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Up here in Portland Oregon the snakes have began to move, This is outside a Den site frequented by Thamnophis ordinoides and Thamnophis sirtalis concinnus, I've also found Northern Alligators, Ensatina, Rough skin newts and unidentified turtles in the area. I'm sure there could be Sharp tails, Ringnecks and Rubber Boas but have yet to find any.

T. ordinoides

Ordinoides Mating

This female was dragging the male around

Sorry for the lame commentary...

Thamnophis sirtalis concinnus

I stood and watched 10-15 garters cruising in and out of the hole you can barely see.

And both species competing for the best basking spot.

I know they're "only" Garter snakes but it is nice seeing them right now.

Nate

those are a mighty fine sight, I'd be pleased to see as much. And, they are very attractive snakes, imo.
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Todd Hughes

I've seen NOTHING up here. Of course, we just had a record snow storm less than two weeks ago.
Even if I had not contracted a nasty, anti-biotic resistant case of Strep throat, I would have been totally empty handed.
Being snowed in for 2 ENTIRE days in Texas was something I USED to joke about. ( Couldn't even enjoy it, either because of said nasty infection.)

Matthew

Nate:
As I mentioned below, Rubber Boas have been available under surface objects since at least Jan. 21. The Sharp-tailed Snake is equally or even more cool temperature tolerant so assume the species has been at the surface at least as long as the boa however I have not bothered to make searches for the species.

And the garter snakes usually make their appearance not to long after the boa and Sharp-tail. Lately I have observed a few Northwestern Garters when I have been at my boa sites and when hunting my female Harris Hawk a couple of weeks ago, I saw a pair of male Red-spotted Garters sunning on a log. The same day my apprentice falconer's male Red-tailed Hawk snared a pair of Red-spotted Garter Snakes.

Then yesterday, I found 17 more adult male boas at two different sites. Today was another choice day for herping reptiles locally but I usually go hunting rabbits every other day and this was the day to go hunting.

Richard F. Hoyer

Richard, I've been giving it my go to find Contia and Charina out the but have struck out so far, I'm sure if I headed out of town more they would start popping up. Or if I was in Boa Heaven like you.lol

Nate

Nate:
Unlike garter snakes that can be found basking on the surface, the more secretive boa, sharptail, and Ringneck are much more likely to be found under cover objects.

On rare occasions, I have found all three species coiled on the surface partly hidden in grass or dirt. But the reason I am able to find so many of those secretive species is that I have purposely deployed a good number of artificial cover objects in suitable habitat.

The boa is likely to be very common in suitable habitat in the Portland region as it is in neighborning counties of Columbia, Washington, and Clackamas.

Richard F. Hoyer

The location I'm looking has very little to no cover to flip, my only way to find them would be basking in the open.

By "boa heaven" I meant your plethora of boardlines, unfortunately I think if I put down boards they would do little good with all the traffic this spot gets.

I really need to make it down to your neck o the woods one of these days...

Nate

Thamnophis are really neat snakes...hoping to see more this year myself.

I can find tons of Nerodia locally but thamnophis are thin on the ground
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

Thamnophis is really an under appreciated genus! Thanks for throwin' these up!

-Kris

n/p

I've seen tons of nerodia out east, I went to a park in southern Indiana where every Horizontal log above water had at least a couple. I always like seeing lots of snakes!

Nate,
Very nice pics! I gotta say, I'm very jelous, its 25 degrees here right now. It will probably be another month & a half before I can go find any garters. Thanks for posting those.

Dan Eby