Garter ID

[MDahms]

Here are the photos of the female snake that I am hoping to have identified. I was told the snakes were purchased at a reptile expo and were CB. They were sold to me as checkered Garters but I am very doubtful of this ID and think they look more like Easterns or a form of the Red Sided Garter. Any help with Identification would be very much appreciated as I am still new to Garters and don't trust my identification skills yet. The reduced red pattern along the side of this snake has me wondering just what I might have.


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Mike

[jmonahan]

In my opinion it is definitely not a red-sided, at least not a color phase I've ever seen. It doesn't appear to have any of the characteristics typical of marcianus either. I'm not as familiar with all the colors/patterns found in sirtalis but your snake comes close to some I've seen. At any rate, its an interesting and pretty little snake. It'll be interesting to see how it changes as it grows.

Joe

[snakegirl909]

I love her!!
I'd say some kind of eastern morph. Beautiful snake whatever she is.

[Stefan-A]

Interesting looking T. sirtalis sirtalis.

[slipknot711]

i too think its an eastern... that red is so vibrant tho!!!!!! gorgeous snake no matter what... remember, we love garter snakes pictures here! dont be shy!

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Very nice! Pure thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis from up north.

[MDahms]

Thank you everyone, for the help in identifying my Garters. I'm happy that they are T. siritalis siritalis as I really like the look of the melanistic and the flame morphs. I am most interested in the wild colour forms and T. siritalis sure has a huge variety to offer.

Mike

[d_virginiana]

Looks like an albino T. sirtalis sirtalis with quite a bit of red on him. Looks almost identical to one of mine.

[joeysgreen]

It doesn't look like an eastern to me, but they are very variable; pretty much anything could pass as an eastern. One of the Thamnophis elegans subspecies comes to mind. How many labial scales are there? What colour are the ventrals? Large amounts of black?

[d_virginiana]

The snake is an albino, so there won't be black anywhere on it. As far as I'm aware only a limited number of species have albinos on the market; checkered, eastern, radix, similis... Can't think of any more right now, but I don't think I've ever seen an albino elegans for sale.