garter snake I'd please????

[EKS56]

Eastern...

[chris-uk]

Eastern.

"When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses not zebras."

I like the logic, especially in the absence of any information about where it came from.

[Eddie]

"When I see black spots, I think of Chicago not Easterns."

[EasternGirl]

That definitely looks like an eastern to me. I have an eastern male who has similar "spotting".

[Didymus20X6]

I've caught tons of Easterns with similar spotting.

[ConcinusMan]

I thought that myself, they were marked as "garter snake" thamnophis sirtalis
at least I know it's T, s, sirtalis... thanks guys... :-)

Yeah, but there are 13 subspecies of T. sirtalis.. Even though any 2 subspecies are both T. sirtalis, crossing subspecies is still a hybrid. So, calling it "T. sirtalis" without a third subspecies name, it could be any one of 13 different snakes. Heck, even an oregon red spotted is a T. sirtalis, but so is a flame eastern. Two very different snakes. Also, a lot of people/pet stores, whatever, think that any garter snake is T. sirtalis but that is not the case. That one looks like it might have T. radix or T. marcianus in it (making it a hybrid) but it could just be an eastern garter too. There's really no knowing for sure.

[vukic]

Yeah, but there are 13 subspecies of T. sirtalis.. Even though any 2 subspecies are both T. sirtalis, crossing subspecies is still a hybrid. So, calling it "T. sirtalis" without a third subspecies name, it could be any one of 13 different snakes. Heck, even an oregon red spotted is a T. sirtalis, but so is a flame eastern. Two very different snakes. Also, a lot of people/pet stores, whatever, think that any garter snake is T. sirtalis but that is not the case. That one looks like it might have T. radix or T. marcianus in it (making it a hybrid) but it could just be an eastern garter too. There's really no knowing for sure.

now I really am confused... lol...
thanks for your imput though.. :-) very helpful...

[GarterSnake]

What a pretty snake!