I googled "hibernaculum" "north"

then

"hibernaculum" "south"

then searched this forum for the same terms, and even had to look thru a very long thread entitled "jons-garter-snake-thread-suzi" until I found the terms on the 14th page.

And I still haven't quite found what I'm looking for.

Last week "joeysgreen" replied to my 1st post, in part, "The garter snake hibernaculum that I studied was at the bottom of a north facing hill and was the last place to lose the snow cover each year." (See what you started Joey.)

A webpage entitled "SNAKE HIBERNACULA" reads, in part, "How to Build a Hibernaculum 1. Select a well-drained site protected from cold winds, with good sun exposure (south-facing)." ( torontozoo.com/adoptapond/snakehibernacula.asp )

Here in the Catskill Mountains it's common knowledge (at least among outdoor enthusiasts, e.g. hikers, hunters, etc) that Timber Rattlesnakes' hibernacula are located amongst rocky outcrops on south facing slopes. It's also common knowledge that most Black Bear (Catskills has one of the world's highest densities) hibernate in dens on north facing slopes, where the snow is deepest, lasts the longest, and therefore provides the best insulation.

North or south, sun or snow?

I get it. I get that lots of members here have "Ball-Pythonitis," i.e. are primarily interested in creating the next morph. That's cool. I too like some of the morph photos/videos that I've seen. I get that a subject re where Garters congregate 6 months a year doesn't quite cut it. However on a purely mathematically basis it would seem to me that we can see more Garters emerging from just one single hibernaculum in the Spring than we can by stomping around all Summer long, and see even more returning to that same very site in the Fall. Therefore the odds of finding the next aberrant snake to produce those morphs (especially aberrants which are darker than Normals) are significantly higher in certain isolated areas during the Spring and Fall.

So, where be the Garters now?