# found a big garter snake



## Galapoheros (May 12, 2010)

I found this Checkered Garter snake(Thamnophis cyrtopsis ocellatus) in my front yard today, my favorite kind of garter.  This is a really big one.


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## ThomasH (May 12, 2010)

Damn! Hell yeah it is, beautiful specimen.

TBH


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## Widowman10 (May 12, 2010)

wow! that's a biggun! nice find, beautiful pattern.


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## skilletsteve (May 12, 2010)

I gotta ask - did you get musked?


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## ZergFront (May 12, 2010)

WAH, big garter! The one my Dad brought home for me was about 1/3 that size!

 Aren't garter snakes one of those animals where the female is bigger? :?


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## pwilson5 (May 12, 2010)

skilletsteve said:


> I gotta ask - did you get musked?


thats what i was about to ask... i ALWAYS got musked when i caught them


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## Spidercrazy (May 12, 2010)

ZergFront said:


> WAH, big garter! The one my Dad brought home for me was about 1/3 that size!
> 
> Aren't garter snakes one of those animals where the female is bigger? :?


I believe you are right there sir


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## PrimalTaunt (May 12, 2010)

Great find, that is an amazing pattern to it.


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## Galapoheros (May 13, 2010)

Oh yeah! ..I got musked up real fast, hands and clothes.  Kind of hangs around.  I installed new toilets too so it was a smelly day.


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## SNAFU (May 13, 2010)

Galapoheros said:


> Oh yeah! ..I got musked up real fast, hands and clothes.  Kind of hangs around.  I installed new toilets too so it was a smelly day.


LOL!
 Beauty of a garter, and right in your yard. Some people have all the luck!
I ran across a big rat snake last weekend hunting for scorps but she was too fast for me to catch.


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## H. laoticus (May 13, 2010)

crap, that is a pretty big one.  Congrats, sweet colors and patterns too.


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## pitbulllady (May 13, 2010)

She is HUGE!  I'd sure love to have a pair of those, but for some reason you seldom see anyone breeding this particular Garter species.

I've always heard these called "Eastern Black-Necked Garters", though, rather than "Checkered Garters".  They sorta leave our checkered morph Eastern Garters in the dust as far as looks go.

pitbulllady


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## Shrike (May 13, 2010)

That is one big, beautiful garter.  Nice find!


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## pwilson5 (May 13, 2010)

makes me miss my Garter.. WC Female that had babies


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## loxoscelesfear (May 13, 2010)

badass.  it's a blacknecked garter.  checkered's are _Thamnophis marcianus_.


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## GartenSpinnen (May 13, 2010)

Wow! Nice looking garter! I definitely love my garter snakes; unfortunately you just don't seem them around here like you used to. That is probably one of the biggest I had ever seen. I guess everything really is bigger in TX


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## xhexdx (May 13, 2010)

I havent seen any around here in the last few years, either.

Beautiful snake.


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## ThomasH (May 13, 2010)

jadespider1985 said:


> I definitely love my garter snakes; unfortunately you just don't seem them around here like you used to.


Yeah, I've noticed the same actually, when I was little, I remember being able to find at least one [usually a handful of all sizes] every time I looked in a compost pile or flipping logs near a creek bed. Now it's a surprise to find one measley little male.

TBH


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## Exo (May 13, 2010)

My yard is full of the things, we have two dens in the backyard. Unfortunately, they aren't nearly as colorful as that one.


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## zonbonzovi (May 13, 2010)

That is a beast!  It reminds me of some of the monsters we found at the bugguide gathering last year.  Not checkered, though.  These were variously striped red, white, greenish & bluish.


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## Galapoheros (May 13, 2010)

ooops, my bad with the common name, I knew that.  I even took herpetology and messed up, I'm getting old lol.  They get run over in my neighborhood unfortunately.  I live in Cedar Park, close to Austin Tx and traffic has picked up since I moved in here.  Big lots in my hood with 1970's houses.  A lot of people have native grass they mow and kept their trees so there's a lot of nature around.  I don't like when developers go in a bulldoze everything down, put down a sterile lawn and then people have to go buy trees:wall:.


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## Teal (May 13, 2010)

*What a gorgeous snake! The ones we have around here are really dull.. nothing like that! *


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## Evil Seedlet (May 13, 2010)

:-D What a cutie! I wish I was brave enough to pick one up XD Snakes are so cool.


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## SixShot666 (May 14, 2010)

Damn!!! That's quite a specimen!!!!!
NICE FIND!!!!! :clap::clap::clap:


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