What Garter Do I Have?

[Nova89]

Hi, I am new to this board. I have had my garter snake for almost a year now. I bought it in July of 2006. To this day, I still have no clue or whatsoever on what kind of garter snake this is. It eats like crazy, and it never seems to get bigger. Does anyone know why? And what kind of snake is it? Is it even a boy or a girl? Please let me know ASAP.

[adamanteus]

Looks like an Eastern to me. T.s.sirtalis.

[Cazador]

T.s. sirtalis. Looks like you might have a fully-grown male, which would explain its lack of growth. If you give us a clear, side shot of its vent and the next several inches toward its tail, we could probably tell you for sure. Another picture of the same area from the underside would also be nice.

Rick

[Nova89]

T.s. sirtalis. Looks like you might have a fully-grown male, which would explain its lack of growth. If you give us a clear, side shot of its vent and the next several inches toward its tail, we could probably tell you for sure. Another picture of the same area from the underside would also be nice.

Rick

Are u serious? That snake is fully grown?? I thought it was a teen or something. I will post some new shots soon! It was fed today so I dont want to handle it too much and upset it.

[Cazador]

I could be wrong, but a lot of T.s. sirtalis males remain fairly small. How about measuring it when you get a chance? Sometimes it's hard to judge size without a frame of reference.

[GarterGuy]

Hmmmmm....not entirely sure it's an Eastern (T.s.sirtalis).....might be a Butler's (T.butleri). Is this a snake that you bought or one that you caught? (and no I did NOT try to make a rhyme, I wouldn't waste my time ) Anways, it'd help a lot for ID, knowing where the snake came from. Also some more detailed shots of the head, especially where it meets the neck (from above shots) would help to differenciate between sirtalis and butleri.
Roy

[RedSided]

Its hard to mark the growth, from the first pic it looked female to me the rear end did seem to have a more noticeable taper ,but in the other pics it looks male, can't be sure either way without another pic.

[Nova89]

Ok I took some more pics of "it" today so I hope you can help me now.

[Nova89]

And more...

[Nova89]

Hmmmmm....not entirely sure it's an Eastern (T.s.sirtalis).....might be a Butler's (T.butleri). Is this a snake that you bought or one that you caught? (and no I did NOT try to make a rhyme, I wouldn't waste my time ) Anways, it'd help a lot for ID, knowing where the snake came from. Also some more detailed shots of the head, especially where it meets the neck (from above shots) would help to differenciate between sirtalis and butleri.
Roy

Oh yeah, I bought this snake from Petland in NYC. It was labeled as a Northern Garter Snake, but when I did research I couldn't find any thing on any Northern Garter.