Northwestern Garter Snake vs. Common Garter Snake

Both are striped garters with the side stripe on scale rows 2 and 3 and usually 7 upper lip scales, with the 3rd and 4th touching the eye, so those do not separate them. A: the Northwestern Garter is small and slender with a small head barely wider than its neck; the Common Garter is larger and more robust with a broad, distinct head and a narrow, tapered snout from above. B: the Northwestern's side stripes are often faint, broken or completely absent; the Common's are crisp, well-defined yellow, blue or green stripes. C: the Northwestern's middle stripe is straight but varies in width and colour (red, orange, yellow, white or missing); the Common's is crisp and straight-edged. D: on the Northwestern, any red is spread evenly along the stripe or the back; on Oregon's Common Garters it sits as solid red bars on the skin between the black spots on the sides. In hand: 17 midbody scale rows (rarely 19) in the Northwestern, 19 in the Common. Size: Northwestern 14–26 in, Common 18–42 in.

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