eastern's

[ssssnakeluvr]

here's my snow

[zooplan]

I call it a DIRTY SNOW!

I don´t want visit your area in winter anymore,
or is there a hidden meaning again??

@Don
That´s a nice cappuccino!
May I have it with two piece of sugar?
I accept it without sugar too anyway!!

... I fail to see how an "anery" radix can be anery when it wasn't ever normally red in the first place.

A lot of mislabeling going on and misuse of the terms.

Mislabeling is based on the labeling system!

It´s easy to see how lacking of one pigment is changing colours, when you´ve learned that almost all colours on a snake are mixtures of black(blue), red and yellow pigments.

Confusion will grow, when you develope, that hyper erythristic is less than erythristic and albino has close to no meaning for reptiles ( or can mean reduction or lacking of one pigment ).
The only morphs you could be sure that they´re labeled correctly, are those with unique names from their discoverer like Flame or Silver.
It´s a dilemma.
It´s a great d i l m m a

[stonyloam]

This thread has a bunch of good eastern photos. http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/gene...-have-met.html

great snakes!

[PINJOHN]

This thread has a bunch of good eastern photos. http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/gene...-have-met.html

great snakes!

thank you so much for that link terry, it is so interesting, you can bet it is a thread i will visit again and again

[ConcinusMan]

It´s easy to see how lacking of one pigment is changing colours, when you´ve learned that almost all colours on a snake are mixtures of black(blue), red and yellow pigments.

Indeed they are. The effect of different chromatophore's in combination is a fascinating subject. Removing just one pigment from the combination can have surprising results when it reveals color that was normally masked. What may appear to remove red on a snake can actually be the results of the removal of xanthophores, not erythrophores and so a snake that is called "anery" can actually be axanthic, and visa/versa. To complicate matters, xanthosphores are not always yellow, and erythrophores can be yellow, not just red.

Just a theory, but I think that the reason my anery's are blue or green is that the blue/green pigment was there all along, masked by a pigment that is now missing. Could be orange xanthophores, erythophores, or a combination of both that is missing. Either way, I think the blue was always there and has only been revealed by removal of other pigments.

Yeah, thanks for the link Terry. Nice eastern photos! To be honest, I like the look of the 3rd and 4th picture a lot and it appeals to me much more than the erythristic easterns that everybody seems to drool over.

[Selkielass]

My Abby is an Eastern and she is a real sweetie, even if her subtle coloring may seem dull to those used to fancy Morphs.

Normal Eastern coloring is more subtle than dull in most cases. Abby is brightest on her head and neck, with subtle gradations of Olive, brown, black yellow and tiny half hidden spots of brilliant orange/red speckling the skin beneath the scales along the sides of her neck.

The bright Yellow/tan of the stripes on her back, belly and sides fade to pale tan as you get closer to her tail, and the Olive/black changes to a rich Mahogany brown that shines and reflects light like glossy well pulled taffy- almost pearly. Her tail is a more muted brown, but this just serves to make her 'disappearing act' when she retreats into the underbrush even more effective.

Most of our Michigan easterns tend to be (In my experience) very gentle animals. Catching dozens growing up I was seldom bit, and never in my memory saw blood drawn until I encountered an unusually large and feisty female when I was in Jr, High school. Abby has never attempted to bite my son or myself, even when freshly caught and panicky.

I'm sure much of this may be due to the fact that Easterns and Butlers are what I've grown up with, and am used to, but an old fashioned Yellow and Black stripey 'garden' snake is my hands down favorite.

[PINJOHN]

My Abby is an Eastern and she is a real sweetie, even if her subtle coloring may seem dull to those used to fancy Morphs.

Normal Eastern coloring is more subtle than dull in most cases. Abby is brightest on her head and neck, with subtle gradations of Olive, brown, black yellow and tiny half hidden spots of brilliant orange/red speckling the skin beneath the scales along the sides of her neck.

The bright Yellow/tan of the stripes on her back, belly and sides fade to pale tan as you get closer to her tail, and the Olive/black changes to a rich Mahogany brown that shines and reflects light like glossy well pulled taffy- almost pearly. Her tail is a more muted brown, but this just serves to make her 'disappearing act' when she retreats into the underbrush even more effective.

Most of our Michigan easterns tend to be (In my experience) very gentle animals. Catching dozens growing up I was seldom bit, and never in my memory saw blood drawn until I encountered an unusually large and feisty female when I was in Jr, High school. Abby has never attempted to bite my son or myself, even when freshly caught and panicky.

I'm sure much of this may be due to the fact that Easterns and Butlers are what I've grown up with, and am used to, but an old fashioned Yellow and Black stripey 'garden' snake is my hands down favorite.

thank you selkielass for your vivid description of abby , it just re-enforces my determination to add more of the eastern's to my slowly growing group.
you where completely unable to to hide your passion for both abby and eastern's, this is one of the reasons that I'm totally convinced that there is no other group which comes even close to garter folk

[ConcinusMan]

I'm sure much of this may be due to the fact that Easterns and Butlers are what I've grown up with, and am used to, but an old fashioned Yellow and Black stripey 'garden' snake is my hands down favorite.

I am quite fond of those myself. Northwestern with that classic black and yellow "gardner snake" look:




I do like those easterns with that look, as well as T. elegans. I think it does have a lot to do with our earliest fond memories of snakes. By far the most common snake I would find when I was a kid had that look. It then becomes the first image that pops into your head when you think of what a garter snake looks like.

[kibakiba]

That's what Mama looks like. In my opinion, she's one of my prettiest northwesterns. Time will only tell how Thumbelina and Squirt will look. Most of the garters here are red, with the exception of females, which are few and far between it seems. I've only found one female with red colouring, and she was, unfortunately, dying. I wish I had the money to save Malady from all her blisters, but she also seemed really old.

[Mommy2many]

Thank you, John. Our Easterns are beautiful animals and deserve recognition among the ranks. The Radix have much colour as well; and each is said to be magnificent.

All in all, our garters are quite admired by all of us, regardless of their origin. They are beautiful, each in their own right; from the black & yellow to the San Fancisco Garter, to the many coloured Radix to the snows. Puget Sounds to the Flames, to the most ordinary olive green and carmel colored. They are loved by us all and not for their looks.