just moved

Question
Hi, I just moved to a new area ( Milliken, Colorado) and saw an extremely bright green snake with red stripes down it's length. It was about 1 inch in circumference and about 2 feet long. Is this snake dangerous? Do you know the name of it? Thank you very much.

Answer

Red-Striped Ribbon Sna  

San Fransisco Garter   Hello Grace,

Thanks for your question. There are several different types of garter snakes that all have stripes down their backs, some being red colored stripes, and the body colors vary from browns, tans, greens, (attached a picture of one such Garter snake), but I've never seen a garter snake with a bright green coloring as you described. However there is a snake called a Red-Striped Ribbon Snake that Has a green body and red stripes down its back that I have pictured here for you (picture attached) but that snake is not native to Colorado, it's native to central Texas, so if it is this I don't know what it's doing in your area. Without seeing the snake I can't say exactly if it's just a plain garter or if it's something else. Look at this picture and see what you think. If you would like to discuss it further or this did not help please let me know and I will be glad to help.

Hope I've found your snake.