Some people dont know what they have

[chris-uk]

An ad on RFUK selling a "normal garter snake". It's not far from me, but with a house move next month, baby due in the summer, and 3 infernalis due in September... Shame I can't fit one more in right now.

W Midlands garter snake - Reptile Forums

Would you call that little guy "normal"?

[guidofatherof5]

Good looking little scrub.

[Invisible Snake]

I wouldn't call him normal, but then again I live in NYC so it might be normal to the seller.

[BUSHSNAKE]

looks like parietalis to me

[chris-uk]

Yep, looks like a nice red parietalis. When I first read it described as a "normal garter" I though it would turn out to be a "northern" like many garters over here.

[EasternGirl]

Yeah...lol. I was thinking...what the heck is a "normal garter"? That's a new one. What's next? I guess that makes Possum an abnormal garter...ha ha ha....I prefer the term "thamnophitically challenged".

[d_virginiana]

My favorites are when people take the place a garter was collected and name the snake after it, like "Maryland Garter for Sale". They always make me think of back in the day (like.. back in Da Vinci's day), when people's last names depended on their home-city.
I actually do enjoy those ads though, because then IDing the snake becomes a game.

I prefer the term "thamnophitically challenged".

I love that term! It could also be applied to friends and family who are scared of snakes for whatever reason.

[thamneil]

One heck of a normal! At least you guys are able to find captive bred snakes out there. Wish people in my area would have some "normal" captive bred garters for sale.

-Neil

[chris-uk]

One heck of a normal! At least you guys are able to find captive bred snakes out there. Wish people in my area would have some "normal" captive bred garters for sale.

-Neil

Us garter people over here would argue the opposite - wish I could go out and find some wild snakes to photograph, and maybe keep the odd exceptional one.
As for finding captive-bred snakes in the UK, I say "thank you European breeders", although I'm starting to see some garters sneaking onto the RFUK classifieds now. But my quota of new snakes for the year is being taken up by some infernalis from Sjoerd and Claudia (when they come over from Holland).

[thamneil]

In my neck of the woods garters are few and far between. Sure I live in the garter capital of the world yet I find it impossible to observe them. Apart from the den sites, I VERY rarely have the fortune of seeing a garter snake.

-Neil