My new garter(s)

[EasternGirl]

Looks just like the fitchi in the Evolution and Ecology book...doesn't look like the parietalis. The coloring matches the fitchi...but I'm going by a book here...I've never seen either in person. Doesn't look at all like the concinnus in the book.

[mikem]

couple more shots of the male. he has a little water on him in the first pic. had to rinse him off after he decided to sling poo on me and him, haha! and last one is the best i could do for bellies. male on the left, female right.

[EasternGirl]

Yep...I'm going with fitchi based on pics...but like I said...I've never seen one in person.

[jamromhem]

lol. I am lucky that my checkered never slang poo.. She pooed on me a time or two in her first year with me, but she doesn't do that any more. Her favorite past time is just watching whoever is around through her cage.. Seems we are more entertainment for her than she is for us some days :P

[PINJOHN]

Welcome from an exceedingly mild Liverpool


TODAY'S SCOUSE FACTOID
Birkenhead park on the west bank of the river mersey was not only the first publicly funded park in Britain but it was the inspiration for many of the features put into New York's Central park by its designer Frederick Olmsted after his visit to merseyside.

[mikem]

thanks for the welcome! that reminds me... need to drop in and say hello in the welcome lounge

[guidofatherof5]

thanks for the welcome! that reminds me... need to drop in and say hello in the welcome lounge

That would be great.

[mikem]

Yep...I'm going with fitchi based on pics...but like I said...I've never seen one in person.

here's a together shot. the male looks fitchi, for sure.

[ConcinusMan]

While it's not surprising at all that people are saying "fitchi" I have to disagree. The larger one is a laterally striped female concinnus IMO. Very typical of concinnus' found outside the Willamette Valley. Especially along the Columbia River in extreme NW Oregon and SW WA, and the southern WA coast. In those locations, concinnus' carry a gene that allows for mixed litters. Some with lateral striping and fitchi-like traits, and some without. I guess you could call it dimorphism. I've worked with these type of concinnus for many years. You can breed two laterally striped ones together, or two single-striped ones together, and you'll still get mixed litters, containing both morphs. Big Bertha is of this type of concinnus, but she's a single striped. Chantel's two concinnus' (one of each type, Ember and Snap) are also of this dimorphic type. Joes is a WC adult of this dimorphic type. They may look like fitchi's but I assure you they are concinnus'.

Now, the smaller one pictured, I'm not so sure of. The color seems more typical of fitchi to me.

Of these dimorphic type of concinnus', Big Bertha is the single stripe morph:


And this is the laterally striped version. These two snakes could be siblings, and the parents could be either morph. You'll find both types in their litters, and within the populations where they live.


litters have siblings of both types, even if both parents are one type or the other:


A rough idea of where the dimorphic concinnus' are found. The Blue area I have shaded in, and of course they are also found along the Oregon side of the river and NW Oregon coast. The farther away you get from the river (Columbia and Willamette rivers, which join near Portland) and the coast, the less likely you are to find the dimorphic type. Within the actual willamette valley in Oregon, they are pretty much uniform, typical orange headed single striped.

[EasternGirl]

Hmmm...they do look like his snakes. You would know more than I. I was just going by pictures in the Evolution and Ecology book.