Beautiful snakes, and I agree on the not being rare part. It seems that maritime garter and sirtalis are one in the same (though I may be wrong), thus the green phase is common; but she is still a beautiful snake. I found some great info on the thamnophis site which has lead me to my conclusion. Even though she isnt rare I do still have hope of getting a more uncommon type of garter as there have been many melanistic garters photographed in this area and there is currently a study being done on these snakes. I hope to start breeding snakes in the future so I am looking to get a couple to get me started.

Thanks for the reply