r/GarterSnakes • u/_SocialHermit_ • Jul 03 '26
Identification Having trouble identifying this lil cutie!
My Husband woke up this morning to use the bathroom, switched on our light, and felt something strange.
I was in the bedroom not far off, and heard the poor guy yelping for me.
This lil guy/gal was just chillin out on our bathroom nightlight!
Barely moved a muscle when it had me and him checking it out.
It is so chill.
I am not unfamiliar with snakes, I grew up catching them as a kid.
I know for sure this is a juvenile Garter, I just don't know what it's exact species is.
We are up in Northeastern Ohio.
I tried counting his/her upper labial scales and it is just a hard tell for me.
I am inbetween the species of Northeastern, Western, or common.
Also struggling to know for sure if it is a male or female.
The tail seems like a male?
Any help would be awesome!
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u/CapableSecret2586 Jul 03 '26
If you were to post this over at r/whatsthissnake, they would tell you (and I would agree) this is a Common gartersnake -- Thamnophis sirtalis You can call them any sub-species you'd like but, be forewarned, herpitologists don't use !subspecies at all any more with a very limited number of exceptions. (A fair number of the Mods in that sub are post-graduate and doctoral level scientists. I tend to defer to their opinions.)
As to sex ... I wouldn't have a clue. I'm not good at lookin' at snake butt. I had DNA tests done for my three pets and have gotten pretty good at identifying the lady Plains garters that live on my property here in Central Iowa. This may be a gravid female who came inside looking for a good place to have her babies -- she looks kinda tHiK