Fitchi or parietalis???

[reptileparadise]

Hi everyone
About two years ago, i bought a nice parietalis female (at least thats what the sold it for)
After a few weeks she gave birth to a bunch of beautifull young. It was the first time i had young of garters. Because i didn't have experience with young garters i contacted someone. He told me i might have a T. s. fitchi. Some friends of him agreed with that. Since then, i'm trying to find out if she really is a fitchi.
I posted this on a dutch thamnophis forum (fons ) as well as on a general reptileforum. Unfortunatly, i still have my doubts.
So, please...tell me what you think...i'll add a few pics and other things.
this is her...


scalecount?


on this site i found...http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/pages/t.s.fitchi.html

A medium-sized snake with a head barely wider than the neck and keeled dorsal scales.

The ground color is dark gray, black or brown. The dorsal stripe is wide and yellowish, and there is a yellowish stripe along the bottom of each side. The red on the sides of this Common Gartersnake are usually confined to the area just above the lateral stripes, in a single row, alternating with dark markings.The top of the head is dark - black, dark gray, or brownish. There is sometimes a bit of red on the sides of the head. The underside is bluish gray, and it may become darker toward the tail, or may become paler.

The eyes are relatively larged compared with other gartersnake species.

[ssssnakeluvr]

that's definitley a parietalis. Fitchi are all black with a row of red spots on the side just above the side stripe....I have a pic of on on my website and Brian Eager has photos of fitchi on his site also. I have pics of parietalis on my gallery that are brown like that....

[reptileparadise]

Great, thanks...thats a clear answer...!

[ssssnakeluvr]

You're welcome!!

[Cazador]

If you'd like a second opinion, I agree with Don. That's a parietalis. It has way too much red to be a fitchi.
Rick