Species Guide

Garter Snake Species Pages

Each page has some basic data about the species, including length, range, legal status, diet, and availability to (and suitability for) the pet trade. In many cases this information is incomplete, and could use some filling in.

  1. Pacific Coast Aquatic Garter Snake
    Thamnophis atratus (Kennicott, 1860)
  2. Bogert’s Garter Snake
    Thamnophis bogerti Rossman and Burbrink, 2005
  3. Short-headed Garter Snake
    Thamnophis brachystoma (Cope, 1892)
  4. Butler’s Garter Snake
    Thamnophis butleri (Cope, 1889)
  5. Golden-headed Garter Snake
    Thamnophis chrysocephalus (Cope, 1885)
  6. Conant’s Garter Snake
    Thamnophis conanti Rossman and Burbrink, 2005
  7. Sierra Garter Snake
    Thamnophis couchii (Kennicott, 1859)
  8. Black-necked Garter Snake
    Thamnophis cyrtopsis (Kennicott, 1860)
  9. Western Terrestrial Garter Snake
    Thamnophis elegans (Baird and Girard, 1853)
  10. Mexican Garter Snake
    Thamnophis eques (Reuss, 1834)
  11. Mexican Wandering Garter Snake
    Thamnophis errans (H. M. Smith, 1942)
  12. Exiled Garter Snake
    Thamnophis exsul Rossman 1969
  13. Mesoamerican Highlands Garter Snake
    Thamnophis fulvus (Bocourt, 1893)
  14. Giant Garter Snake
    Thamnophis gigas (Fitch, 1940)
  15. Godman’s Garter Snake
    Thamnophis godmani (Günther, 1894)
  16. Two-striped Garter Snake
    Thamnophis hammondii (Kennicott, 1860)
  17. Liner’s Garter Snake
    Thamnophis lineri Rossman and Burbrink, 2005
  18. Checkered Garter Snake
    Thamnophis marcianus (Baird and Girard, 1853)
  19. Mexican Black-bellied Garter Snake
    Thamnophis melanogaster (Peters, 1864)
  20. Tamaulipan Montane Garter Snake
    Thamnophis mendax Walker, 1955
  21. Southern Durango Spotted Garter Snake
    Thamnophis nigronuchalis Thompson, 1957
  22. Northwestern Garter Snake
    Thamnophis ordinoides (Baird and Girard, 1852)
  23. Tepalcatepec Valley Garter Snake
    Thamnophis postremus H. M. Smith, 1942
  24. Western Ribbon Snake
    Thamnophis proximus (Say, 1823)
  25. Yellow-throated Garter Snake
    Thamnophis pulchrilatus (Cope, 1885)
  26. Plains Garter Snake
    Thamnophis radix (Baird and Girard, 1853)
  27. Rossman’s Garter Snake
    Thamnophis rossmani Conant, 2000
  28. Narrow-headed Garter Snake
    Thamnophis rufipunctatus (Cope, 1875)
  29. Eastern Ribbon Snake
    Thamnophis sauritus (Linnaeus, 1766)
  30. Mexican Alpine Blotched Garter Snake
    Thamnophis scalaris Cope, 1861
  31. Mesa Central Blotched Garter Snake
    Thamnophis scaliger (Jan, 1863)
  32. Common Garter Snake
    Thamnophis sirtalis (Linnaeus, 1758)
  33. Sumichrast’s Garter Snake
    Thamnophis sumichrasti (Cope, 1866)
  34. Mexican Pacific Lowlands Garter Snake
    Thamnophis validus (Kennicott, 1860)

Identification

Identifying a snake’s species is one of the most frequently asked questions about garter snakes, and I hope to have some pertinent information here eventually, including photos, range maps, and maybe even an identification key. But we’re a long way from that right now.

What can you do in the meantime? There’s an identification key in The Garter Snakes by Rossman, Ford and Seigel, but it’s difficult to use: it’s deliberately precise rather than easy.

One thing you can do is reduce the number of candidates. Many people think they have found a snake species that’s impossible — for example, they think they’ve found Butler’s Garter Snakes on the West Coast (when they’ve probably found Northwestern Garters). This is usually because they try to find a photo online that best matches what they’ve seen. Unfortunately, some snakes are extremely variable, and others are hard to tell apart.

So what you can do is check your province or state to see what species are found there. The species descriptions should list which subspecies are in that area — and subspecies information should be improved in the future. Then start searching the web for photos and use the species names as your search terms.

Canada: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan.

United States: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

Map of garter snake diversity in the U.S.

This map shows the number of garter snake species in each U.S. state. In many states, there are only two species: it’s often just a matter of figuring out whether it’s a garter snake or a ribbon snake. In other states (especially California and New Mexico), it can be much more of a challenge.

Other Natricines

If you’re interested in garter snakes, you might also be interested in their closest relatives, such as brown, red-bellied, queen and water snakes. Here’s a list of North American natricine snakes that I’ve put together. I might add more on natricines later on, depending on how things go.