Description: Measures 18 to 43 inches in length. A medium-sized slender snake with a head barely wider than the neck and keeled dorsal scales. Ground color is gray, brown, or geenish and there are typically light dorsal and lateral stripes. The dorsal stripe is yellow, brown, or orangish, but black markings on the edges may make it appear irregular or a series of dark and light dots. The dorsal stripe also fades on the tail. The sides are checkered with black markings. Occasionally these markings will fill in most of the sides between stripes. The underside is light with scattered black markings, often concentrated in the center. The underside may also be black except on the throat and tail. There is a melanistic phase of this snake in the Puget Sound area and in British Columbia.
Habitat: Occurs in a wide variety of habitats. In California, this snake occurs in coniferous forest, sagebrush, grassy meadows, often in the vicinity of water.
Range: In California, the subspecies Thamnophis elegans vagrans - Wandering Gartersnake, is found east of the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Intergrades occur in the far northeast corner of the state in Modoc and estern Siskiyou counties, and running the length of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Overall, this subspecies has a very large range, occurring from Canada south into New Mexico, including Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona.
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. High altitude populations of this subspecies in California might mate later. Females are ovoviviparous - they carry the eggs internally until the young are born live.
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.
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Disclaimer: ITIS taxonomy is based on the latest scientific consensus available, and is provided as a general reference source for interested parties. However, it is not a legal authority for statutory or regulatory purposes. While every effort has been made to provide the most reliable and up-to-date information available, ultimate legal requirements with respect to species are contained in provisions of treaties to which the United States is a party, wildlife statutes, regulations, and any applicable notices that have been published in the Federal Register. For further information on U.S. legal requirements with respect to protected taxa, please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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