Tag Archives: Coast Gartersnake

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A Coast Gartersnake with blue eyes? That’s what Karen Wilkinson recently saw. She wrote, “I was able to snap a quick photo of this snake whose eyes looked a little strange.” Karen found this information on the web. "Garter snakes with blue-ish eyes are undergoing the shedding process, where the old skin, including the one covering their eyes, is being shed. This process causes the eye to appear cloudy blue due to fluid buildup between the old and new skin layers. The blue-ish eyes are a normal part of this process and indicate the snake is about to shed its skin.”

I sent Karen’s photo to herpetologist Gary Nafis and he concurred. He wrote, “The picture is a good illustration of why snake keepers call a snake that's going to shed ‘in blue.’ They get a bit cranky then because they can't see well.”

Thanks to Karen for allowing me to share her photo with you here! And you can learn so much from Gary's website: https://californiaherps.com/

It was drippy foggy this morning, but it pulled back over the Pacific Ocean this afternoon. Temps are very mild, around 60 degrees. No wind!

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Mary Sue Ittner was surprised to find this big Coast Gartersnake nestled into one of her flower pots. Here's her story:

Mary Sue wrote, “I saw a snake crawling up the side of one of my Haemanthus albiflos pots. By the time I got my camera out it had tucked itself in the leaves with just its head sticking out, and then not even that. You wouldn’t know it was even there unless you looked very carefully between the leaves. Later it came out so I could see how long it was. In spite of that it found a way to fit in the pot. I managed to capture one of the times it flicked its tongue.”

Mary Sue estimated the snake was about three feet long.

Among other things, Gartersnakes will eat mice, slugs and snails. Gardeners love to have one in their garden.

Thanks to Mary Sue for allowing me to share her photos with you here.