Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went to one of my favorite spots yesterday, and here's what I saw:

4 Cal red-sided garters
7 Santa Cruz garters
2 coast garters
1 gorgeous very light brown banded cal-king

The funny thing with the garters is that they were all very gravid females. I didn't see one male. I have a feeling that this year is going to be a very good year for garter babies.

Nice report, love those red sides!

You have to love the variety of common gartersnakes found in Northern CA.
Jeremiah Easter and I went on a gartersnake photographing trip a couple of weeks ago, finding these T. sirtalis along the northern CA coast.

T. s. fitchi from northern Humboldt county:

T. s. infernalis found the next day in southern Humboldt county:

T. s. infernalis found the following day in Marin County:

T. s. tetrataenia photographed basking in the grass in the South Bay a day later:

And those were just the common garters. The variety of coast garters and aquatic garters we found was also amazing.

JDT, I emailed you about the East Bay red-sides.

I really like the high contrast black and red. Unfortunatly, I live in so cali, and I havent seen any of Cali's native garters in the wild, just pics.

I'm not a big garter snake fan, but those are some really beautiful snakes.

Great photos, Gary. Here's a T. s. sirtalis just for the heck of it ...

TC

I particularly like the way you used photoshop to enhance the red!--just kidding. LOL

I have yet to see a tetraenia in the wild. Im sure that this is a direct result of the fact that I am terrified of water, but prefer instead to go climbing on precipitous rock outcrops, getting buzzed and struck at every ten minutes or so.

Seriously though, those are some high quality photos.

Regards.

Good report.
I was at Carnegie on Sat out along Coral Hollow and found 3 western rattlers.
I was at Sunol on Sun and saw the usual fence lizards, and a gopher snake, but also a whiptail which is much less common. First time I've seen one there actyally.

I'm on a horned lizard quest...

Jim