Herpetofauna: One Life's List

Thamnophis radix haydenii
Western Plains Garter Snake

Barton Co. Kansas. May 19, 2005

To see an Eastern Plains Garter I only have to walk out my door and poke around in the shrubbery; to see a Western Plains Garter I had to make a trip out to Kansas. Both subspecies have been sunk into plain old radix now, but there is a notable difference in color and pattern between Kansas radix and those in my back yard.

The snake pictured was found crossing a gravel road in the Cheyenne Bottoms, and is a perfect example of how beautiful radix can be, east or west.