wild garters cross breeding in the wild.

[kibakiba]

Yeah, we have a melanistic (possibly male or young female) here... It lives in the field. Seen it twice, but both times I couldn't catch it. Always pops up in the blackberry bushes. My little Derpy is dull black with a fading stripe. He's an oddity in his own right. Mostly mentally

Also, Snakey (rest his little soul) was black, light lipped with tan side stripes. The spotting could be that it was an ery. I believe Ashley's baby, Cuddles, has orangey spots on him. My favourite garter from when I was a kid was a fitchii... I was 4 almost 5 and a worker brought me a black garter, had very little red spotting with a yellow upper lip area with a little tiny bit of orange at the tip of its nose... Around here, unless you catch the elusive blue northwestern... It's the most colourful snake you'll ever see.

[the_edsta]

Still curious... anyone with interspecific experience with infernalis and parietalis? I know the OP asked about parietalis and radix, but this pairing seems more likely to me (and I've wondered about it in the past).

[tspuckler]

It is scientifically proven ...

Science, as a rule, never proves anything. Gravity, evolution, etc. are all theories. A theory may have a lot of evidence to support it, but it can never be "proven." This is a basic "rule" of science.

Here's a three-way atratus cross (Santa Cruz, Oregon and Diablo Range Garter Snake) that I found last year.

[ConcinusMan]

Here's a three-way atratus cross (Santa Cruz, Oregon and Diablo Range Garter Snake) that I found last year.

And where is the DNA test results that brought you to that conclusion? And besides, those are all the same species. Without the DNA testing to prove it, you simply have an intergrade. It doesn't mean you have a hybrid.

[Stefan-A]

And where is the DNA test results that brought you to that conclusion? And besides, those are all the same species. Without the DNA testing to prove it, you simply have an intergrade. It doesn't mean you have a hybrid.

It may be an intergrade, it may be an intraspecific hybrid. If it's a cross involving different subspecies, it's the latter. It may even be both.