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Checkered Garter Snake juvenile, Seguin, Texas (Thamnophis marcianus marcianus) Harmless, Inoffensive, Beneficial Photos courtesy of R. Warren; text by Jerry Cates After completing the walk in Fern Bluff Park on March 17, I received a call from a young lady who wanted help identifying a snake she had found. What she described was a juvenile checkered garter snake. I asked if she could photograph it and send me an image. The next morning the photo below arrived via the Internet, courtesy of her father-in-law, R. Warren. As with all the garters, this fellow (the gently tapering tail indicates it is male, as the female usually [but not always] has a shorter tail that tapers more abruptly after the vent) has three longitudinal stripes. The spinal stripe is thin and pale yellow, but will probably lose some of its color as the snake matures. A thin spinal stripe is characteristic of the species, as it almost always covers only the spinal scales, with minor or no involvement with the adjacent scales. In other garter snake species the spinal stripe is usually broader, taking in additional scales bordering the spine. On each side, another thin longitudinal stripe runs laterally beneath two rows of dark, square-shaped dark spots that have regular spacing and are offset from one another.
The head widens just forward of, and is distinct from, the neck. This erroneously suggests to many that the snake is venomous. Many of our harmless snakes have heads wider than their necks, for reasons having no relation to venom glands. For garter snakes a wide head accommodatesjaws that grasp, and swallow, large prey such as frogs and toads. This specimen's head is uniformly olive on top, with two characteristic pale spots near the center (one, in this snake, is more a dash than a spot). On the side of the head a bright light-colored crescent--preceded by a black border (in this juvenile, the black border is only partial on the forward edge), and followed by a black collar--extends upward from the back of the mouthline toward the top of the head. As with all garters, the labial or lip scales are marked with black, with prominent labial marks directly below the eye.
The second row of square-shaped lateral spots may extend into, and below, the lateral stripe, as in this specimen.
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