Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is my first post on this forum, but I figured you guys would appreciate this more then the Kingsnake guys...

I was horseback riding yesterday afternoon and found this guy curled up along the trail... He couldn't have been to worried about me, cause he gave me time to tie the dog and the horse without takin off...

He just didn't like me pickin him up...

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"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."

Nice looking garter!!!! Looks like an eastern...where was it found??

yeah, definately an eastern... I live in Clarion County, in Western PA... I found him about a half mile from the barn...
I was really suprised with how calm he was when I picked him up too... I thought about keepin him, but PA keeps changin the laws on native species and 2 Kingsnakes are enough for now...
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"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."

Judging by the thickness of the snake and the blunt looking tail in the third pic, your "He" may just be a gravid "She". Male garters are usually alot thinner. Some wild garters handled for the first time will puff up and flatten their heads in an attempt appear larger and more frightening to the perceived predator. But since you make no mention of the snake being aggressive, I would assume that this was its normal size..???

yeah, theres a good possibility that it was a gravid female... She wasn't aggressive at all, didn't even try to hard to get away from me... and when I put her down, she took her good old time gettin off the trail...
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"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings

Was it cold when you came across the snake? If so, that could explain why it wasn't aggressive.

nope, not cold at all... it was pretty close to 80 degrees out... it was basking on the trail when the horse spooked it, and it just moved off the trail a little bit and hung out there while I tied the horse and the dog and went to find it again...
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"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings

That is unusual. Where I live, the best time to see and catch garters is in the morning when they're still groggy from the cold. Otherwise, you would be lucky just to catch a glimpse of their tails as they slither off into the brush.

I was pretty suprised myself, but this is the second one I've gotten close to in the last couple weeks, I just didn't try to catch the first one...

I don't think they're afraid of the horses, and were we ride at, its so far from houses that the snakes probly don't ever see anyone on foot... Sometimes living in the middle of no were in western PA isn't so bad...
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"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings