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