I think a good deal of the problem, as we all know, lies in the common names. I was on a page last night that had a picture of a "red sided garter" and under that was listed Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis. I don't know for certain what the picture actually was of but I can say that from being in the pet business for a while, it seems that any garter snake with any amount of red on it is called a "red sided garter snake." I am far from an expert on garters and I certainly will defer to ssssnakeluvr and Garterguy on this. As I said, the stripes are definitely an rows 2-3. I'll let you no with certainty if I can ever find the guy who produced them. I guess the chain of possesion went like this. Producer, pet shop, wholesaler, me, and my wholesaler was told by the pet shop guy he got them from that they were T. radix. At least that's what he remembers.

Actually I am glad that it is T.s.parietalis. That way, if I can find a mate for it I might be able to sell them here in wisconsin. Although, I don't know if they make a distinction between subspecies. To them a T. sirtalis is a T. sirtalis.

Thanks for the help.