Meet the gang!

[Stefan-A]

"common" garters are easterns, nowhere near where you live.

Unless you drop the " ".

[kibakiba]

The snakes we find here are always called "common" garters. It may not be the actual name, but they are "commonly" found, thus the name. I know Easterns aren't around here, but a pet shop worker did tell me Snakey was an eastern garter when I first caught him.

I wouldnt mind having an annectens, they seem like cute little guys... But then again I'd like having every garter in the world because I love them all But I'm happy with my pretty little snakes

[ConcinusMan]

An eastern garter in a western state. Now that makes sense. Pet store workers

Always consider the location of any wild caught garter snake and then go from there when attempting to ID. Location rules out most garter snakes in the U.S. There's only a few T.sirtalis subspecies in Washington and they look nothing like that. Labial scale counts on your snake rule them out too. That only leaves one other garter snake in Washington.

[kibakiba]

Yeah, I don't pay attention to pet store workers, but I said that I've been told that, and people seemed to get snarky about that I had a wandering garter up by my house once, I didn't think they came up to where I live and I had never seen one before in my life. I wish he didn't escape He was a cutie.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

An eastern garter in a western state. Now that makes sense. Pet store workers

*ahem*

*cough* assistant manager of a large pet supply store *cough*

when customers come into our store they leave with the correct info. Sometimes... they leave a little overwhelmed (or even angry) at just how much stuff that cute little baby turtle actually needs

no worries though... most "pet store workers" are morons.... I enjoy visiting other stores and correcting their entirely false information.

[kibakiba]

Most are because they dont have any knowledge,they just assume The place i went to said a 10 gallon tank is big enough for a garter to live its full life, but the 20 gallon I got is getting too small for mine... I want a 75 gallon tank

[ConcinusMan]

Most are because they dont have any knowledge,they just assume

And some just make sheet up so they seem knowledgeable.

@ Stefan: Seriously, many garter snakes are called common garter snakes. Somehow somewhere, it seems that somebody got the idea that this only applies to eastern garters. Even the Washington Dept of Wildlife lists species found in the state. "Common garter snake" is on the list. If it's a T. sirtalis, it's a common garter snake, regardless of subspecies. I still think it applies to garter snakes in general.

[kibakiba]

Yeah that's what I meant by assume :P

Common Garters here are the typical black with 2 tan side stripes and 1 stripe on the top that's either red or white, and I've seen a few with a light blue one.

[ConcinusMan]

I tend to think of the term "common garter snake" to apply to any garter snake. I don't take it as a name for any particular garter snake. I take it as a descriptive term. No matter where you live, if there are garter snakes, and they are common, well... 'nuff said.

To me, easterns are just that. Eastern garter snakes. Common garter snake is just a laymans term for those that recognize a snake as a garter snake but don't really go any further with the ID. That's why latin names are so important.

kibakiba, for sure, your snakes are a species that is the most common around that location you mentioned. Sound's reasonable to call it a "common garter snake". However, for the purpose of clarification you should refer to them as "Northwestern Garter Snake" or Thamnophis ordinoides. It's actually not necessary to spell out the first name since all garter snakes are Thamnophis. "T. ordinoides" or just "ordinoides" or "northwestern garter" will do just fine, and everyone here will know what snake you're talking about.

Yeah that's what I meant by assume :P

Common Garters here are the typical black with 2 tan side stripes and 1 stripe on the top that's either red or white, and I've seen a few with a light blue one.

I think it's really cool that you recognize those details and share them with us. When I was first learning about garter snakes, I had seen very few first hand and thought that all garter snakes were black with light yellow stripes. Those were northwestern garters in my neighborhood. I think you'll find out, as you travel around and see them in different places, one form or another is more common within a population of snakes. Just 2 or 5 miles away in a different northwestern garter population, they could mostly be tan with white stripes. Or mostly brown with white or yellow, but there's always some variation even in the same area, and you have seen that. Good observation.

So now, if you're still in the place where you found those northwestern garters, get yourself out to a pond, lake, or wetland and you might find a T.s. fitchii. (Thamnophis sirtalis fitchii, or Valley garter snake) It will be fast and colorful with red spots on it's side. They should be in that area. Or not.

[ConcinusMan]

yea i only, i was only comparing the similarity in the redstriped ordinoides that you had with the coloration of my annectans, they do look quite similar but obviously not an annectans, does anyone else have an annectans???

I agree, they do look similar but only if a northwestern happens to have similar colors. But annectans is a T. sirtalis and as such, has certain key traits common to all sirtalis. Northwestern garters also have their own key traits and their limited range really helps with I.D. They have a dinky little head for the size of their body and "no neck", and upper labials are 6, sometimes 7 (often 6 on one side 7 on the other). Any T. sirtalis in the northwest have offset heads and never less than 7 upper labials.

Anyway, it's easy to tell T. ordinoides apart from any sirtalis, including T. sirtalis annectans, if you look at more than color.