Hi from Olympia Washington!

[Josh_r]

New to this forum but definitely not to herping or thamnophis. I have been interested in critters since I was about 6. I got into serious herping when I moved to Arizona at the age of 20. I saw some amazing things down there. Brown vine snakes, green rat snakes, mountain rattlesnakes, coral snakes, Mexican hooknose snakes, mountain kings, and many other amazing animals. Had many encounters with several thamnophis species as well. 6 years later, I moved back to Washington state. I have not done much herping here as I have not made the time and quite honestly I don't have anyone to go herping with. I have made a few trips to zonata country as well as some top notch salamander habitats around here, but most of my herping trips since I've been back have consisted of a drive to northern California. Anyhoo, I have never paid too much attention to thamnophis until the past couple years. I remember when I was younger finding various color morphs of ordinoides, even blues and red stripes, bluish pugets too. Too bad I didn't realize how interesting they really are back then. Seems garters are no where near as common as they used to be when I was younger. Anyhoo, I have really taken a liking to concinnus and certain locals of infernalis and fitchi. I have never found fitchi in the northwest but I have found them in the yosemite area of California and I remember them being large, very pretty and very impressive!

So now I'm going to explore my interest in this genus. I just wish I had found this forum sooner

Josh

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard.

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you with us Josh.

[mustang]

Welcome! Im Robert:D

[brain]

Welcome Josh.
Yea "If only" when we were younger I too would have SF's in my collection.

[ssssnakeluvr]

welcome to the forum!!! quite fond of fitchi myself.... am breeding Utah fitchi =) there have been some big ones found in Idaho too...I used to have one that was clsoe to 3 feet long, and a big breeder, Scott Felzer, was given one years ago from Idaho that was close to 4 feet long! I also work with concinnus, blue and normals, and have blue pugets. :D

[katach]

Welcome to the forum! Do you keep any garters right now?

[RedSidedSPR]

Welcome! I love concinnus and fitchi too! And infernalis, and just about any others, but glad to have you with us! :D

[Mommy2many]

Welcome to the forum!

[jitami]

Welcome Josh :)

[infernalis]

http://www.thamfriends.com/mat.jpg

[drache]

welcome to the forum, Josh

[Josh_r]

Thank you for all the warm welcomes! Very pleasant compared to some other forums i've been on. I look forward to getting to know people on here and getting to know some thamnophis too!


Welcome to the forum! Do you keep any garters right now?

I dont keep any garters right now. As of now, i keep some dart frogs, mantellas, and bumblebee toads. I have always wanted to get me a pair of concinnus though. lately, ive found myself wanting a pair of infernalis too :)

I used to keep many hots back in the day, various rattlesnakes, coral snakes, and arboreal vipers.... but those days are over. now that I cannot keep those guys, I didn't know what I wanted to keep. thamnophis!! Charina bottae would be cool too!

Is there anyone on here from around the olympia area at all?

[Josh_r]

OH!! for anyone interested, here is my photobucket page with lots of herp pics from when I lived in Arizona

Pictures by pascoman81 - Photobucket (http://s243.photobucket.com/albums/ff288/pascoman81/)

[tonyb]

Welcome to the forum!

[brain]

Is there anyone on here from around the olympia area at all?

Michael, Whidbey Island, WA :(

[RedSidedSPR]

I love concinnus to! I'm getting one soon. It will arrive in a few days!

[katach]

Is there anyone on here from around the olympia area at all?

I live in Kitsap county. My NW is most likely pregnant . Snakhill is getting a couple if still interested, would you be interested in any if she is? It may be she is just really fat so I don't want to get hopes up. They are great small garters with a very sweet personality!

[guidofatherof5]

They are great small garters with a very sweet personality!

Amen to that.;)

[jitami]

Charina bottae would be cool too!


Next on my want list :cool:

[Josh_r]

Next on my want list :cool:

What part of norcal do you live in?


Katach, I may be interested. Depends on how much room I have. Typically, I like to go out and catch my own breeding stock so I know where they came from and what not, plus it's really fun and rewarding. However, cb is good too! I want to try to get to oregon soon to look for a pair of concinnus. I'm really interested in the regular clean patterned morph with the bright red/ orange head. They are my favorite!

[PINJOHN]

Hi Josh welcome from a very sunny Liverpool:)

[katach]

Katach, I may be interested. Depends on how much room I have. Typically, I like to go out and catch my own breeding stock so I know where they came from and what not, plus it's really fun and rewarding. However, cb is good too! I want to try to get to oregon soon to look for a pair of concinnus. I'm really interested in the regular clean patterned morph with the bright red/ orange head. They are my favorite!

No problem. I'll be posting pics of the new babies when they get here. So if you are interested you can PM me. Willow is a wild caught and turned out to be gravid. She was caught here is Kitsap county at a local dog park.

[kibakiba]

Whats fun about northwestern babies is you don't know what you will get, and a lot of the time, they wont look the same as they did at birth. Specks and Spots have been darkening up, it's really fun seeing them transform every day ;)

[katach]

I can't wait!!

[ConcinusMan]

Welcome Josh. I'm in Clark county. Now get out there and find some blue pugets and start posting pics. They're nice and blue around Olympia /Ft. Lewis.

[ConcinusMan]

I want to try to get to oregon soon to look for a pair of concinnus. I'm really interested in the regular clean patterned morph with the bright red/ orange head. They are my favorite!

Concinnus' everywhere in Clark Co. and Portland area of Oregon but you have to go farther south to find the type you described. At least as far as McMinville. South of Salem is better.

Clark Co. WA:

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg88/scaled.php?server=88&filename=headsup.jpg&res=medium

Clark Co. laterally striped morph:

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg294/scaled.php?server=294&filename=gedc1638small.jpg&res=medium

And the location of these in Oregon, I prefer to keep to myself:

Blue anerythristic morph:

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg819/scaled.php?server=819&filename=x031large.jpg&res=medium

And finally, when you get near Mcminville, you start seeing orange heads but they get brighter and cleaner farther south.

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg844/scaled.php?server=844&filename=x010large.jpg&res=medium

[ConcinusMan]

Find me some of these, and we can make a deal. Maybe we can save each other the trip. Puget Sound garter, blue phase, near Ft. Lewis:

ZbS6up9Vd8k

[kibakiba]

I feel bad for that snake.

[ConcinusMan]

Naaah, I talked to the guy. It was a few years ago and the snake wasn't harmed. They let her go. She's gorgeous though. I would have kept her of course.

[kibakiba]

Yeah, but the kid who ran past her and smacked her. I would have smacked that kid. I don't like kids.

[RedSidedSPR]

Stupid iPhone....

[RedSidedSPR]

I don't like kids.

Lol, who does? :D

[kibakiba]

Parents love their kids. But, I hate loud noises, and my boyfriend gets obnoxious enough that I don't have patience to deal with obnoxious kids. I like calm kids.

[ConcinusMan]

Yeah, they get on my nerves big time. You like calm kids? two words for you:

Melatonin. NyQuil. :p

[kibakiba]

Or strict punishment when they disobey. But, anyways... I wont have to worry about that for a while since my boyfriend is 2000 miles away. No risk of kids for a long time, thankfully.

[ConcinusMan]

Or strict punishment when they disobey.

That never solves anything. Just makes me have to listen to even more whining and crying.

[kibakiba]

Not really. My niece and nephew know that if I'm around, if they disobey, they are in serious trouble. They don't make a peep.
Around my mom, they're loud as hell and scream if she tries to punish them.

[RedSidedSPR]

Dey sceered of ya dats what....

[ConcinusMan]

Probably. She scares the heck out of me.

[Didymus20X6]

Kids just need to know you're serious, that's all. If they understand you mean business, they'll stay in line. But if they get the impression you're not serious, they'll treat you just like they did Ahnold in that one movie, "It's Not A Tuma!"

[kibakiba]

Yeah, my moms a pushover, I'm not. When I say knock it off, they know I mean it. Their dad punishes them with spanking, when I don't agree with, but if they continue to disobey after going in the corner, they get what their dad has asked me to do. I'm more lenient about it, because the fact I don't think smacking a kid does anything, but yeah. I'm the "evil" aunty.

[Josh_r]

Find me some of these, and we can make a deal. Maybe we can save each other the trip. Puget Sound garter, blue phase, near Ft. Lewis:

ZbS6up9Vd8k

I have seen some really nice blues in the past around here. I've even found some very blue ordinoides (spelling?) around shelton. Concinnusman, I will definitely look for some blues for ya. I would still like to go out and lol for some concinnus in person though. It's half the fun of getting the snakes. I do understand you wanting to keep the blue locality secret. When I lived in Arizona, I saw many of my favorite spots for my favorite things get ransacked by careless herpers. I would love to one day get together for some herping in Oregon. I would love to find some aneides ferreus as well :) I'll shoot you a pm

Thank you all for such a warm welcome!!! Anyone up this way willing to do some herping, I'm more than up for it. I don't know any herpers here. All my herping buddies are in Arizona or Texas.

Josh

[ConcinusMan]

Well, I'm coming up there to your area this week. Not sure which day yet. Thurs., fri, or sat. Maybe we can meet.

And I was aware that there are northwesterns up there just as blue as the pugets. There's some kind of evolutionary pressure up there that is causing them to be blue in the south end of the sound. In the case of the blue concinnus' they are few among certain populations of normals. It's a mutation, rather than a "normal" coloration. It's their low numbers that concern me. I don't want people descending on the area and taking them all or they will all be gone.

[Josh_r]

Well, I'm coming up there to your area this week. Not sure which day yet. Thurs., fri, or sat. Maybe we can meet.

And I was aware that there are northwesterns up there just as blue as the pugets. There's some kind of evolutionary pressure up there that is causing them to be blue in the south end of the sound. In the case of the blue concinnus' they are few among certain populations of normals. It's a mutation, rather than a "normal" coloration. It's their low numbers that concern me. I don't want people descending on the area and taking them all or they will all be gone.

VERY much understood! It doesn't really sink in until you've seen your favorite populations of a species get picked clean to the point where you can't find them anymore. I had some favorite spots in Arizona and from telling a single person, about 3 of my favorite spots were picked clean. Once again by that single person. He didnt share with anyone else, just did it himself. The impact of even a single careless person can be devastating.

[Josh_r]

Well, I'm coming up there to your area this week. Not sure which day yet. Thurs., fri, or sat. Maybe we can meet.

And I was aware that there are northwesterns up there just as blue as the pugets. There's some kind of evolutionary pressure up there that is causing them to be blue in the south end of the sound. In the case of the blue concinnus' they are few among certain populations of normals. It's a mutation, rather than a "normal" coloration. It's their low numbers that concern me. I don't want people descending on the area and taking them all or they will all be gone.



You still coming up here tomorrow concinnusman?

[kibakiba]

He got banned for a week. Don't expect a reply for a while.

[Josh_r]

Shoot! I was supposed to meet up with him tomorrow! Anyone have an email address I can reach him at since he cannot access his pm box to get mine?

[katach]

He is on other forums. I did a google search for you. Try this forum My Pet Forums (http://www.thamfriends.com) Good luck!