The Very First of Her Kind.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

At least, that's as far as Scott Felzer, myself, and numerous others I have spoken with say.

In late august of 2007 I was on vacation at Arrowhead Lake in the pocono region of PA. We (my boyfriend and his family) had a lakeside house complete with a canoe, paddleboat, golf kart, and two bicycles. We used them all, even fell out of the canoe into the lake once. But the bicycles were our favorite. A few times a day I would drag him out and we would bike to an edge of this small lake that was bordered by light grey rocks/ boulders.

The area was teeming with thamnophis. Garter snakes everywhere! All we had to do was to walk back and forth at the the edge of the rocks where they met the grass. My first find was an erythristic female. She was the only other snake i dare take from this wonderful place.

On the second to last time we visited these rocks, a very special snake turned up. I was about 15 feet from her upon sighting, and instantly, I knew she was different. She stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the lush emerald blades of grass she was foraging in. But within seconds of spotting her, I was making a MAD dash for her and she in turn was making a mad dash for those rocks! I caught her by the very tip of her tail as she delicately attempted to slip away into a crevice.

Upon picking her up for examination, my boyfriend, who has not long been familiar with the world of snakes, exclaims "what's the matter with it's skin! it looks sick."

But no, she was indeed not sick, but hypomelanistic, or so it is beleived. And to put the icing on the cake, she at that time was carrying a very precious cargo of five little ones! At just fourteen inches, the fact that this garter was carrying young was astonishing for me. She's almost still a baby herself!

So I took her home. A month passes. She gives birth to five bouncing babies. All, as expected, are dark standard looking easterns. Two of them however, have the most peculiar little markings on their heads. On top of their heads between their eyes, they have two little parallel black lines, very close together and about a millimeter in length. They are not something I have ever observed on a garter. Mom shows no sign of these lines. What are they? are they genetic? I didn't think so. Until recently. The two babies that display these lines are slowly lightening up as they grow. Nothing drastic. But it is a noticeable change worth documenting.

Now here we are, it's january, mom is hibernating in preparation for the '08 breeding season and her five children are eating from my hands every three days. I intend to breed back a son to her, to (hopefully) prove the trait.

Instead of describing her to you, why not just show you all some pictures?

[tikichick]

She's beautiful! I hope she proves out for you

[NFS07]

Nice snake. Nice find!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

thanks. any suggestions on a name? I am stuck and I name every snake I own!

[EdgyExoticReptiles]

well say shes hypo and she mated with a normal male wouldnt that mean that they are all het for hypo and none would show the gene right? unless she mated with a het hypo male right? then half would be hypo which could be the case here if you said 2/5 are starting to get lighter and are you going to breed together whatever you can of this litter? i hope that some or all have some form of the gene, then we would be closer to a super hypo

[GarterGuy]

Well for a name, how about Nigma....short for enigma...being that she's one of a kind and such.
I do have to say though, if you live here in PA, I would not advertise the fact that you're breeding native T.s.sirtalis, for it is illegal. Updated Fish and Boat Commision Herp laws state that you are only allowed to have one specimen of a native species in your possesion. I personally think the law is rediculous, even though it is meant to help preserve native species and keep "collectors" from hurting native populations. It hurts those who are trying to establish CB populations of native species, so wild collection is no longer needed. But it is the law that's on the books now. Also if you were to try and sell her or any of her babies, you'd not only be in violation of this law, but if the sale were across state lines, you'd also be in violation of the Lacey Act....which would make charges a federal offence. Sorry to be a downer, just making sure you'r aware of the laws here in the state.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

for these reasons, I am actually hoping she's a pallidus. It's hard for me to tell. But I don't think pallidus are found in this range. I am aware of this native species law, but she's not a normal sirtalis. This is how I was able to obtain a white-sided black rat snake in this state. I don't plan on living here much longer anyways.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

In response to reed_kamsler, I beleive she is hypo. So she will be bred to her own son to prove the trait true. this is the only breeding I can do until the females from her litter are of breeding age.

[GarterGuy]

Ok good to hear that you already know the laws.....oh and the white sided black rat (actually called an eastern rat now) is actually on an exempt list of animals that can be kept. No thamnophis "mutations" are on this list, just the eastern rat and eastern milksnake. (Actually had a hand in helping get the laws to where they are now through my herp society.....as much as they suck....they were going to be A LOT worse!) As far as it being pallidulus....yeh, it's WAY too far south for that. It is a real shame, I'd love to be able to work with various T.s.sirtalis morphs, but because of the laws, I'm working with pallidulus....and they're A LOT harder to get.

[EdgyExoticReptiles]

im thinking maybe i should actually continue to breed maritimes, i might be selling my adult pair to don in the spring after babies come, but maybe i can keep some babies and breed them back to each other?? i read some where that maritimes change color as they get older is this true?