Ran across this little guy today on my walk. I'm plenty familiar with Garter snakes, I've seen them all my life. Usually black, with yellow or red stripes. This one was a light tan color, lighter colored stripes and reddish eyes. First thought was albino, but I'm not too sure about that.

Gartersnakamae Awesomeous, I believe.

Cool snake! I know MN has a bunch of cool snakes that people very rarely see and I checked some of them out, but this really looks like a Garter snake - just really bleached out. I’ll be curious to see if any true snake-o-philes can shed some light.

Side note: I was once portaging from Jordan to Cattyman and saw a pile of about 200 garter snakes. Guess it was mating season. Fascinating and ultra-creepy at the same time.

If it had pink eyes, I'm fairly certain it was an albino.

Looks like a Noperopereptilia to me.

Could be leucistic

I have seen the brown Gartner snake in Yellowstone park. I think maybe I have in the BWCA also?

Lots of garter snake color morphs in the wild, but they are pretty rare. A red or pink eye would make it an albino. There are blue, orange or red flame morph, melanistic/black morph and others. There are a few breeders that get strange combinations of garters.

sedges: "Lots of garter snake color morphs in the wild, but they are pretty rare. A red or pink eye would make it an albino. There are blue, orange or red flame morph, melanistic/black morph and others. There are a few breeders that get strange combinations of garters."

I think it is just a weird morph. I have an albino squirrel that I have conditioned to come up on my deck when I rattle a jar of peanuts. It's eyes are pink, whereas the snakes were a dark reddish color. I should have got better pics, but I was standing on the tip of its tail when I shot those two, and figured it had had enough stress and let it go.

I think it may be entering a shed, reptiles will become quite opaque pre-shed.

rtbaum: "I think it may be entering a shed, reptiles will become quite opaque pre-shed.
"

I tend to agree with that. I think it is a plains garter, but I still have problems with the markings.

How long was it? By appearance it looks to be a Little Brown Snake (yep, super creative name, I know). But the pale garter snake like stripes are throwing me off a bit.

naturboy12: "How long was it? By appearance it looks to be a Little Brown Snake (yep, super creative name, I know). But the pale garter snake like stripes are throwing me off a bit. "

I would guess about 18 inches long, and about the diameter of my index finger, which doesn't really help. But the length is pretty close. Yeah, the stripes are puzzling. I did take the pics to the visitor center in the main park, but it was Sunday, and nobody was around who could even make a guess.

rtbaum: "I think it may be entering a shed, reptiles will become quite opaque pre-shed.
"

This is most likely the correct answer.