Year of the Snake - No. 3 Wandering Garder

Thamnophis elegans posed against the white background of a snake bag (pillow case).

Walking with my friends, I found this Wandering Garder (a subspecies of the Western Terrestrial Garder) crossing a trail near the creek. It was late in the afternoon of April 5. He was full grown, about 27 inches. Like all the Wandering Garders that I've found, he had lots of damage to his belly scales.