Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I cant tell if my snake is a western ribbon snake or butlers garter.I bought him at a petstore and they claimed he was a garter but im not sure ill try and get a pic of him soon.heres the desrcription. he has 3 strips the 2 on the side r yellowish white and the middle 1 is a dark yellow inbetween the stripes it is black he has a spot on his head and hist underside is yellow orange then it fades down to a yellow white color he loves fish and tadpoles.any ideas?

Unfortunately, that description could cover a number of garter and ribbon snakes. A picture would be more useful. Answering a question would narrow the field, too.

If the big belly scales count as zero, what scale rows are the lateral stripes on? You have to work upwards at a 45 degree angle to vertical at the middle of the body. Some species have the lateral stripe on rows 2 and 3, and other species have the lateral stripe on rows 3 and 4.

Paul Hollander

unfortunanly it will be awhile till i get pics cause my mom lost her didgital camera but she buying a new soon.

Sorry to hear about the loss of the camera.

More details on the stripe part -- look closely at the scales on the side of the snake. Each one is a little diamond that has been stretched a little so that it is longer from front to back than from top to bottom. The scales are in rows running from nose to tail. Also notice that the widest part of a scale is located where two scales come together in the row above and the row beneath. See the rather poor ASCII art below, where each represents a scale.

>< = scale row 4
= scale row 3
>< = scale row 2
= scale row 1

To count the scale rows, you have to start with the scale row closest to the scales that run all the way across the belly. (The belly scales are not counted as a scale row.) Count upwards either on a slant (/) or zigzagging back and forth. The snake's yellow lateral line is on the top of the scales in row 2 and the bottom of the scales in row 3 or on the top of the scales in row 3 and the bottom of the scales in row 4. The location of the lateral stripe is one of the differences between different species of garters.

I would also suggest that you visit your public library and get a copy of Roger Conant's field guide to reptiles and amphibians of the eastern part of the United States and Canada. The text and pictures give a pretty good idea of the differences among the various garter and ribbon snakes.

Paul Hollander

Ouch! The ASCII art did not come through properly. Well, Conant's book has better artwork than mine on the inside of the front and back covers.

Paul Hollander