What kind of Garter is this?

[Bandit]

Hey everyone,

I'm located in southern Louisiana. I've seen plenty of variations of Garters around here but none like this before. Any idea what it is? My coworkers and I see garters all of the time, but none of us had ever seen these around here. This is the second one we've seen like this in the past few months. Is it a checkered garter or something like that?

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e313/connor323/20131114_110648_zps619284a5.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/connor323/media/20131114_110648_zps619284a5.jpg.html)

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e313/connor323/20131114_110708_zpsab65bfda.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/connor323/media/20131114_110708_zpsab65bfda.jpg.html)

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e313/connor323/20131114_110727_zps7b628a88.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/connor323/media/20131114_110727_zps7b628a88.jpg.html)

[Minkness]

Looks like a checkered to me

[CrotalusR#1]

Looks similar to a Coast Gartersnake - Thamnophis elegans terrestris from Monterey County, but that's from California.

[wrecker45]

Looks like a great plains. That I seen in a reptile stores.

[SSSSnakes]

That is a Common Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis)

[Bandit]

Alright thanks guys. We just thought it was odd seeing as these are so different from our usual garters.

[Obsidian_Dragon]

Could just be a redder phase than what you see normally. :)

[Bandit]

Possibly. But it wasn't just the red that threw me off. We usually don't get the patterns like that either.

[eminart]

Agree, it's a common garter. Some have more checking that make the stripes appear solid. Some look more checked, like this one.

Also, are you sure what you usually see and think of as a garter snake isn't the western ribbon snake?

[Bandit]

Okay thanks! And yeah we do have a lot of Ribbons too, but our garters usually don't have as much checkering as this. So I guess it's just more common around here for them to appear less checked.