Canadian Garter n00b! :)

[Wanderer]

Hello everyone! I've been stalking these forums for a while now since I decided to become a garter mom. I decided its finally time to join! This seems like a great community for garter snake lovers and keepers. My name is Kelly, and about a month ago I met my first snake visitor, Indy. He/she is a (by my best guess) WC Wandering Garter, from southern British Columbia (Canada), about 2-2.5 ft in length. Due to all of your amazing information I am pretty sure its a 'He', but I will post pictures later for confirmation. I just wanted to introduce Indy and myself, but I will be asking questions and stuff soon! A a quick note: all of my interneting is done from my smart phone so I'm sorry for any spelling or formating issues I may have.

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard.

[ConcinusMan]

Count the upper labial scales on the side of the upper "lip" not including the scale on the very tip. IFor any garter found in B.C. if there's 8 on both sides, it can ONLY be T. elegans or "Western Terrestrial Garter Snake", and you are correct that the "Wandering Garter" (T. elegans vagrans) is the only western terrestrial subspecies in B.C. They're also very common in WA state but only as far south as Lewis county.

All other garters in B.C. have 6 or 7 upper labial scales. (T. ordinoides, T. sirtalis pickeringi, T. sirtalis fitchi, and in the extreme eastern foothills, T. sirtalis parietalis). All these look very different from wandering garters anyway, wanderings are pretty distinct looking, but T. ordinoides can sometimes look just like a wandering but they have a smaller head and only 6 or 7 upper labial scales.

Identification always starts with location, then process of elimination takes care of the rest. Since wanderings have 8 instead of 7 upper labials it's pretty easy to eliminate the rest of the garters that occur there. Be sure to count both sides. Occasionally T. sirtalis can have 8 but usually only on one side. Also with, wanderings, one or two scales near the crners of the mouth are greatly enlarged compared to T. sirtalis. This gives wanderings a sort of wide "smile" when viewed from the side. They also have a wider, larger head than any other garters in B.C.

[guidofatherof5]

Welcome Kelly.
Here's a link to the forum care sheet. Feel free to ask all the questions you want and when you have time post a few photos.

Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet

[joeysgreen]

Welcome Kelly. There is a lot of excellent care advice here. You should note that BC legislation bans the keeping of all wildlife, so be carefull. Wandering garters are super common but it's something to think about.

Ian