 Range in California: Green
Click the map for a guide
to the other subspecies
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Adult 1 San Mateo County |
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Adult 2, San Mateo County |
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Adult 3, San Mateo County
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Adult, with no red, San Luis Obispo County |
Adult 1, Contra Costa County |
Adult 2, Contra Costa County |
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Adult 1, Monterey County |
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| Adult 2, Monterey County |
Adult 3, Monterey County |
Adult, San Mateo County, eating a Banana Slug © Rory Doolin |
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Adult 1, Marin County (San Rafael) |
Adult 2, Marin County (San Rafael) |
Adult 3, Marin County |
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Juvenile, Marin County |
Adult 1, Humboldt County |
Adult 2, Humboldt County |
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Adult 3, Humboldt County |
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Adult 4, Humboldt County |
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Adult 5, Humboldt County |
Adult 6, Humboldt County |
Adult and juvenile, San Joaquin County
© Patrick Briggs |
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Riparian woodland habitat,
Contra Costa County
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Coastal habitat,
Monterey County |
Habitat, San Luis Obispo County |
Coastal pond habitat,
San Mateo County |
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Coastal habitat, Marin County |
Forest habitat, Humboldt County |
Coastal meadow habitat,
Humboldt County |
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Description |
Nonvenomous |
| Gartersnakes have toxins in their saliva which can be deadly to their prey and their bite might produce an unpleasant reaction in humans, but they are not considered dangerous to humans. |
| Size |
| Thamnophis elegans measures 18 - 43 inches in length (46 - 109 cm). |
| Appearance |
A medium-sized slender snake with a head barely wider than the neck and keeled dorsal scales. Color and pattern is highly variable, but there is usually a yellow dorsal stripe and a yellowish stripe along the bottom of each side. The underside is yellowish to bluish-gray with varying amounts of reddish markings.
One color phase consists of a yellow dorsal stripe and two distinct yellowish or whitish side stripes, with black checkered spots on the sides inbetween the stripes on a reddish ground color, creating a red and black checkerboard appearance. This phase occurs primarily on the San Francisco peninsula and north along the coast into Marin County and possibly farther.
On some snakes in the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Monterey Bay area, the side stripes are reddish, with varying degrees of checkering or barring of the black on a reddish ground color.
Another color phase consists of almost completely solid dark coloring between distinct light side and dorsal stripes, with little or no red. This phase is most common from Santa Cruz County south.
On some snakes the ground color is almost completely solid dark, the dorsal stripe is yellow, but the side stripes are reddish. We include pictures here of this phase from the East Bay hills, the Santa Cruz Mountains, and southeast Marin County near the S.F. bay.
Along the north coast, the dark coloring can become light brown with little red, or with a heavy red wash over the sides. Snakes here can also have three yellowish stripes, a reddish ground color with some black markings, and a dark bar beneath each side of the dorsal stripe. |
| Behavior |
| Active in daylight. Chiefly terrestrial - not as dependant on water as other gartersnake species, but more likely to be found near water. When frightened, this species will sometimes seek refuge in vegetation or ground cover, but it will also crawl quickly into water and swim away from trouble. If frightened when picked up, this snake will often strike repeatedly and release cloacal contents and musk. |
| Diet |
| This snake eats a wide range of prey (among the widest of any snake species), including amphibians and their larvae, fish, birds, mice, lizards, snakes, worms, leeches, slugs, and snails. |
| Reproduction |
| Breeds primarily in spring, with young born live July - Sepember. |
| Range |
| This subspecies occurs along the Pacific coast from southern Oregon to Ventura County. The species Thamnophis elegans ranges from sea level to 13,100 ft. (3,990 m) in elevation in Colorado. (Stebbins, 2003) |
| Habitat |
| Inhabits mixed woodland, grassland, coniferous forest, dunes, brushland, generally in the vicinity of ponds or flowing water. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
T. e. vagrans intergrades with T. e. elegans in northeast California in Modoc and eastern Siskiyou counties and in south central Oregon (this snake was formerly classified as the subspecies Thamnophis elegans biscutatus - Klamath Gartersnake. Intergrades with T. e. elegans also occur along the southern and southeastern edge of the Sierras.
Three species of Thamnophis elegans are found in California - T. e. vagrans - Wandering Gartersnake, T. e. e.egans - Mountain Gartersnake, and T. e. terrestris - Coast Gartersnake.
Rossman, Ford, and Seigel (1996) emphasize that a detailed study of geographic variation throughout the range of Thamnophis elegans is badly needed.
Bronikowski and Arnold (2001, Copeia 2001:508-513) found several clades within T. elegans that do not always follow the subspecies boundaries.
Hammerson (1999, Amphibians and Reptiles of Colorado. 2nd ed. Univ. of Colorado Press) synonymized T. e. arizonae and T. e. vascotanneri but retained three subspecies, T. e. vagrans, T. e. elegans, and T. e. terrestris. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| This species is not known to be threatened, but gartersnakes have been negatively impacted by competition with introduced bullfrogs and non-native fish in some areas. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Colubridae |
Colubrids |
| Genus |
Thamnophis |
North American Gartersnakes |
| Species |
elegans |
Western Terrestrial Gartersnake |
Subspecies
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terrestris |
Coast Gartersnake |
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Original Description |
Thamnophis elegans - (Baird and Girard, 1853) - Cat. N. Amer. Rept., Pt. 1, p. 34
Thamnophis elegans terrestris - Fox, 1951 - Univ. California Publ. Zool., Vol. 50, p. 499, fig. 3
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Thamnophis - Greek - thamnos - shrub or bush, and ophis - snake, serpent
elegans - Latin - fine or elegant -- "delicately carinated"
terrestris - Latin - of the earth - probably refers to the hatitat and the terrestrial nature
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
None
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| Other California Gartersnakes |
T. a. atratus - Santa Cruz Gartersnake
T. a. hydrophilus - Oregon Gartersnake
T. a. zaxanthus - Diablo Range Gartersnake
T. couchii - Sierra Gartersnake
T. gigas - Giant Gartersnake
T. e. elegans - Mountain Gartersnake
T. e. vagrans - Wandering Gartersnake
T. hammondii - Two-striped Gartersnake
T. m. marcianus - Marcy's Checkered Gartersnake
T. ordinoides - Northwestern Gartersnake
T. s. fitchi - Valley Gartersnake
T. s. infernalis - California Red-sided Gartersnake
T. s. tetrataenia - San Francisco Gartersnake
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
Rossman, Douglas A., Neil B, Ford, & Richard A. Siegel. The Garter Snakes - Evolution and Ecology. University of Oklahoma press, 1996.
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., & F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Bartlett, R.D. , & Alan Tennant. Snakes of North America - Western Region. Gulf Publishing Co., 2000.
Ernst, Carl H., Evelyn M. Ernst, & Robert M. Corker. Snakes of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press, 2003.
Wright, Albert Hazen & Anna Allen Wright. Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Cornell University Press.
Brown, Philip R. A Field Guide to Snakes of California. Gulf Publishing Co., 1997.
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game.
This snake is not included on the Special Animals List, which indicates that there are no significant conservation concerns for it in California.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
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| California Department of Fish and Game |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
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| USDA Forest Service |
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| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
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World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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Range in California: Green 
