Western ribbon snake

Western ribbon snake ( Thamnophis proximus )

• Western stripe garter snake Thamnophis proximus proximus (Say, 1823)
• Mexican bands Natter Thamnophis proximus alpinus ( Rossman, 1963)
• Dryland bands Natter Thamnophis proximus diabolicus ( Rossman, 1963)
• Gulf Coast Bands Natter Thamnophis proximus orarius ( Rossman, 1963)
• Stripes tapes Natter Thamnophis proximus rubrilineatus ( Rossman, 1963)
• Thamnophis proximus rutiloris ( Cope, 1885)

The Western bands snake ( Thamnophis proximus ) is one of nearly 40 snake species of garter snakes.

Features

A striking feature of this type is a long tail that can reach nearly a third of the body length.

From the Eastern Snake Thamnophis bands sauritus the Western bands snake differs by two closely spaced spots on the top of the head, which are either absent in T. sauritus or are significantly apart.

Thamnophis proximus is 60 to 90 cm long. The males remain smaller than the females.

Like all garter snakes it is viviparous. It is reported from litter sizes up to 27 pups.

It eats mainly amphibians, and occasionally fish. Only in captivity they can be used as feed and nest in young rodents.

The Western bands snake always lives near water, like in densely overgrown, bushy terrain. It is diurnal, a very skilled climbers and also swims in the terrarium and like a lot.

Unlike most other garter snakes this way shows in human posture clear territorial behavior to increased Beißbereitschaft.

Dissemination

While the Eastern bands snake actually the outer eastern North America inhabited, the habitat of the Western bands snake is not in the west of the continent, but this type can be found west of the Eastern bands snake: the state of Minnesota in the north, through parts of Indiana and Tennessee as far as Alabama. To the west reaches their range only to Kansas and New Mexico in the mid- southern United States. From there, their territory in Central America, Central Mexico extends to Nicaragua.