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Colorado snake ID??

reptile65

reptile65

Future DVM
So my dad just called me from his work and said he caught a very small snake that was slithering around the office and freaking out all the ladies who work there:rofl:. He described it to me as having a light colored pattern along its whole body, with a black head. I've been searching the web and can't really seem to find anything that fits this description. There are less than 30 snake species found in Colorado, so I'm not sure why I'm having so much trouble. My dad's first thought was that it was a hatchling bull snake, but I don't think they have black heads...

I don't have pictures right now, but my dad is going to bring it home so I'll take some pictures then. I'm really curious as to what it is so if anybody has any ideas based on the description, please let me know.
 
arimaris said:
Plains Blackhead maybe? I used to see them on my grandparents ranch all the time in the Longmont area.

http://webspinners.com/coloherp/geo/species/spetani.php
Click to expand...

I actually looked at this snake as a possibility, but I don't think it's the right one because it doesn't have any patterning. The color is too solid according to what my dad told me.

I'm now pretty sure it's a Western Terrestrial Garter Snake. I emailed a picture of a baby to my dad and he said it looks very similar. I'll still be sure to post pictures when my dad comes home.
 
if you ask the people at the garter snake forums we don't have Western Terrestrials here
they tell you we have wandering garters though
when i tried to get clarification they made it sound like the wandering are a subspecies of western terrestrial
so go figure
I would bet that you are right, as i have caught some of those garters with some black head/necks
 
UPDATE-pictures!

Here are a few pictures. I'm about 99% certain this is a western terrestrial garter.
 

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Another Update

Ok, so I joined the garter snake forum and the folks there are saying it is a newborn Wandering Garter Snake.

I've decided to keep it and try to give it a little better chance at survival.
 
From all I've read on the garter forum, they're the one variety of garter that DOESN'T do well in groups! They're kinda territorial if that IS what you have. But I'm no authority so don't take that as gospel, please.

Devon
 
Pal-O-Mine said:
From all I've read on the garter forum, they're the one variety of garter that DOESN'T do well in groups! They're kinda territorial if that IS what you have. But I'm no authority so don't take that as gospel, please.

Devon
Click to expand...

Yes, from what I understand it is a bad idea to have more than one together. According to one of the sites I looked at, the Wandering Garter and the Western Terrestrial Garter are the only 2 species known to be cannibalistic.
 
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