NS's melanistic garters?

[peregrinefalcon]

Hey everyone! Has anyone ever caught/seen the melanistic garter snakes in Nova Scotia? I live here and I would like to go looking for them (when its warmer of course), but I don't know where I would look.
Thanks for any help!
Adam

[Swampwalker]

I thought this article that I found at http://thamnophis.com/ might be of interest to you. I haven't seen any melanistic garters in N.S. yet, but have seen them on Pelee Island in Ontario. I will try and find some on my next trip down. My parents live on Big Tancook Island (just off of Chester), which is mentioned in the following article as to having a large population of melanistic garters.




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Thamnophis sirtalis pallidula

Authors and Copyright: Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History
http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature
**Special thanks go to Debra Burleson for the permission to use it on Thamnophis.com**

The genus Thamnophis ranges from coast to coast, and from the southern North West Territories to Costa Rica. The Eastern Garter Snake, Thamnophis sirtalis, is a complex of seven sub-species, represented in the Maritime Provinces by the Maritime Garter Snake.

Garter snakes and Ribbon Snakes are closely related to the Water Snakes.

How big do they get? Here are some actual measurements:


Newborn babies (139 snakes were measured) - 13.4 to 19 cm

Adult males (51 snakes measured) - 39.6 to 60.2 cm

Adult females (99 snakes measured) - 39.8 to 91.7 cm

The earliest record of a Garter Snake emerging from its winter hibernation in Nova Scotia is April 16, in 1975, when one adult male was seen sunning on a flat rock at Colpton, Lunenburg County.

The latest record for a snake seen here in the fall before hibernation is October 29, in 1935, from East Roman Valley, Guysborough County.

Because they are frequently seen, Garter Snakes account for just about all the exaggerated snake stories from Nova Scotia.

In 1973, 15 adult females were captured inside a tarpaper fishing shack at West Branch Economy River, Colchester County. They were stretched out, two on the floor, five on the bottom bunk, two on the top bunk, five on the woodpile, and one on a shelf, possibly taking advantage of the warm inside temperature for embryo development.

Maritime Garter Snakes have been seen swimming in fresh water lakes 100 metres or more from shore. They will also swim in salt water.

There seems to be a tendency for Garter Snakes to become numerous on offshore islands. There are dense populations on the islands of Halifax Harbour, and the Tancook Islands.

These snakes produce from 6 to 40 young each year of pregnancy. The young are born alive (no eggs laid) from early August to about mid-September.

Garter snakes eat lots of small animals. For young snakes, earthworms and Red-backed Salamanders are the big food items. Adult snakes eat small fish, salamanders, toads, frogs. One female examined had eaten a small bird. On Little Tancook Island, research suggests these snakes are the most important predator of meadow voles.

George's Island, located in Halifax Harbour is home to a dense population of Garter Snakes. Some are melanistic. When these snakes lack the usual pigments, they look black. Even the belly and eye scales can be black. In the 1980's John Gilhen of the Museum staff investigated a population of melanistic Garter snakes on George's Island in Halifax Harbour.