Reptile & Amphibian Forums

On a recent trip to Yosimite National Park I was driving toward the valley from Wawona on highway 41 which is a curvy mountain road. One of the cars in front of me ran over a garter snake that was crossing the road. This accident was completely unavoidable due to the curves of this road. I saw the snake curling and flipping when it was hit and I vividly saw the bright red on both sides of the snake. This road was too dangerous to stop or turn around, I would have been a victim too, for sure. The snake in my memory looked just like a San Francisco Garter Snake but I'm not sure if the range and the habitat match up. I have contacted the webmaster for Yosimite's website to gather more info. Any opinions on the possiblility would be appreciated.

thanks.

Rudy

San Fran garters are only found in San Mateo and portions of Santa Cruz counties. Most likely what you saw was a California red-sided garter. A lot of people confuse the two. They are tetrataenias closest relatives genetically and geographically however.

Well that makes me feel alot better. I hope you are right (actually I wished that no snake got hit by a car, but atleast not an endangered one).

I looked at some pictures of the snake you suggested and the snake I saw did not have breaks in the red pattern. They were clearly solid red.

It's possible that what you saw was a aberrantly patterned individual. From time to time, I'll also see garters around where I'm at, that will look totally different from the rest of the population. But I can assure you that what you saw, was definitely not a San Francisco garter. Like I said, they're only found in the counties that I previously mentioned. Were you able to see the color of the snake's head and belly? It's also possible that what you saw was a coast garter(thamnophis elegans terrestris). Even though the red morphs are predominately found (as the name implies) along the coast, it's possible that the red genes could also exist in the some of the inland indivuals.

Thanks for the insight. I didn't think the possibility was high. I'm glad there are logical explantions to what I saw.
Thanks again.

Rudy

I looked at some pictures of the snake you suggested and the snake I saw did not have breaks in the red pattern. They were clearly solid red.

I looked at some pictures of the snake you suggested and the snake I saw did not have breaks in the red pattern. They were clearly solid red.