Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello. I recently lost my male florida "blue" garter. Now I discovered that there are TWO blue flordia snakes... the florida eastern which has a blue tint and is the most commin... and the florda blue STRIPE.

Now I am fairly certain the florida "blues" I have are not the BLUE STRIPE but the florida easterns... but they defnatly have blue in them... esp after a shed...
NOW I was looking at the ads here and at another site for an adult male and found this ad:
http://www.reptilianclassifieds.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/classifieds.cgi?db=b_snake&website=&language=&session_key=&search_and_display_db_button=on&results_format=long&db_id=716&query=retrieval

I know it's REALLY long so I hope it comes up as a link... if not maby you can cut and paste? (or am I supposed to use the box below?)

ANYWAY.... the guy said it was an eastern snake.. so I was like what KIND of easern snake... and he told me florida... but he told me he was NOT the blue STRIPE. Which was ok. Because I'm sure I have the more common snake. BUT when I look at this picture the snake doesn't look QUITE like mine... I don't see ANY blue and the florida easterns are (I Think) all supposed to have SOME blue.
Just for compaireson here is some pics of one of MY snakes... Big Momma.
hmmm.. ok I wanted to ppst directly here but I only see one image box. ok I'll just cut and paste and hope you can get to them.

http://www.ladysharon.com/images/bigmomma2003.jpg
http://www.ladysharon.com/images/bigmomma2.jpg
http://www.ladysharon.com/images/bigmomma3.jpg
http://www.ladysharon.com/images/bigmomma4.jpg
OK these are NOT the greatest pics in the world because the sun I guess was more glareing that I thought... (I was trying not to use a flash) but you can see the blue on her sides... unlike the guys snake who is brown. SO are they the same or not? Can I get this one as a mate for her or not?
Thank you for your time.
- Sharon

The info I have identifies two "bluestripe" species: Bluestripe Garter Snake and Bluestripe Ribbon Snake. Both are indigenous only to the Gulf coastal sections of northwest peninsular Florida and the adjacent panhandle.

The difference is mainly in the location of the lateral stripe - on rows 2-3 on the Garter, rows 3-4 on the Ribbon. From the pics, I think you have a Bluestripe Garter.

I hope not... because I am looking at easterns to mate with her.

I know she is a garter... I want to know for sure if she is a Florida blue EASTERN or a florida blue STRIPE.

I also want to know what the guy is selling... he said it is a florida blue eastern... but it has yellow/brown strips.
He wrote me afterI asked and said that it has a black/dark background with three yellow stripes...

sorry.

- Sharon

NP

From what I can see, that is a florida blue eastern...should bo OK to hvave with your other one. Florida blues have varying amounts of blue in them... Look in the kingsnake.com photo gallery under garters..you'll see Scott Felzer's florida blue female, not a lot of blue, but an awesome snake at 40 inches long!

http://community.webshots.com/s/image6/6/9/37/80760937VvcJLC_ph.jpg
http://community.webshots.com/s/image5/6/10/57/80761057dpLsBu_ph.jpg

Here's a link to shots of my two, they are still young ones, should have them up to breeding size this winter.....

Thanks.

Er are you talking about his or mine?

Scott F. said mine was a checkered but your pics look just like my snake. (big momma) So all I can think of is.... I just CAN'T take good pics of my snakes! [I can take good pics of OTHER things btw]

- Sharon

Well, the pics aren't the greatest, but from what I can tell it looks like a florida blue eastern....keep tryin with the pics!

well... I just tryed with her brother... I can't take pics with my digetal because you must be 4 feet away and they are ALWAYS BLURED... even when the snake isn't moving... if it's my cats... the pic comes out fine.

My other cameria ... (the one that I used to take the pics I listed here) is a 35 mm with 2 lenses... setting everything.
And I put a spot lite on the snake and the dumb thing STILL wants a flash... which causes the pics to be too brite. The ones I have listed I took in natural sun so it wouldn't prompt for a flash...
And... I SWARE they wern't that white/brite when I was looking through the lens! It's rare I don't get a pic exactly (or at least very close to) what I really see. IT's like it caught the glare of sunlight bounceing off her scales.

Just for the record... I have caught meteros, lightning and fireworks on film. I take great pics of my cats and flowers. On vaction some of my pics are postcard quility. I just CAN'T seem to do good with the snakes.
Ok I'll stop ranting now.

any hints?

- Sharon

What kind of lense are you using? Depending on the camera there should be a macro autofocus (it will show on the display or dial as a flower) with that mode you must be very close to the subject.. I know next to nothing about automatic cameras, but if you're using a manual camera here's what to do for a close shot:

If you're in the sun again and finding you're having a problem with it being too bright, take the snake inside and use your flash. Set your shutter speed to a medium setting, try 1/125 or 1/300 of a second. Then focus your camera, and adjust your aperture until the light meter is reading correctly.. If you find that in order to balance your light meter you have to move your aperture up over F5.6 your shutter speed is too fast, but it should be fine like that with a good flash.

If you don't want to use the flash, set your shutter speed to a very fast setting, 1/50 or faster. Make sure to keep your aperture setting to as small a number as you can, it's better for close-ups..

the snake or your arm! (lol)

That snake for sale is an Eastern Garter normal color. Your snake is an Eastern Garter blue phase from Florida. Both colors occur in Florida, but the blue phase typically occurs in south Florida. If your looking for a mate for your snake which looks like a female to me, this is not the correct snake to pair with yours. Try Glades Herp Inc. They usually have wild caught South Florida blue phase garters.

too late. I already commited. I figured that sence all the easterns are the same spieces color doesn't matter. In fact now that I know that in the future I might get different color easterns to mate with eachoterh... because sence they arn't different speices (well according to man) then they won't be hibrades...

Kinda like mateing a black gerbil with a silver gerbil.

oh and btw... I acctually belive that if two animals can mate and produce offspring that are NOT sterial...and can mate back to eather "spieces" then in reality they are the same "kind" (from the bible)
I really think we as humans specify everything too much. I mean do you think that Noah took tens of thousands of different pairs of animals? no. I mean for "dogs" he probally had two wolves.
I'll bet there were only a few pairs of garters.

Thanks all for your replys!
- Sharon