gotsa question..

[Squeaky10199]

i know this might sound bad to people but im trying to say it in the best way possible.. Does anyone have a garter snake that they would give away for free or for cheap? i dont have that much money besides like 20 bucks. i want a different kind of garter than the ones we have here. stertalis stertalis.(spelling)... and another question, how do you guys get melanistic garters? do you buy them? or find them? can any garter be melanistic? or is it a cross breed of some sort?

[adamanteus]

I can't help with the cheap Garter I'm afraid, as I'm on the other side of the Atlantic!
The correct spelling you were after is Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis.
Melanistic Garters are naturally (but rarely) occurring. I think most of those in collections are captive bred from a very small numbers of wild caught melanistic individuals. The only melanistics I know of are T. radix and T. s. sirtalis, but there may be others.

[ssssnakeluvr]

havent seen melanistic radix, anery radix are black w/faint stripes. there are melanistic t e vagrans, wandering garters. I have also seen pics of melanistic t ordinoides, northwestern garters. there are also melanistic maritiimes on St Georges Island, read an article on them. Scott Felzer sells them for 35 i believe....not sure if my melanistic eastern bred, the male she was with possibly carried themelanistic gene...

[Stefan-A]

Originally Posted by adamanteus

Melanistic Garters are naturally (but rarely) occurring.

If I remember correctly, there are populations where melanism is very common, but it is rare overall.

edit: I'm probably thinking of the area Don mentioned. The Halifax area.

[KITKAT]

Originally Posted by Squeaky10199

i know this might sound bad to people but im trying to say it in the best way possible.. Does anyone have a garter snake that they would give away for free or for cheap? i dont have that much money besides like 20 bucks. i want a different kind of garter than the ones we have here. stertalis stertalis.(spelling)... and another question, how do you guys get melanistic garters? do you buy them? or find them? can any garter be melanistic? or is it a cross breed of some sort?

It is said that there is a melanistic T sirtalis population near Toledo, Ohio, in a certain area. I believe most of the melanistic T sirtalis in captivity originated with WC from that area, and then were outcrossed to various bloodlines of normals to make hets, then crossed the hets to get new bloodlines of melanistics to go forward with...

[Blacsmiff]

I caught melanistic sirtalis in north east ohio. I've seen gravid wild caught sirtalis give birth to both normal and melanistic offspring.

[Zephyr]

Apparently, from on one of my field guides, there are wild populations of melanistics along the banks of lake Eerie. I'll be going there this summer.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

be careful, from what i understand the naturally occuring wild melanistics up there are protected.

[enigma200316]

well I live near Erie,PA and supposedly we have a small population in the northwest here,but have not seen any in my searches, and as for them in PA I have not seen them on any list, however they way they change stuff
you never know..........

[Blacsmiff]

Originally Posted by Zephyr

Apparently, from on one of my field guides, there are wild populations of melanistics along the banks of lake Eerie. I'll be going there this summer.

Really? Me too. I plan on going late spring. I have some plus locations for melanistic sirtalis and butleri.

I know the lake erie water snake is protected. But I've never heard any thing about the melanistic garters there.