Description: A medium-sized slender snake with a head barely wider than the neck and keeled dorsal scales. The Coast Garter Snake is a slender snake. It is variable in color and pattern, It usually has a yellow stripe along the back and white, yellow or reddish stripes along the lower part of the side. The underside is yellow to blue-gray with some reddish markings. Some snakes are all black between the stripes. Some have black checkered markings on the sides between the stripes. Some have black checkers and reddish markings between the stripes. They are active during the day.

Habitat: Inhabits mixed woodland, grassland, coniferous forest, dunes, brushland, generally in the vicinity of ponds or flowing water.

Range: This subspecies, Thamnophis elegans terrestris - Coast Garter Snake, occurs along the Pacific coast from southern Oregon to Ventura County.

Found in these States: CA | OR

Diet: Diet includes: invertebrates such as slugs, leeches, snails, and earthworms; fish; amphibians - tadpoles, frogs, (and probably salamanders); snakes and lizards; birds; and small mammals such as mice and voles.

Reproduction: Mates primarily in spring. Females are ovoviviparous - they carry the eggs internally until the young are born live from July to Sepember.

Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, tolerance of a broad range of habitats, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.

Taxonomy: