Bright orange stripe

[JohnJohn]

Hi,

I have a question for the experts, about color variation in eastern garters. I live in southwest Ohio. I see eastern garters frequently on my property and I've certainly been impressed with how much they can vary in color and appearance. Most of the ones I see on my property are brown and gray and often with some small stripes of blue which can range from steel grey to bright turqoise blue. Sometimes I will see some with red stripes but these seem less common on my property.

Yesterday, I found a young garter that had the most stunning orange stripe. The underside of this snake is a beautiful yellow green color and running down the sides is the orange stripe. Up close it is the brightest orange like the color of a bright neon orange highlighter pen. Not red, but brilliant orange. I've never seen anything like it. Is this unusual? Anyone have pictures with such bright orange stripes?

Sorry, no pics. I actually caught the snake and put it in a tank. I wanted to do some studying to see if this was unusual before I decide to either keep it or release it.

[guidofatherof5]

Welcome to the forum. I'm sure I speak for the other but we want to see a photo.
Don't tease us like that. Sounds beautiful.

[gregmonsta]

Greetings I second the request for pics!! I'm sure Don and a couple of others have some nice orange easterns in their collections.

[JohnJohn]

OK, I just did some searching and see some pics of orange easterns. I think mine may be exceptional. I was wondering if the brighness of the color was related to the fact that it is a very young one.

I'll take some pictures and post them later.

By the way, I'm not experienced with garters. I have a lot of corn snakes and pythons, but never kept garters. I think this one might be the one that wins me over.

[JohnJohn]

OK, I searched on line and found some pictures of easterns with orange. Mine looks similar, but a bit different. I guess I really should try to get some pics.

This guy is really fast, so I'm not sure how best to get a good close up picture. I'm OK with a camera but not great. Any suggestions for picture taking methods?

[Zephyr]

I think I know EXACTLY what you found. A butler's garter snake!
That's exactly how I would define the colors from my area.
Was the head really small?

[Zephyr]

The striping was just like on those, except brighter orange, right?

[Zephyr]

Here's one that I found that I think is what you're describing, only swap the bright yellow with orange instead.

[charles parenteau]

here is orange eastern.

[drache]

the suspense is killing me . . .
whichever is is, I'm glad it's winning you over
welcome to the forum, John