My Friend Flicker

[Snakers]

High red pigment, I was wondering if thats what hes considered.....

[Flicker]

High red pigment, I was wondering if thats what hes considered.....

Could be, I have no idea how one makes that determination. But he's definitely got a lot of red in him. It was the first thing I noticed when I found him... and wondered what kind of snake he was.

I thought maybe the red would fade as he got older, but it hasn't, not at all. ^_^

[Snakers]

Could be, I have no idea how one makes that determination. But he's definitely got a lot of red in him. It was the first thing I noticed when I found him... and wondered what kind of snake he was.

I thought maybe the red would fade as he got older, but it hasn't, not at all. ^_^

Very beautiful snake!

[ConcinusMan]

On the contrary, I believe that the red pigment increases as they mature from babies to adults. You won't find babies with all that red. Also, I don't know if I'd consider this "high red" or whatever. You can basically call it what you want. It's actually not all that uncommon for northwesterns to have flecks or areas of red pigment giving the impression that they have been splattered with, or crawled through red paint. It's just that this particular snake has an exceptionally large amount of that red pigment. It's not a mutation or anything like that so I don't think I'd call it "hypererythristic" but one could call it that I suppose.

[BUSHSNAKE]

you should practice what you preach

[ConcinusMan]

OK, what is it now BUSHSNAKE? Go ahead and say what you have to say and stop being so cryptic.

[Snakers]

On the contrary, I believe that the red pigment increases as they mature from babies to adults. You won't find babies with all that red. Also, I don't know if I'd consider this "high red" or whatever. You can basically call it what you want. It's actually not all that uncommon for northwesterns to have flecks or areas of red pigment giving the impression that they have been splattered with, or crawled through red paint. It's just that this particular snake has an exceptionally large amount of that red pigment. It's not a mutation or anything like that so I don't think I'd call it "hypererythristic" but one could call it that I suppose.

um sorry??????

[ConcinusMan]

"Hypererythristic" Sorry, not exactly the correct term. "Hypoerythristic" would mean a marked, significant reduction in red pigment on a normally red snake. "Erythristic" would be a condition marked by exceptional prevalence of red pigmentation.

Since northwesterns aren't necessarily red at all, and some have more red than others, I wouldn't call this snake "erythristic". Northwesterns are famous for their polymorphism so it's difficult to consider a high red snake like this, "erythristic" since red pigment on a northwestern varies, or is absent in a perfectly normal snake. However, if someone wanted to call this snake "erythristic" as a descriptive term, it wouldn't necessarily be a wrong label. I guess that's what I was getting at.

Flicker, the Northwestern garter snake, certainly has an exceptional amount of red pigment. Truly a rare find considering the huge numbers of snakes to be found that lack red at all.

[Snakers]

"Hypererythristic" Sorry, not exactly the correct term. "Hypoerythristic" would mean a marked, significant reduction in red pigment on a normally red snake. "Erythristic" would be a condition marked by exceptional prevalence of red pigmentation.

Since northwesterns aren't necessarily red at all, and some have more red than others, I wouldn't call this snake "erythristic". Northwesterns are famous for their polymorphism so it's difficult to consider a high red snake like this, "erythristic" since red pigment on a northwestern varies, or is absent in a perfectly normal snake. However, if someone wanted to call this snake "erythristic" as a descriptive term, it wouldn't necessarily be a wrong label. I guess that's what I was getting at.

Flicker, the Northwestern garter snake, certainly has an exceptional amount of red pigment. Truly a rare find considering the huge numbers of snakes to be found that lack red at all.

Thank you for clearing it up

[ConcinusMan]

Well everyone, the time has come. That red boy named Flicker, finally met my red stripe girl today. How did he react?

Well, Flicker (username) said that Flicker (the snake) seemed "lonely" and enjoyed the company of other garter snakes. I first introduced him to some baby snakes and he was not only a very sweet snake, tame and calm, but also very inquisitive, "sniffing" everything, with his tongue going faster than I have ever seen. checking out every snake, corner and crevice.

Then I introduced my red stripe girl. He was on her like flies on a pile of ships. I'm pretty sure he likes her a lot and I don't think he's "lonely" exactly. The real word for it is what you call a short fat lizard known as the "horny" toad. He didn't have evil intentions but he did act "devilish" if you know what I mean.

Anyway, I have HD video of his enthusiastic efforts but I'll post that later to youtube. For now, here's a pic of the two together. They make a great couple, don't you think?