garters galore

munchy · 05-14-04, 07:15 PM

hey all. i was bored today and it was nice out so i decided to go for a bit of a drive to the chilliwack/vedder river which is about a half hour drive from where i stay at. i basically grew up at this place and used to catch mad garter snakes and did alot of fishing. the occasional alligator lizard too. i havent been herping there for a few years so i thought id go check it out. it turned out to be one hell of a smelly trip as it usually does. i brought a camera this time and got some pics. i was hoping to get some pics illustrating how extremely variable these snakes are in this particular area. im pretty sure theyre all the same ssp. but they have always been so variable in color and pattern that it almost seems like theres a few different ssp. unfortunately i was rollin solo this mission and wasnt able to photograph all the snakes i saw/caught. the majority of the snakes i got pics of seemed to be the more drab olive/brown/orangish color, but i saw a few of the real clean, dark black ones with bright yellow stripe. a couple with the bright red spots on the sides and also a couple with lots of little black dots on them. the pics arent very good quality as my cam sucks and im no good at taking pics.
enjoy.

munchy · 05-14-04, 10:59 PM

does anyone know what subspecies of garter this is? they were all caught in chilliwack B.C, canada.

Vanan · 05-15-04, 02:34 PM

From what I can see from the blurry pics, it looks like the Wandering Garter (T. elegans vagrans).

Edit: Upon looking at the pics on Katt monitor (mine's screwy!), most of the snakes in the pics actually look like Northwesterns (T. ordinoides).

Classic · 05-15-04, 02:51 PM

O, how i miss the Vedder River. I was posted to Chilliwack a few times and just loven my evenings fishing on the high rocky bank on the base side. Do i ever have some fish tales about the one's that got away there!
I'm Jealous munchy.

Brian

munchy · 05-15-04, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Classic
O, how i miss the Vedder River. I was posted to Chilliwack a few times and just loven my evenings fishing on the high rocky bank on the base side. Do i ever have some fish tales about the one's that got away there!
I'm Jealous munchy.

Brian

haha its great eh? ive been fishing that river since i was 7 yrs old. id live there if i could. i cant wait till coho season this year. last year was absolutely insane for me. best year ever. unfortunately i was extremely busy during the steelhead season this year and missed out on some good fishing, but theres always next year.

chad09 · 05-17-04, 12:21 PM

I used to always go down there,I caught my first alligator lizard there 2.Where do you live Munchy?I'm also about 15 mins from there.I live on Sumas Mountain.