Butler's Garter Snake vs. Common Garter Snake

Both have three pale stripes and live in the same wet meadows of southeastern Michigan. A Butler's Garter Snake is smaller, with a small, narrow head barely wider than its neck, and its side stripe is centred on the third scale row, spilling onto rows 2 and 4. A Common Garter Snake has a larger head, clearly wider than the neck, and its side stripe sits lower, on rows 2 and 3. A frightened Butler's often wriggles from side to side instead of gliding away.

Photographs via iNaturalist under Creative Commons licences; the photographers are credited on the sheet.

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