Mystery Garter snake

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gopher
Posts: 173
Joined: April 9th, 2013, 9:45 pm
Location: California, San Gabriel Valley

Mystery Garter snake

Post by gopher »

Found in the San Gabes, I have no idea what it is.
I thought it might be a bizarre color morph of the two stripe but it is just a wild guess.
Any help appreciated :)
Image
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yolodave
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Joined: June 19th, 2010, 8:30 pm

Re: Mystery Garter snake

Post by yolodave »

Wow, it sure looks like this species, from Imperial County and Southern Arizona:
Thamnophis marcianus marcianus - Marcy's Checkered Gartersnake
Photo from "California Herps"
Image

http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/p ... ianus.html
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mattg
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Re: Mystery Garter snake

Post by mattg »

What a awesome find!
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gopher
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Location: California, San Gabriel Valley

Re: Mystery Garter snake

Post by gopher »

I thought it was a checkered until I looked up its' locality. This snake sure is a tricky one.
Sadly I was not the person who got to see it in person. My friend found this guy while I was trying to identify tadpoles a few miles away, talk about the cons of no reception.

Oh how I take phones for granted, I shall invest in a walky talky.
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Owen
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Re: Mystery Garter snake

Post by Owen »

Looks like an aberrant Two-striped... at least it has the eyes of an aquatic.
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Jeff
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Re: Mystery Garter snake

Post by Jeff »

It's a Two-striped. Those from western Monterey County look like that -- no stripes, just alternating spots. That one is some way away, of course, but it may turn up in southern California as a rare morphotype.

Jeff
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gopher
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Re: Mystery Garter snake

Post by gopher »

Well that was bittersweet everyone. I was hoping it was something else but it feels good to know my hunch was correct.
Jeff do you have photos of any adults that carry that pattern? I am curious as to how they turn out.

Edit:
Well knowing this species is a two stripe, I shall inform others not to pick it up lol.
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Jeff
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Re: Mystery Garter snake

Post by Jeff »

A picture I took of an adult is on plate 6 in Rossman et al. Garter Snakes book. The pattern suffers from a general darkening of the ground color. Otherwise I have slides of juveniles, and those are on my backlog of things to scan.

Jeff
RobertH
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Re: Mystery Garter snake

Post by RobertH »

That's the oddest looking Two-Stripe I've ever seen, not to mention from the San Gabes. Awesome find!

Robert
hellihooks
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Re: Mystery Garter snake

Post by hellihooks »

About as rare an abberancy as finding a striped gopher...I would surmise... super cool find... :thumb: jim
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AndyO'Connor
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Re: Mystery Garter snake

Post by AndyO'Connor »

I can't see the original picture right now, but there are a few pictures of the "spotted morph" with faint stripes on calherps http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/p ... ondii.html
RobertH
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Re: Mystery Garter snake

Post by RobertH »

I found this spotted morph in the Western San Gabes earlier this year:

Image

But it doesn't have nearly the black-and-white checkered pattern as the one posted by gopher.

Robert
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gopher
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Re: Mystery Garter snake

Post by gopher »

Nice photo! It is always nice to see herps that are "oddballs". Hopefully the little guy grows up to become a real stunning specimen...that I can take photos of personally :beer:
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Ross Padilla
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Re: Mystery Garter snake

Post by Ross Padilla »

gopher wrote:Found in the San Gabes, I have no idea what it is.
I thought it might be a bizarre color morph of the two stripe but it is just a wild guess.
Any help appreciated :)
Image
Very cool looking. I imagine the light areas will darken up, but if they didn't, that would be awesome.
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