Some Cleveland-area Garters

I did about 20 minutes of herping at a spot near my house today and found some cool Eastern Garters.

The first one that I came across was this juvenile, underneath a rock. It wasted no time going into "body flattening mode."


A little while later I flipped a few roofing shingles and found two big garters right next to each other. This one had a very "clean" appearance and looked like it had recently shed. It had a stub tail (not seen in photo).


After photographing the first snake, I went back to the shingles to find the second snake. I only caught a glimpse of it the first time around and its "orangish" coloration had me thinking it was a milk snake. But it was an unusually-colored garter.


Here's one more photo of it. Like the garter found with it, it had a stub tail (which was somewhat bloody).


It was a good day to go gartering!

Thats cool! Some people have all the good stuff around them. All I see in my backyard is...grass and pests and birds :boring: ... And not only in my back yard but in other places. Or is it that i just dont try to look?

I recently saw two of them on Theodore Roosevelt Island in Washington DC...those guys are everywhere!

WOW Very cool!!!!

Awesome finds! That last one is soooo beautiful. I love the chocolate brown colours on the second last one too. It amazes me how variable garters are, even within the same species in the same area.

Really neat find!

Nice Find !
Cool Looking Garter Snakes.