I think its sad..........

[Herp guy]

:grab: :grab: :grab: The first snake we , as young children, ever caught was a garter snake. We all got bored of this tiny snake and soon wanted a bigger species. Many of your parents may have wanted you to not get one but you found a way. You finnally got a bigfger species and then you kept moving up in your animal collections, forgetting about the garter snake because it was from the year before or it was "small".

This story is true in MOST cases. I have done them same thing but thats why i wrote this. Once I realized this I went out to buy a Western Plains Garter snake. I found it amazingly hard to find garter snakes. I checked my local pet shop one day and there you go a nice pair of them . The younger one died recently and i gave the older away. I did have them breed so now I have two small babies with a special spot by my bed. I will always have some small garter around the house because of my first love. How i got interested in snakes, was those little garter snakes.



How many people have garter snakes::
yes
no

[Tim_Cranwill]

Not at the moment, but I have had a few dozen during different periods over the years. I may be getting an albino garter soon, if all works out. :)

[crimsonking]

these are the guys I was used to seeing way back when. Actually I am most interested in the animals I grew up with. FL.kings, corns, scarlet kings, ribbons, racers, ringnecks and water snakes were all in the picture and still are.

[J_Riley]

I've never had one as a captive, do bites and musking count? ;)

I will have one once I'm allowed to expand the collection beyond it's current size. I do have 2 northern watersnakes, that's pretty close ;)

[Xetox]

I would catch them as a child but never kept them....my first was the my corn and yes I still have him after 20 years I still have him!

[tai_pan1]

I had one 25 years ago, and got one yesterday by chance. See my post in the general forum. I need care info on garters if anyone has some.

Thanks,
Mike

[Xetox]

Originally posted by tai_pan1
I had one 25 years ago, and got one yesterday by chance. See my post in the general forum. I need care info on garters if anyone has some.

Thanks,
Mike

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=90833#post90833

[eyespy]

I have 1.1 plains garters and 1 western ribbon. I'd be a very unhappy herper without a garter in my collection. They are so much more active than any other snake I've ever kept.

[Herp guy]

thanx guyz

[Nanashi04]

I like to have a garter or two around as well. Mine have all be WC, because I can walk through my back yard and see half a dozen... and that's a bad day. They're very common in Kansas, any they're sweet little snakes, pretty too.

[Andy_G]

I had 1.1 CB red sided garters a few years ago. I also cath them when I can, not for keeps, but just to hold them for a few minutes outside and then I let them go again.

[marisa]

I personally don't like Garter snakes at all. I dislike their thin appearance. But of course this is just MHO.

My first snake ever was when I was 4 and my Mom used to take me to this "new age" library in Hollywood where they had a very large Burmese Python. I was allowed to hold it everytime we went there. With adult help of course.

But as for my first snake that I kept for awhile, that was a very large California Kingsnake. He was about 5 feet when he climbed up onto our porch. My Dad kept him for a week, fed him a mouse, and we let him go. After that I caught many kings but never had a real interest in them.

I keep two kingsnakes today.

Marisa

[Simon R. Sansom]

Ahh, garter snakes... let me drift back through the years...warm spring and summer days spent as a child exploring local creeks and ravines; the joy of the sight and sound of one unexpectedly swooshing through the grass before you; the elation of the subsequent chase and capture; the inevitable bites and noxious secretions, borne stoically as badges of your initiation into a lifelong passion...

... Yeah, we haven't ALL forgotten our first loves...

Pardon my sentimentality.

I hope to be able to obtain some Eastern Black-Necked Garters this year.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Herp Guy!

Simon

[Andy_G]

I catch a LOT in the summer in my little town. There is a creek that winds through the whole town and two foresty areas right beside it. One is actually right at the end of my street, the other is behind tennis courts in a park. The water is very shallow so I can even wade if I see something on the other side :). I liked my two red-sided because they were completely docile. I let them crawl around my neck and on the couch all the time while I was there and they did not dart once. I wish I could say that about my cali(even though I like her way better)!

[KrokadilyanGuy3]

...What is sad in this day in age of herp keeping is that it's not really for the animal itself anymore.
It's all about the morphs and freaks and how much money you can make off of a certain animal.
Many people look down on fellow keepers because some devote most of their times in keeping the"lesser" herps such as garters and anoles. Most of the keepers I know also think a good animal is dependant on the price.

--" Should I a Blue striped garter?" Why would you want to?--

...Me personally, I love garters because the various colors, activity, and remind me of my childhood days when price of an animal didnt matter.

Just a bit of rambling, and on a side note I'm looking for SF garters. Help?

Xain

[Ace]

My brothers and I used to catch them all the time when we were kids. We happened upon a breeding mass once and plucked a few out. My mom said we could only keep one, so we picked the biggest one out and took the others back where we found them. I tried taking my son out to find them at the same spot last year, no luck, it's a new housing development :( .