MONSTER garter snakes

[chris-uk]

Reasonable points about wild populations getting smaller.

In captivity though I'm aware of a female marcianus which weighs in around 800g measures well over 100cm and is generally regarded as a big girl. She's bigger than my Cuitzeo girl. I think in captivity it's down to feeding and care, the selective pressures that may produce smaller wild populations are absent.

[d_virginiana]

My biggest right now (my only female is a juvenile) is my old blind guy. He's close to 3 feet. Born from a wc female in a petstore. I always think other males are sickly or stunted when I first see them, because I'm comparing them to him.

May be unrelated, but I imagine populations near large bodies of water are larger than others. Probably why blue-stripes and florida blues have a rep for being some of the larger ones in the hobby. Also, the only really large ones I've ever found in the wild have been near large, permanent lakes. Could be something to do with having a large food supply as well as being less likely to encounter humans if they stay in a swampy environment?

[EasternGirl]

I don't know but all of the female easterns around here seem to get to be about 4 feet full grown. I have heard that the easterns in this area are some of the largest. Like I recently posted, I have a male eastern that is 4 feet and thick...I have never seen a male eastern that big. I will get a pic as soon as I can. He is very skiddish. My female radix, Sadie, that I got from Steve is a big girl. She is definitely around 4 feet long and very thick.

[Tommytradix]

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[jmonahan]

Yes, nice snakes. But what, maybe 30 inches?

[guidofatherof5]

Solid looking radix.

[Tommytradix]

havent measured her in a couple months shes gravid

[slipknot711]

i have yet to measure her but this is my big girl. bigpen.jpgbigpen2.jpg

[jmonahan]

Here is the largest garter I've seen in a number of years: My son with a 35 inch red-sided. Probably a couple inches of tail tip missing, so maybe a 37 inch snake. Sadly, hit by a car shortly before we found it.


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[guidofatherof5]

That was a shame. Nice big breeding female. The population will miss her.