bit
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0345.jpg
A belly shot
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0347.jpg
I like how solid the back colour is and then the dorsal stripe
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0349.jpg

I plan on going back to that spot myself tomorrow after I do a little lawn cutting, I'd be there early afternoon... when is usually the best time to go out and find them?

[HazAnga]

Looks like it was a good trip.
Great looking wild scrubs. Looks like they're eating well.

Yeah Steve there a small creak not far from them and then a very small stream with a whole lot of tadpoles in it lol.

[kibakiba]

That black and white one looks like my little Silver (I really need to get a better name for him ;))

Silver's belly is a white speckled light gray, though. He's so tiny that it looks just gray,but if you look hard you can see the speckles. Very awesome trip, though. More snakes than I'd find around here with the pond gone.

[Philminator]

I live a few hours away from London in Ottawa and I have been to Gatineau Park and a bunch of places, lifting every rock , branch , leaf you can think of and I've spent about 100+ hours only to find a juvenille eastern garter :( I wish I could find them left , right and center. Any tips? special times of the day? my ex gf messaged me saying she went for a walk same path as me at 7 pm and she found over a dozen garters all together I usually go between 10am - 5pm after that im tired lol

[d_virginiana]

Thanks for sharing those pics. That little gray one you kept is especially neat! I hardly ever see wild garters around my house, but I've never seen one anywhere that's quite that color before.

[ConcinusMan]

Your 5th one isn't a garter. That's why the head looks "different" as you were saying. ;) It's a Storeria dekayi.(Brown snake, A.K.A. Dekay's snake) :) Not sure if this one is the same as the 5th, but this snake is also a dekayi and a particularly pretty one too! These guys don't like heat at all and usually will only eat slugs. Keep him cool.

http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0343.jpg


The solid colored one is definitely a female, and probably gravid.
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0345.jpg

[Reptar!]

Very cool finds man. Keep up the good work. And to Philminator (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/members/philminator.html) I would say the early morning is when I have seen the most activity. And in the evening before they go in for the night when they are soaking up the last heat for the day. If you can only get out in the heat of the day try flipping boards or logs or anything you think they will be under. Also near a water source you will have better luck. And most of all, just stay with it. If you are only trying to find one then its only a matter of time before you find one.

[ConcinusMan]

Good tips. I agree.

[Philminator]

Very cool finds man. Keep up the good work. And to Philminator (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/members/philminator.html) I would say the early morning is when I have seen the most activity. And in the evening before they go in for the night when they are soaking up the last heat for the day. If you can only get out in the heat of the day try flipping boards or logs or anything you think they will be under. Also near a water source you will have better luck. And most of all, just stay with it. If you are only trying to find one then its only a matter of time before you find one.
Thanks I'll keep those times in mind.

[RedSidedSPR]

They are AWSEOME!! I love the solid one.

I look for garter every day and (no one believes me) I have only found 2... my whole life of herping. Which is about 5 years. One is my garter. I bought my other two.
Pitiful right?:p I have the worst luck herping.

[HazAnga]

Your 5th one isn't a garter. That's why the head looks "different" as you were saying. ;) It's a Storeria dekayi.(Brown snake, A.K.A. Dekay's snake) :) Not sure if this one is the same as the 5th, but this snake is also a dekayi and a particularly pretty one too! These guys don't like heat at all and usually will only eat slugs. Keep him cool.

http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0343.jpg


The solid colored one is definitely a female, and probably gravid.
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0345.jpg

Thanks for the tip on the brown snake, I didn't know that. and yes it is a pretty one, but I have to say that it does have a couple war wounds on it, I don't know what it's from, but it looks like it was done a long while ago because it was all healed up.
And the solid one looks as if it's still a baby, it's pretty small, the picture is a closeup lol, but how can you tell it's a female?

[HazAnga]

And also i did a quick search, and I believe the one i brought home is a Northern brown snake (Storeia dekayi dekayi)

But i went out again today... Only saw 3 garters, and they all looked the same and around the same size
I got a picture and a very short video (because somehow the camera went to video mode in my pocket, and I was holding a camera in one hand and a log with a piece of asphalt on it in the other so changing it would have for sure lost me a shot, eventually the snake slithered away)
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0350.jpg
This is the short video, if you click on it you should be able to see it
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/th_MVI_0351.jpg (http://s1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/?action=view&current=MVI_0351.mp4)
And I saw this guy on the side of the path on my way back to the car
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0353.jpg

[ConcinusMan]

And the solid one looks as if it's still a baby, it's pretty small, the picture is a closeup lol, but how can you tell it's a female?

Lots of experience. It just seems awfully thick in all the right places to not be gravid in spite of it's small size but I could be wrong about her being gravid. Definitely female though.

To be more specific about what tells me it's female, that is a heavy bodied snake. If you'll notice how easy it is to tell, even by looking from above, where the tail starts. The tail is short and tapers abruptly. Starting right at the cloaca, going upward toward the head, the body suddenly gets thick. In other words, the body is thick all the way to the cloaca, then all the sudden, it gets thinner really quick.

If I were looking at a male, the body would be thinner and gradually get thinner all the way to the tail tip and I wouldn't be able to tell where the tail begins by looking at it from above. If that were simply a heavy bodied male, the tail would taper (get thinner) gradually, and it would be longer and not so offset from the body.

[kibakiba]

Perhaps it's chubby. Really chubby. If you didn't know how big or old Pumpkin was, a day after eating she could pass off as a gravid snake I'm sure ;)

[charles parenteau]

Here's the other one I brought home for a bit
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0345.jpg
A belly shot
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0347.jpg
I like how solid the back colour is and then the dorsal stripe
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k491/HazAnga/2011%20Herping/IMG_0349.jpg

I plan on going back to that spot myself tomorrow after I do a little lawn cutting, I'd be there early afternoon... when is usually the best time to go out and find them?

this snake is one of most beautiful i've ever seen really clean -sharp-look spacial juste awesome find!!

[RedSidedSPR]

this snake is one of most beautiful i've ever seen really clean -sharp-look spacial juste awesome find!!

I agree. I want one

[Jeff B]

That one is definately brown snake. Are you in the range of the Butler's garter or short headed garter, that other one looks more like a Butlers than an eastern from what I have seen, shes really cool looking either way with the solid brown and lack of checkering.
Any Butler's garter experts out there?

[RdubSnider]

Looks like a Butler's to me as Well. Its small size for its thickness is another thing to point towards butlers since they typically stay much shorter than easterns. Females average is 18 to 24 inches. I'd say Butler's.

[Spankenstyne]

It does look like a Butler's, nice find. If it is a Butler's just a heads-up though, they're considered "threatened" and protected Canada-wide. I'd release it back where you found it.
The Dekay is a little beauty too.

[HazAnga]

It does look like a Butler's, nice find. If it is a Butler's just a heads-up though, they're considered "threatened" and protected Canada-wide. I'd release it back where you found it.
The Dekay is a little beauty too.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll be releasing both of them sometime this week, hopefully maybe tomorrow, I want to go later in the afternoon early evening when there out catching the last bit of heat for the day. I'm hoping to see more then, maybe some of the red one's my co-worker says he's been seeing.

[Selkielass]

It doesn't look like the Butlers we have in my area.
Most sites agree that the distinguishing feature for butlers, aside from size and the small head is their distinct triple striping. Their side stripes are distinct, and do not blend into the belly scales- they have dark scales below their side stripes *then* the green or brown or whatever color their belly scales are.

You may have a distinct local variation, but most of the sites I have read count the scales between the belly and side stripes.

http://herpcenter.ipfw.edu/Accounts/reptiles/snakes/Butlers_Garter_Snake/ButlersFactSheet.pdf