Definitely a (very nice) garter. An easy way to differentiate eastern garters from ribbons is by checking the scale row of the lateral stripes. A ribbon snake's stripe is on the 3rd & 4th scale row above the ventral scales. An eastern garter's stripe is on the 2nd & 3rd scale row above the ventral scales.

However, this doesn't work with all garters. There are other species of Thamnophis besides ribbons (i.e. plains garters) that also have stripes on the 3rd & 4th row.

Just curious, where was it found? I've seen black garters like that in Massachusetts.

P

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