Pacific Northwest
Reptiles & Amphibians
Click on a picture for a larger view
Western Terrestrial Gartersnake - Thamnophis elegans
Wandering Gartersnake - Thamnophis elegans vagrans
(Baird and Girard, 1853)
Blue = range of T. e. vagrans
Click map for key to subspecies
Related or Similar Northwest Snakes:
Northwestern Gartersnake
Valley Gartersnake
Puget Sound Gartersnake
Red-spotted Gartersnake
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| Adult, Spokane County, Washington | Adult, Paiute County, Utah © Patrick Briggs |
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| Adult, Park County, Wyoming | Adult, Bannock County, Idaho © Patrick Briggs |
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| Adult, Thurston County, Washington | |||
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| Adult, Spokane County © Jeremiah Easter |
Adult, Yakima County © Jeremiah Easter |
Albino adult © Patrick Briggs | An amelanistic adult, Bannock County, Idaho © Patrick Briggs |
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| In some areas, Wandering Gartersnakes overwinter in large groups. Here you can see a mass emergence of Wandering Gartersnakes and Valley Gartersnakes in early May, Lincoln County, Wyoming. © Leslie Schreiber | Intergrade of the Mountain Gartersnake - T. e. elegans and the Wandering Gartersnake - T. e. vagrans. Found in northern Siskiyou and Modoc counties in California and in south central Oregon, this intergrade was once considered a unique subspecies: Thamnophis elegans biscutatus - Klamath Gartersnake. Click on the link above to view more pictures of this snake. |
Adult, Boise County, Idaho © John Bachman |
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| Wandering Gartersnakes from the Puget Sound with Dark Ground Color (Dark nigrescens variation - formerly recognized as the subspecies Thamnophis elegans nigrescens) |
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| Dark nigrescens variation adult, Pierce County, Washington | |||
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| Dark nigrescens variation adult, Pierce County, Washington | Dark nigrescens variation adult, Pierce County, Washington |
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| Dark nigrescens variation adult, Pierce County, Washington | |||
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| Dark nigrescens variation adult, Pierce County, Washington |
Dark nigrescens variation adult in habitat, Pierce County, Washington | Dark nigrescens variation adult, Pierce County, Washington (on top right) with sympatric Puget Sound Gartersnake, Thamnophis sirtalis pickeringii (on bottom left.) | |
| Habitat | |||
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| Habitat, Pierce County, Washington |
Habitat, 7,800 ft. Park County, Wyoming | Habitat, Pierce County, Washington | Habitat, Thurston County, Washington |
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| Habitat, Thurston County, Washington | Habitat, Boise County, Idaho © Bill Bachman |
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| Short Videos | |||
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| Wandering Gartersnakes found beside a creek in the mountains of Arizona. | A melanistic Wandering Gartersnake found in Washington State. | ||
Northwest Reptiles and Amphibians
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