The snakes are out!!!!

[anji1971]

Well, the mercury hit 13C today, and we went for a nice walk in one of the city's conservation areas. One which I haven't been to since I was a kid, and boy- oh- boy........ it was garter heaven!!!!!
We must have found twenty or so garters of various sizes around the pond, and the kids even got to witness a pair mating. Very cool!
BUT..........that's not the best part.
We have a new snakie!!!!
I believe it is a ribbon snake, but I won't bet my life on it. I'll post pics as soon as the kids are in bed for the night, and let all you pros tell me what you think (provided my photos are good enough to even tell!!)

I'll be back soon!

[Snake lover 3-25]

hmmmmm.... i envy you... but at least i saw my first frog of the season today..... must be a sign that the garters are coming

[anji1971]

Okay, here's the new guy!
Took these when we first got home:



Here he is in his new tank


This is what my 'snake corner' looks like now! Deejay on the left, new snake on the right, Stitch underneath.


I'm not sure yet if this new one is actually male or female, I'll post vent pics later on. If I can, I'd like to eventually house it with Deejay in my big tank. We'll see!

[EdgyExoticReptiles]

thats not a ribbon, i think its a red-sided without red, not positive though

[Zephyr]

Or a butlers.
Are those in your area?

[enigma200316]

I was thinking sirtalis, or butlers, but deff. don't think its a ribbon...

[anji1971]

Well, we don't have red-sided garters here, so it's not that.
But we do have Butlers, and unfortunately they're protected, so I would rather it not be that!
These pictures don't really show it as clearly as I'd like, but I'll have to let him settle in and get him out in the sunlight to get some better ones.
His colouring is black with gold-ish stripes, and they blend into a beautiful bronze-brown shading on the sides, with a creamy belly.
I thought he might be a ribbon just because his stripes seem closer together and more sharply defined than all the other garters around here. There were only two that I saw today that looked like this one, and the others were definitely Easterns.

[enigma200316]

on the pic I see alittle bit of a checkered pattern at the neck area so I'm gonna lean towards sirtalis sirtalis...........

[anji1971]

That's just the way the picture looks. There are no checkers on this one, unless they pop out when I feed it......
I'm really hoping it's just an extra-pretty T. s. sirtalis; either way, I think it's a beauty -- I wish I could show the colouring better here.

[EdgyExoticReptiles]

yea most likely sirtalis if you dont have red-sideds where u are