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Eastern Garter snake

Photo by iMark
Published on Project Noah
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41.4128, -79.0663

Species ID Suggestions

Possibly a king snake
HeatherCadillacSchulz
1

Comments (6)
MitchRay
Mike is right here guys, and has done a great job of explaining why. That is large for a gartersnake, but not unheard of.
MikeVanValen
Ratsnakes, watersnakes and racers would not have that vertebral stripe clearly seen in the photo. All North American colubrids will shake their tail, including garters. Kingsnakes are not found in PA. It is a large, possibly gravid, eastern gartersnake.
BareFeat
It doesn't look at first like a garter snake to me. However i've seen some very large, and different colored varieties so I think you are correct. A rat snake or black snake would have white lips and under belly. Did it do the fake rattle? Rat snakes will do that, I dont believe garters do. Both will musk.
iMark
I thought Garter snake too but was second guessing myself due to it's size. It was a little over three feet long and was a little over 2 inches in diameter by my best estimate. It was extremely aggressive which also seemed atypical of a Garter but I am far from the expert...hence my searching for input. thanks for the replies.
MikeVanValen
It's an Eastern Gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis)
Photographed
PublishedJune 5, 2011

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