I could tell you got one by the message on my machine the night of return, even though only the last couple of words came through. Can't wait to see more pictures, although don't you know that you can find pales in northern Jackson county, MO, where they intergrade with syspila? In northwestern Jackson, you can find syspila/gentilis/multistriata that blow the common multistriata out of the water -- long live Marshall. May this week's adventure be so successful... oh me oh my am I excited.

By drought, I meant a drought in sightings rather than dry weather, although dry weather does make snake finding more difficult. It has been hot which also works against finding snakes in abundance. I just need to look after dark. I have seen over 300 snakes this year, just none in the last month. Here are my totals to date: My snake totals so far for 2005: 345 snakes, 20 species [24 subspecies]: 191 Prairie Ringneck Snakes, 26 Common Garter Snakes (25 Eastern/Red-Sided Intergrade, 1 Red-Sided), 23 Lined Snakes, 22 Eastern Yellowbelly Racers, 15 Northern Water Snakes, 12 Milk Snakes (7 Central Plains, 3 Red/Central Plains Intergrade, 2 Red), 9 Midland Brown Snakes, 8 Osage Copperheads, 8 Prairie Rattlesnakes, 8 Western Ribbon Snakes, 6 Great Plains Rat Snakes, 4 Black Rat Snakes, 3 Blotched Water Snakes, 3 Common Kingsnakes (2 Speckled/Desert Intergrade, 1 Speckled), 2 Flatheaded Snakes , 1 Northern Redbelly Snake (red phase), 1 Timber Rattlesnake (Western phase), 1 Eastern Hognose Snake, 1 Western Worm Snake, 1 Western Plains Garter Snake

I'd still call this beauty a melanistic, because an anerythristic snake is simply lacking in reddish pigments. The other pigments normally associated with the species, such as yellow(xanthin)and white(leucin), as well as blue-green(cyanin), would still be present, along with the black(melanin). I know that Plains Garters don't normally have a lot of red on them anyway; most are patterned in black and gold, and the yellow pigment in reptiles is inherited separately from the red. There's a breeder in North Carolina who specializes in captive-bred "morphs" of various Garter species, and the aneries he had at a reptile show were mainly black, white, bright lemon yellow and silver snakes, but still had a clearly-visable typical Garter striped pattern. The white was where the brightest red was supposed to have been, and the silver was where it was more tan. The irises were pale yellow; normal would have been orange, but with the red pigment not present, they turned out yellow. This snake in the photos has jet-black eyes like the Racers we have here. That is by far the blackest Garter I've ever seen, and at first glance, I would have thought it WAS a Black Racer, until I noticed the keeled scales, if I had not be told it was a Garter! Sharon McKenzie

I think its a checkered and striped morph of the Eastern Garter Snake. The resemblance to a Checkered Garter Snake is certainly there but on a Checkered Garter Snake the black marks on the side of the neck would be preceded by a cream-colored crescent edged in black on the front, back and top. Eastern Garter Snakes have considerable variability including checkered morphs without stripes or with only very faint stripes, striped morphs without checkers, checkered/striped morphs, red checkered/striped morphs that look similar to red-sided garter snakes, and melanistic morphs that are solid black. Very nice looking snake!