Checker Garter growth

[infernalis]

Spot and Zig are my only 2 checker garters, Spot was brought to me by my son 2 years ago, and Zig he found last fall.

They both eat like crazy, but seem relatively small for as long as they have been here. Both look outwardly male, are very active & hold "alpha" positions in the environment where they live.

Comparatively speaking, are adult checkers smaller than say an Eastern or Radix?

Spot is about 18 inches, zig about 9-10 inches. Feed on minnows and worms almost daily.

"spot" was easy, Zig has a distinct Zig Zag to his dorsal spots, so Zig it was.

Any thoughts / observations???? does "Spot" look like some kind of checker/eastern cross breed? or a "spotted eastern"

Wayne

[Stefan-A]

Looks like an eastern (or maritime, maybe) from where I'm sitting. Checkered garters are sbout the same size as radix and sirtalis, maybe slightly smaller than sirtalis, if you stare at the numbers. If they are males, then they're going to stay pretty small.

[ssssnakeluvr]

those are eastern garters....most garters have the checker pattern. if they are males, they will stay smaller. checkered garters, t marcianus marcianus are found in the southern part of the U.S.

[GartersRock]

Yeah, those dont look at all like checkereds to me either. But very nice though!

[Snake lover 3-25]

i agree... i've found some easterns (and my female had some) that looked like that... def eastern...

[adamanteus]

je concur.

[infernalis]

Thank you all. Eastern Garter snakes are so variable.

Now what cheeses me, no one on KS ever corrected my mis-identification.

Wayne

[ssssnakeluvr]

well.....al the experts are over here!!!!!