Wanna get a garter snake (I know nothing...)

[spaztik]

The subject title pretty much sums it up...I wanna get a garter snake, but i know virtually nothing about them(or any other snake for that matter)
How often do i feed them? What size tank do they need? What do they need in the tank? What do i have to do to keep it alive and healthy? etc....I think you get the gist of it. Any, and i mean any advice is appreciated.

[wiseman001]

OK.. Garter Snakes.. Local.. Not awise thing to take them out of our WildLife.. They Don't Last long being taken from the wild,
Big problem, Stress.. and U will get alot of bites.. and OR PISSED on alot.. and believe me.. they " S M E L L " U won't like it..

Next.. feeding.. Mostly worms, slugs, MAYBE the odd feeder fish,
HARD to get its food during the winter months,

Tanks... 20 Gal, Health... Unknown, better to leave them alone

They live a better life in the wild.

U want a Beginner snake.. CORN Snakes Food is always available in most pet stores, they live good in captivity.
And Most important is you pic up a book at u'r local pet store and do some reading First before u go out and BUY a corn..( there cheap to buy )

I think U will enjoy havin a corn better than a garter snake,

MOST ppl here will agree with me... not to take W/C snakes.

[spaztik]

I live in the suburbia of Long Island...I couldn't get a w/c snake if i tried.
Don't corn snakes get big? Or at least a good deal bigger than a garter snake? I don't want to have a large tank(I already have enough aquariums taking up room in my house, plus im only 16, so my cash flow is more like a cash drip).
I have a lot of good mom&pop owned pet stores around here that sell worms and such, so that isn't really a problem....

[Hilde]

I don't agree with wisemans conclusion.
My first snake was a garter snake. It was een friendly little man en because I had a problem to feed mice and rats, this kind of snake was perfect for me.
I didn't smell them like most people say, it dependts ofn yourself. If you keep the tank clean, then you will not smell these snakes more than others.

I've never been bitten, just leave them alone, like all snakes, thene you don't have a problem. Some garter snakes bite more than others.
I had the Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis and the thamnophis radix. Never had a problem with these perfect beginner snakes.
These are litlle snakes, but very actieve. They like to clim. I had a tank of 100x50x50 cm ful off branches and a large water pool, these guys are great swimmers and it's great to see theme trying to catch there food like little gold fishes :)

I've written a caresheet for my website, but that's in dutch :(. I hope to translate this in de future:
http://home.planet.nl/~kolde120/thamnophis.htm

Garter snakes are very lovely snakes to start with. If you have some questions, just ask :)

This website I like very much, so take a look. ;)

greetz Hilde

[Hilde]

Oeps I mean this website: http://www.thamnophis.com

[hunter]

i catch garters all the time in ns can. they are fiesty buggers, i have never ever seen a captive bred one however so my opinion is biased, btw i think corns are way cooler, maybe because i cant catch them around here!

[CamHanna]

Garters would be a great beginner snake and luckily, in the US, there are several people breeding several different species.

How often you feed will depend on what size your snake's meals are. If you feed small meals you could feed every 3 days or so. If you feed larger meals then a week or two in between would be better.

What kind of food you feed is important. A lot of people feed there garters rosy red minnows or goldfish, which is not a good idea. Several fish (including those in the minnow/goldfish/carp family) contain an enzyme called thiaminase which will cause serious nerve problems in your snake and possibly even kill it. Worms, mice and thiaminase-free fish are all good feeders.

You could house a baby garter in a five or ten gallon tank. An adult might need a twenty, it depends how big your snake gets, how active it is and so on.

The furnishings are not very important. A hide box, water bowl and newspaper substrate would do the trick. You could make it much more interesting though with just about whatever kind of ornaments you want. These are active snakes and would be a lot more fun to watch in a nicely furnished tank.

Resources
Fish that do and do not contain thiaminase (http://books.nap.edu/books/030903325X/html/64.html#pagetop)
Good garter site (http://www.gartersnake.info/)
Care sheet (http://www.gartersnake.info/care/)
American breeder (http://www.gartersnakemorphs.com/price.html)
You might also want to check out the garter snake forum at www.kingsnake*dot*com (of course, you'll have to replace the "*dot*" with a ".")

Cam

[Hilde]

I feed them dead fishes and alive. Worm also, they like it :)
When I feet dead, I put some vitamines (b1 because of the thiaminase) on it.
If you gif theme the vitamines they need, you can also feet fishes alive, like gold fish. It's funny to see them hunting :)

[Painted Desert]

Deleted post. My apologies to Hilde from the Netherlands. My thanks to Hilde (Dragndrop) for the email reading...."Ummm, there is something you NEED to know...

[spaztik]

Thanks for the advice/links. At the moment it is going to go into a ten gallon tank w/ a pond-type thing i made, peat moss substrate, and some wood and rocks.
I was looking on the thiaminase in fish chart, and noticed that they don't have guppies or killi's/danio's on it(or at least not that i see). Does anyone know if those have thiaminase, because they are easily available to me...
also, what kind of mice could i feed it? I figure i have to wait until the snake gets much bigger, but i might as well ask now i guess.

[Hilde]

Originally posted by Painted Desert
Deleted post. My apologies to Hilde from the Netherlands. My thanks to Hilde (Dragndrop) for the email reading...."Ummm, there is something you NEED to know...

Euhm .... I don't know what you mean with that :confused:

[Hilde]

My garter snakes didn't want mices.

[rwg]

I dont know for sure if minnows and guppies are high in thiaminase or not. I feed minnows and guppies to mine, but not as a staple. Worms have their downside as well. If you feed exclusively worms, you should suplement with calcium. Worms are invertebrates...no bones and hence low in calcium.

Mine get a varied diet. Mostly worms, occasionally dusted with calcium. They have recently started eating fish-scented pinky mice, and I occasionally buy rosy-reds or guppies.

My garters dont want mice either so I roll them around in a little bit of canned tuna. Seems to do the trick. They actually seem afraid of mice, which is reasonable because my garters are still pretty small, and a mouse is more a threat than a food source at this size.

Garters are awesome starter snakes. And there's so many to choose from. Mine are all red sided garters (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis).

[Hilde]

Hey Rwg, kan jou show me some pics of your snakes? I really love these snakes, specialy the parietalis. I did have befor, selled him, but still regret that :(

[monitor12345]

get an eastern ribbon snake though they do have a tendency to smell they are simple to care for all ya have to do is clean have a heating lampetc..etc.. and to do is toss a couple feeder fish in its water dish and it fine

[CamHanna]

It's difficult to find CB ribbons and from what I've read/heard WCs can be problematic. Without a doubt, they are attractive snakes though.

[WingedWolf]

Here's a care sheet for you:
http://reptiles.thepsionguild.net/gartersnakecaresheet.html

I kept a wild-caught adult female Eastern garter when I was younger. I had her feeding on f/t fuzzy rats on the second try. She had no problem at all with eating rodents. Never had to scent after she ate the first one.
Some advice--earthworms are great for scenting over garters to take rodents. Just rub some worm slime on the mouse.
Reduce the amount of scenting if the snake doesn't take an unscented mouse on the next feeding. Some garters will take to it almost immediately, some will take a little longer, but I've never had a garter (and I've kept at least 5) that I couldn't scent over to rodents.
Don't give them live rodents, of course.

[spaztik]

Don't give them live rodents, of course.
reeeeeeeallllyyyyy........I was under the impresion that u were supposed to feed them live........why do they have to be dead? Are the mice a threat otherwise? A pet store near me is going to have pinkies in really soon, if they don't have them already. I just assumed i'd buy one, scent it a little, and drop it in the tank. Oh, and how would i kill the mouse? When i was like about 5 i threw my hamster into the wall and killed it, and i still feel bad about it.....I don't know if I'd be able to kill the mouse...........o well. Any advice on this would be very helpful.

[spaztik]

ok, i just read the care sheet, um, ignore the previous post i guess......

[Boakid]

yes someone is a very strange human indeed....

[awesometony]

you can buy garter food
my garter loved trout but not sea trout
try rainbow trout or brown trout
also my garter didnt smell one bit
in the end my set up was a 3 foot tank and gravel right up to about 6 '' from the side and water in there
it was great pop in a gold fish or a platty and let it swim for its life
you can breed plattys and the likes in a other tank
it worked for me
plus in 5 years of having the garter it didnt bite once