Finally some Garters!!

[Ryan]

Been out a bunch of times this spring without seeing a single Garter untill today!! Actually the most productive herping hike yet this year with the final counts for today being:

14 Rattlesnakes
4 Bullsnakes
5 Wandering Garters

A bunch of Black Widows.

Finally found some of last years baby Rattlers and some juvies today as well, it's hillarious how they like to sit on the edge of their holes and as soon as you come too close they literally launch themselves over the side into the hole.

First some Garter pics......




More of the usual finds.....






Found this one with an injury to the side of it's neck, obviously couldn't get a really close look at it but it was a fairly large wound.....not fresh either.



One last pic of one of the Black Widows.......sorry for the horrible pic, new camera will be coming eventually.

[Shawn(snakebite)]

Nice piks Ryan! That garter almost looks like a checkered.Definately different than the garters I come across here. Have you ever seen the morphs of garters? , they are quite nice lookin as well and apparently quite popular in the states.I guess it's like the corns with us. Yeah just plains garters here , but that one you got there I believe is the western terrestrial garter.I've also come across redbelly snakes here, and thats a rare find .I've found 2 in my whole life, and I'm still on the hunt for the smooth green snake , spotted in these parts. Any ways , luv the piks .... ;D Ah... I see now that you call them wandering garters , I think my name is outdated.

[Ryan]

Wandering Garters, Western Terrestrial.....same thing, lol. Very underrated snakes IMO, I really enjoyed taking pics of those guys today and I'm starting to think I may need to add Garters to my collection.

[Shawn(snakebite)]

Ha... I was thinkin the same thing .....adding some home grown garters to the collection, and maybe getting into a few morphs of them.They are interesting snakes actually , with different eating habits and such and woud be cool to see the babies come out in the membranous sac instead of eggs.

[joeysgreen]

When I was a kid I had a "male" red-sided garter given to me (WC). 2 months later I woke up to 19 babies! A twentieth was dead, still coiled neatly in it's membrane. Enough to make any 10yr old proud

I"ve checked into the morphs, but they just don't due me any good. Besides, just look'n at the different locales, and you get all the variation you could imagine

Ian

[joeysgreen]

I finally found a hibernaculum today for the first time! Indescribable as you all well know I"m sure! Wow!

Pics to follow, and yup, I"m going back tommorow

Ian