What we call garter snakes in Western Washington look nothing like that. Garter snakes are slender. About 1.5cm wide, 20-30cm long. Black, dark gray, or a dark gray dark blue, with a line running down its side the length of its body. When you grab them they release a stinky musk, and bite you with its relatively weak, toothless jaws.
I tried keeping a few in a terrarium in my room, providing plants and crickets. The snakes died overnight. The white underbellies turned blue by morning.
