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04/06/2005 08:41:16 PM · #1 |
Today during my abandoned buildings safari, I came across this little cutie.
I don't mind snakes at all, but I have a healthy respect for them, especially if I have no idea if they may be poisonous.
Hence I wasn't brave/crazy enough to try and uncover it to get a better shot (even though I did change to the zoom and carefully started throwing sticks at it to NO avail *g*).
It wasn't very thick (about the size of a man's finger), and about 50cm ( 1 1/1 to 2') long.
Does anyone know what snake it is?
 
oh yes, might help to know that I found this in Washington, 12 miles south of Seattle. |
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04/06/2005 08:45:29 PM · #2 |
Not sure what type of snake it is.
One question though....where's the macro shots ?
bazz. |
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04/06/2005 08:46:12 PM · #3 |
Originally posted by Beetle:
Hence I wasn't brave/crazy enough to try and uncover it to get a better shot (even though I did change to the zoom and carefully started throwing sticks at it to NO avail *g*). |
Yep it's a snake alright,I give it an 8. Can we go back to the car now???? |
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04/06/2005 08:47:17 PM · #4 |
I was thinking the same.
That and the horizon is a little off.
Not a snake, nor a snake kinda' guy....
ROFL |
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04/06/2005 08:51:01 PM · #5 |
I may be way off, but it looks a lot like what we called Blue Racers when I was growing up. We lived in the boonies and there were lots of ponds. There were snakes like that with blue stripes down the sides, and that's what everyone called them. I might be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time...today even! ;o)
edited to add...I never got close enough to one to see very good, because as soon as someone said "Ooh, a blue racer!" I was headed for the hills. :o)
edited again to add...it sure doesn't look like the blue racers I see when I google, so I'm obviously smoking whatever the other posters were too! Sorry I couldn't help. Snakes are just creepy!
Message edited by author 2005-04-06 20:54:10.
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04/06/2005 08:51:35 PM · #6 |
rotflmao - what are you people smoking today?
Come on, there must be somebody sensible out there! |
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04/06/2005 08:53:44 PM · #7 |
| Come on Karin, someone sensible would have been back in the car. ;) |
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04/06/2005 09:02:06 PM · #8 |
This appears to be a garter snake, which is not venomous.
Update to include a link to a page with a picture.
Message edited by author 2005-04-06 21:09:59. |
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04/06/2005 09:04:13 PM · #9 |
| hmm..just did a google search...i think it's a garter snake as well... |
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04/06/2005 09:05:04 PM · #10 |
| Tried to do a quick search on google, I now know I'm not going to Australia. The closest thing I could find was a rainbow snake, but that's not it. |
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04/06/2005 09:07:45 PM · #11 |
I'm almost 100% sure it's a garter snake. They're non-poisoness but pack a hell of a bite. They have a lot of teeth and from the size of that one (looks to be 3-4 feet), it could easily take a nice chunk out of you. Five feet is about the max size these snakes can get...but I have seen them a good bit thicker than yours.
Three stripes are characteristic of the garter snake and the side stripes are usually white or blueish in color. The top stripe can be many colors in that particular species -- but it's reddish/brown in yours. I can't see it's underside, but from the one picture it looks white / almost yellow in color -- which is again characteristic of the garter.
Nice find!
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04/06/2005 09:10:29 PM · #12 |
I agre with deapee, a garter. Brings back memories of bing a kid, lOL. there are quite a few species of garter snake, they are very hard to tell apart unless you're an expert (I'm sure not).
One interesting fact about garter snakes is that they do not lay eggs, but give birth live.
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04/06/2005 09:11:02 PM · #13 |
This would be a sight:
Beetle with a Garter.
:P
--------------------runs & hides!------------------> |
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04/06/2005 09:15:11 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by kirbic:
Brings back memories of bing a kid, lOL. |
You're not kidding...I think I probably spent 70% of my free time as a kid searching for snakes -- and I've taken a few bites in my time. The most weird snake I've ever found -- right here, in Pittsburgh, PA was a Copperhead when I was about 13. It was about 3 feet in length (pretty close to its max size). But it had to be about the size of a coke can around. The copperhead is a VERY poisoness snake...we knew it at the time, but we captured it anyway. Boy, were we stupid.
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04/06/2005 09:15:51 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by BradP:
This would be a sight:
Beetle with a Garter.
:P
--------------------runs & hides!------------------> |
You'll keep - as soon as I stop puking, I'll be after you for that one!
Edited to say thanks to deapee and everyone else that took a deep breath and braved looking at pictures of them on google *s*
Message edited by author 2005-04-06 21:17:19. |
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04/06/2005 09:16:53 PM · #16 |
Originally posted by deapee:
I'm almost 100% sure it's a garter snake. They're non-poisoness but pack a hell of a bite. They have a lot of teeth and from the size of that one (looks to be 3-4 feet), it could easily take a nice chunk out of you. |
Can't do that -- like all snakes they have to swallow prey whole. While they could give a nasty set of puncture wounds, it's extremely doubtful they could avulse (rend) flesh. And like most snakes, they'll only bite a human in self-defense. |
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04/06/2005 09:19:55 PM · #17 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
Originally posted by deapee:
I'm almost 100% sure it's a garter snake. They're non-poisoness but pack a hell of a bite. They have a lot of teeth and from the size of that one (looks to be 3-4 feet), it could easily take a nice chunk out of you. |
Can't do that -- like all snakes they have to swallow prey whole. While they could give a nasty set of puncture wounds, it's extremely doubtful they could avulse (rend) flesh. And like most snakes, they'll only bite a human in self-defense. |
True, true, and true. Garters, in fact, have very fine teeth, and a bite from one (I've had many) normally doesn't even break skin. They are also easily tamed and make good pets (again, from experience).
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04/06/2005 09:20:14 PM · #18 |
Originally posted by Beetle:
You'll keep - as soon as I stop puking, I'll be after you for that one! |
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04/06/2005 09:21:23 PM · #19 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
Originally posted by deapee:
I'm almost 100% sure it's a garter snake. They're non-poisoness but pack a hell of a bite. They have a lot of teeth and from the size of that one (looks to be 3-4 feet), it could easily take a nice chunk out of you. |
Can't do that -- like all snakes they have to swallow prey whole. While they could give a nasty set of puncture wounds, it's extremely doubtful they could avulse (rend) flesh. And like most snakes, they'll only bite a human in self-defense. |
heh..wanna bet they can't take a nice chunk out of you? My sister needed stitches when my okeetee corn bit her when it was about 6 months...and I know for 100% sure that a 4-foot garter packs more of a punch than that corn did at the time. I think you truly underestimate the power a snake has with its bite.
And you're right, the bite in self-defense, when they're scared. Just the scent of a human -- or the thump of your feet -- is enough to make a snake go crazy with fear in the wild.
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04/06/2005 09:23:43 PM · #20 |
Originally posted by kirbic:
True, true, and true. Garters, in fact, have very fine teeth, and a bite from one (I've had many) normally doesn't even break skin. They are also easily tamed and make good pets (again, from experience). |
I can assure you that you're wrong. Think what you want -- go mess with one and you'll regret it. And in all honesty, they make horrible pets. They are one of the most fidgety snakes out there. I guess it would make a good pet if you only wanted a snake in a cage and never to hold it. Because they will eat just about anything from crickets to small eggs or even worms.
The calmness of a snake can usually be attributed to it's girth. The thicker the snake, the more calm it gets when held. The garter snake is a skinny, very active snake...and for that reason, I'd say bad pet.
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04/06/2005 09:24:45 PM · #21 |
| A laceration requiring sutures is not the same as "removing a chunk of" but I won't argue that even a non-venomnous snakebite can't be a serious injury -- fortunately they are relatively rare. |
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04/06/2005 09:25:16 PM · #22 |
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04/06/2005 09:26:53 PM · #23 |
Originally posted by deapee:
Originally posted by kirbic:
True, true, and true. Garters, in fact, have very fine teeth, and a bite from one (I've had many) normally doesn't even break skin. They are also easily tamed and make good pets (again, from experience). |
I can assure you that you're wrong. Think what you want -- go mess with one and you'll regret it. And in all honesty, they make horrible pets. They are one of the most fidgety snakes out there. I guess it would make a good pet if you only wanted a snake in a cage and never to hold it. Because they will eat just about anything from crickets to small eggs or even worms.
The calmness of a snake can usually be attributed to it's girth. The thicker the snake, the more calm it gets when held. The garter snake is a skinny, very active snake...and for that reason, I'd say bad pet. |
Well I don't wanna be contrary, but as a kid I did keep them regularly as pets, and I found them quite docile as long as they were handled regularly. I can't count the times I was bitten in catching them in the wild, and didn't ever suffer more than a slight puncture, usually not even that.
Of course I kept snapping turtles as well...
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04/06/2005 09:32:12 PM · #24 |
Originally posted by kirbic:
and I found them quite docile as long as they were handled regularly. |
I'm not trying to argue with you, believe me...but what is your definition of 'docile'? I've kept a couple garters as well and I seemed to always been having to move one hand to another to another, etc (yeah, I only have two hands, I know).
Take a ball python for example -- there's a docile animal. I would take mine out of his terrarium...go to the couch, and I could basically fall asleep for an hour and he'd be grasping my arm still sleeping, soaking up my warmth in the same spot as he first started.
Everyone's definitions are different, but from my personal experience, I'd recomend a corn or a python over the garter 10 out of 10 times.
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04/06/2005 09:43:21 PM · #25 |
Oh don't get me wrong, I wouldn't recommend a Garter as a first choice for a reptilian pet.
Whether they are acceptable pets, though, depends on what you want in a pet. The garters are active, the fact that they bear live young is a very intersting attribute, they thrive in a wide range of environemnts and are easy to care for. So they do have their "plusses". the "minuses" are the fact that they have a musky smell, and are incredible escape artists, and are, as you pointed out, fidgety, rarely sitting still when handled.
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