Loren's snakes... (and such)

[reptile3]

wow that is sooo awesome!!!! preserve it.

My Northern alligator lizard shed his skin today, so I thought I'd share a pic, for those of you who didnt know that there are a few lizrds that shed their skins in one piece.

It "only" took me about a half hour to unravel the tail with toothpicks.

[Hornets23]

Nice snakes loren. You have a really impressive collection.

[Snaky]

That's a very nice collection of snakes, Loren

[anji1971]

What a fabulous collection, Loren!
I like the racers, the patchnose and the ground snake best, but they're all wonderful. Wish we had snake variety like that around here.........

[Bay_area]

Good pics Loren, but there are acouple missing & I was wondering how they are doing

[jitami]

What a wonderful collection!!! I'm so glad you finally got (most of) their pics into this thread! I just might have to have a rubber boa one of these days... they just make my heart smile How do you tell the difference from the Diablo(atratus zaxanthus)and a Mountain(elegans elegans)? Is it just locale?

[Loren]

How do you tell the difference from the Diablo(atratus zaxanthus)and a Mountain(elegans elegans)? Is it just locale?

Haha, I just went to california herps .com Key to California Gartersnakes, and to my peterson field guide, both of which give details to check for- and decided to check mine- and I had mixed results.

The truth is, that garter was given to me by a friend who is very experienced in ca. native snakes(over 30 years of keeping and studying many natives), and it was given to me as a Diablo. As memory serves me, the snake came from Diablo range, not mountain garter range. I never really questioned it.

So, anyhow, I will be double checking on the locality of this snake, and go from there.
The interesting(and possibly confusing) thing I just noticed on the range maps on caherps, is that there is an isolated population of mountains that nearly touches the easternmost part of diablo range.Range Maps for California Gartersnakes

[jitami]

Diable Range Garter Snake

This is the girl that was found in my driveway just north of Sacramento...


And this is my male from the same area...


I always thought the girl(above) looked different than him, but just attributed it to individual differences. Your girl(I assume?) seems to have more black on top of her head than either of my two, though. I dunno... I'm confused lol

[jitami]

I just went and looked at the range maps again, too... and I'm guessing I live in that little isolated spot But I'm really wondering now if that isolated spot is diablos or mountains... but I have seen elegans in the sierras that have more white like your elegans and that have the yellow like my male. The elegans seem cleaner and crisper, but really I don't have enough experience to say that! It could totally be just individual differences and nothing more. Interesting, tho.... please let me know what you find out about your Diablo.

[Loren]

Will do, Tami.
I know the main thing I notice about your elegans, and my "Diablo/elegans ? " is the enlarged #6 and #7 upper labials(upper mouth scales), as well as the black barring in between the upper labials. This is indicative of elegans. I tell you what, it sure kinda looks like we have the same snakes.
My buddy reported back that he actually got the snake from a 3rd person, so, I am waiting to see if I will be able to get a locality. I am starting to lean more towards my snake being an elegans than a diablo, mainly due to the upper labials, but I havent made my mind up yet.

My definite elegans, from the Sierra's, is definitely a little different looking, and very very clean cut, but an isolated population could surely look a little different.