What do garter snakes go for?

[JasonIII]

I was looking for garter snakes on www.reptileauction.com, but I couldn't find any listed. Would they be worth anything if I tried to sell them online? Also, how would I go about shipping them so that they'd get to the buyer alive and well?
God bless, Jason Irelan

[DaemoNox]

It depends on their species, morph, and if they're wild caught or captive bred. The Kingsnake.com classifieds is a good place to start looking at the price range to go for. A search online will also bring up good information about shipping, I can dig up links a little later about how to become certified with fedex to ship live reptiles legally.

[JasonIII]

We had a bull snake in our yard the other week. I caught it, but we let it go. If anyone's interested, I can try to catch it again and sell it. I'm not interested in bull snakes personally unless they're babies because I know they have an attitude and won't let most people pick them up without biting them, and I have a hard time sneaking up on them to get a good hold of them. This one was no exception. It's an adult bull snake. I don't know what gender it is.
God bless, Jason Irelan

[gonesnakee]

FYI it is usually illegal to traffic (buy/sell) in indigenous species (ones native to your area) in most places. I would first check into the local & state laws & start from there. Personally its all just sounds like POACHING to me but thats just my opinion. Make sure you also study up on internal & external parasites & how to treat them as most wildcaught specimens are carriers. Your best bet would be to leave them be in the wild so that they can enjoy their life where they were meant to be & others can also enjoy viewing them in their natural habitat. I'm sure you can find yourself a summer job or something a little more ethical to do to make some money. Mark

[DaemoNox]

Also theres a very low want for wild caught garters or bull snakes, many people are captive producing them.

[JasonIII]

FYI it is usually illegal to traffic (buy/sell) in indigenous species (ones native to your area) in most places. I would first check into the local & state laws & start from there. Personally its all just sounds like POACHING to me but thats just my opinion. Make sure you also study up on internal & external parasites & how to treat them as most wildcaught specimens are carriers. Your best bet would be to leave them be in the wild so that they can enjoy their life where they were meant to be & others can also enjoy viewing them in their natural habitat. I'm sure you can find yourself a summer job or something a little more ethical to do to make some money. Mark

Okay then. Here I was hoping I might be able to trade it for a garter snake, but I guess I'll have to wait until I can find a pet store that has them or until I'm able to buy a garter snake from someone online. I'll trade a More Snakes video by Bob Popplewell and a book called Boas and Other Non-Poisonous Snakes for a garter snake.
How much do flying snakes cost? I read in that book that flying snakes are considered a hard to keep snake. Is that because they escape more easily than normal snakes? Or is it because they're aggressive and tend to bite? Or is it because their needs are hard to meet? The book didn't say. The author said he didn't have enough space to go into the details as to why certain snakes are harder to keep. I don't know why he didn't just write a bigger book that explained why. Can flying snakes glide through the air horizontally? I know they usually drop from one tree branch to another.
God bless, Jason Irelan

[JasonIII]

Also theres a very low want for wild caught garters or bull snakes, many people are captive producing them.

Okay, then if I bought a male and a female garter snake; and they mated, how much would I be able to sell the babies for? I know they can produce up to 85 snakes, which is a lot of snakes. Do people try to cross the breeds of snakes like they do dogs? For instance, would it be possible to mate a rattlesnake with a coral snake. It'd be interesting to watch a little male blind snake trying to hump a female reticulated python or a female anaconda that's in heat. Pet stores in my state aren't allowed to carry poisonous snakes. That would be okay, except that I'm wanting to get into the Guinness Book of World Records. There are two ladies in Texas who sat in bathtubs that had 76 rattlesnakes in each tub, so I need 76 defanged rattlesnakes to break the record. There's also a guy who's in the Guinness Book of World Records for kissing 10 monocle cobra and a king cobra, so I need 11 defanged monocle cobras and two defanged king cobras to break that record. I wrote a letter to Guinness and asked if they'd be interested in a record for French kissing garter snakes.
God bless, Jason Irelan

[gonesnakee]

Sounds like your main interest in snakes is to exploit them for personal gain, not my kind of "herper" (& I use the term loosely :rolleyes: ) Mark

[DaemoNox]

I agree, if your getting into it to try to make some money your going to be suprised when you find out you have to spend more on the snakes then youll get back by selling them. I think you need to do a little (a lot) more reading before allowing any to come into your care because from what you are showing your idea of snakes is way off.

[Reticsrule]

i agree with everyone else. you are obviously trying to make a quick buck or trying to make a name for yourself using snakes. you are in this for totally the wrong reason. if you knew anything about snakes, you would know that some snakes are venomous, not "poisonous". you would also know that "defanging" a venomous snake is a hideous and cruel practice that is frowned upon by most herpers. i suggest you go find something better to do with your time than thinking of stupid and cruel ways to make a profit off snakes.

[JasonIII]

i agree with everyone else. you are obviously trying to make a quick buck or trying to make a name for yourself using snakes. you are in this for totally the wrong reason. if you knew anything about snakes, you would know that some snakes are venomous, not "poisonous". you would also know that "defanging" a venomous snake is a hideous and cruel practice that is frowned upon by most herpers. i suggest you go find something better to do with your time than thinking of stupid and cruel ways to make a profit off snakes.

What do you mean? I'm wanting a garter snake as a pet, but I would like to try to make money off of them if possible. Garter snakes are an endangered species in my neighborhood because I haven't seen one in over 20 years. The only way I can think of to tell if there are garter snakes around for sure would be to get either a female garter snake that would attract any male garter snakes when she becomes in heat or to get some sort of sex attractant for garter snakes that would draw them.
How would defanging a venomous snake be cruel and hideous? Wouldn't the veterinarian put a venomous snake under an anesthetic before removing its fangs? I figure it'd be less cruel than the pain and swelling I'd have to put up with if a rattlesnake bit me. Not to mention that I'm a diabetic and don't have healthy blood, so I'd be more vulnerable to a venomous snake bite than most people. I know Bob Popplewell said on his video that venomous snakes need to use their venom to kill their prey to make their prey healthier for them to eat, but I have an idea for that if I had a defanged venomous snake. Incidentally, if I went with a venomous snake for a pet, I'd want a coral snake because I know their bites are said to be painless; and they're attractive snakes. I know that some people milk venomous snakes, so if I had a defanged coral snake, I'd see about getting some coral snake venom and injecting the venom into its food for the snake. That way the snake would live a healthy life, and so would I.
I know that carpet vipers cause the most deaths even for people who do get treated with anti-venin; and kraits cause a lot of deaths too, so if I got bit by one of those, my chances of survival wouldn't be good. According to the World Almanac, the United States is pretty coddled as far as venomous snakes are concerned. There are only four kinds, and their bites are very treatable. Most people don't die if they get bit by a venomous snake in the United States.
My mom thinks that if I had a snake, I would want to tease it like I did with a miniature dachsund we used to have; but I'd only get tempted to tease one a little if I had a venomous snake or one that eats other snakes like a king snake. If I had a king snake, I'd like to put it in front of a mirror and see if it'll strike at the mirror thinking it's another snake. Would a king snake do that? It seems like I heard or read a story of a venomous snake biting itself because it thought it was another snake and dying of its own venom.
God bless, Jason Irelan

[Reticsrule]

oh boy.......im going to have to disect this post piece by piece

just because you havent seen a garter snake in your neighborhood for 20 years doesnt mean they are endangered there. you probably have just been unlucky when trying to find them.

"defanging" a venomous snake is cruel and hideous because the snake was created with those fangs and that venom for a reason. we humans have no right to alter a snake just to make it safer for us to keep. if you cant keep a venomous snake without torturing it first, you have no right to keep that snake at all. and on a side note, if you rip a venomous snakes fangs out, they will grow back over time, defeating the purpose of the whole procedure. and FYI, most of these butcher jobs as i like to call them are done by unqualified people in their basements and no anesthetic is used.

you go on to say "I figure it'd be less cruel than the pain and swelling I'd have to put up with if a rattlesnake bit me. Not to mention that I'm a diabetic and don't have healthy blood, so I'd be more vulnerable to a venomous snake bite than most people." this should tell you something, DONT KEEP VENOMOUS SNAKES! if you cant take the risk of dying to keep these beautiful but deadly snakes, dont keep them. thats that.

whats your genius idea for replacing a defanged snakes venom, because i can tell you right now it wont work.

"if i went for a venomous snake for a pet" this is yet another reason you should not be keeping these snakes. no venomous snake should ever be called a pet, ever.

so you think coral snake bites are painless, do you? they are, until you keel over and die from respiratory failure.

a snakes venom does not "make the prey healthier to eat", it begins the digestion process within the prey item.

you should also know that coral snakes are one of the most difficult venomous snakes to keep alive in captivity. they stress VERY easily and are VERY picky feeders. there is no way a coral would survive a "defanging" procedure.

you mentioned your moms opinion in one sentence, which tells me you are a minor, which is YET ANOTHER reason that you should not be keeping venomous snakes.

phew, thats all i have to say for now.

[DaemoNox]

The more he posts the less and less I take him seriously.

[gonesnakee]

TROLL, Nuff Said

[JasonIII]

you mentioned your moms opinion in one sentence, which tells me you are a minor, which is YET ANOTHER reason that you should not be keeping venomous snakes.

phew, thats all i have to say for now.

I'm not a minor. I'm on social security, but my mom has control of my checks and won't let me get my own place. I'm not necessarily bent on having a venomous snake, and I only think coral snake bites are harmless if the coral snake has had its fangs removed and survived the procedure. If it doesn't survive the procedure, then it's really harmless. If I did get a poisonous snake's fangs removed, I'd want to have it done by a caring veterinarian who would make the procedure as painless as possible; but I'm not bent on having a venomous snake. I'd really like either a garter snake, corn snake, rat snake, king snake, or any snake that's easy to keep and not a giant snake like a boa constrictor or a python. I wouldn't even mind having a bull snake if I could get it as a baby. I'm hoping that if I got one as a baby, I could get it used to being handled, so that it might not have too bad an attitude when it gets to be an adult. If I was successful enough at breeding and selling garter snakes, I'd like to see about getting a flying snake, so can someone please answer my questions about flying snakes?
I forgot to mention my method of teasing a venomous snake if I had one. If I wanted to tease one of those, I'd use a radio controlled vehicle and watch it attack the vehicle.
God bless, Jason Irelan

[wiseman001]

Gee that seems like a fun thing to do.... harass a snake with a radio controlled car... How intelligent is that ?? poisonous or not....

Y would U do that..?? ..what method of thinking do U have of harassing a poison snake for U'r humor..???..

U know what go get a rattler... and flick it in the face a few time with u'r finger...I think U would have a better time....


best of luck !!

[gonesnakee]

I'm not a minor. I'm on social security, but my mom has control of my checks and won't let me get my own place. I think that pretty much says it all, likely Mom won't let him have any reptiles either, something we can pray for anyway, God Bless Mark

[Trace]

If it doesn't survive the procedure, then it's really harmless.

Of course it's not harmless, it's dead.

Could that be one of the funnier things I've read today.

Trace

[Reticsrule]

wow this thread is just getting more stupid (although more funny in a way) every time he posts. first he wants to sell garter snakes, then he wants to break a world record with tortured cobras, and now he wants to tease the poor snake with an RC vehicle. how much worse can this get lol.

[JasonIII]

I think that pretty much says it all, likely Mom won't let him have any reptiles either, something we can pray for anyway, God Bless Mark

She said I could have a garter snake as long as I don't have it up close to her house, which is the kind of snake I've been saying that I'd really like to have all along. What part of that post weren't people understanding? The idea of teasing a snake was just a thought. I'd rather use a mirror on a snake that eats other snakes to tease one than a radio controlled vehicle on a venomous one thing because for one thing, I don't have a radio controlled vehicle that's working right now. I have one that my niece and nephew were playing with that has dead batteries in it, but I haven't replaced the batteries yet. I have to use a screwdriver to get the battery cover off of it, and I haven't taken the time to do that. I hate it when they put out toys with battery covers that are like that. The mirror game is probably something I'd do as a one time thing just to get my curiosity satisfied as to the kind of reaction I'd get. I've also thought about trying that with a pirannha. I'm not wanting to break the world record with snakes that have been tortured. I'm wanting to break it with snakes that have had their fangs removed as painlessly as possible with an anesthetic and stitches. After that, I'd be glad to donate the snakes to anyone who wants them for free. Just come and get them. Of course, if Guinness is interested in having me set a world record for French kissing garter snakes, I'd probably settle for that.
God bless, Jason Irelan

[JasonIII]

just because you havent seen a garter snake in your neighborhood for 20 years doesnt mean they are endangered there. you probably have just been unlucky when trying to find them.

I've asked three people from my neighborhood if they've seen any garter snakes, and they haven't either, but let's find out for sure. Do you have a female garter snake? If so, can you please loan it to me long enough to draw any male garter snakes to her. After she has her nest of snakes, I'll return her to you; and if I make anything for selling her babies, I'll reimburse you for the postage. Now if I mated one of your captive-bred female snakes if you have any to a wild male garter snake, would they be legal to send by mail? If you agree to my proposal, I'll call a pet store and ask them where I'd go to send wild animals. I'm having to rely on someone online to get a garter snake because I called one pet store; and they gave me some story about garter snakes being illegal to sell in my state, which I don't believe because there used to be another pet store around that specialized in selling reptiles; and they had garter snakes. I don't know whatever happened to them, but I don't believe they closed down just because they had garter snakes.
Is there a word for the fear of snakes? I know the fear of spiders is arachnophobia, which is what I have. I don't mind seeing a spider in movies or comic books or even being around one, but they usually wind up dead if they try to touch me. In fact, they usually wind up dead if I am around them because I don't like them. I don't know why this world has to have them. I know they eat pesty insects; but so do snakes, lizards, and frogs, so we have enough creatures that eat insects without adding something that's big, hairy, and creepy to the collection. I used to be fascinated with spiders when I was little, but not anymore.
God bless, Jason Irelan

[JasonIII]

It depends on their species, morph, and if they're wild caught or captive bred. The Kingsnake.com classifieds is a good place to start looking at the price range to go for. A search online will also bring up good information about shipping, I can dig up links a little later about how to become certified with fedex to ship live reptiles legally.

I looked at the Kingsnake.com classifieds; but it covered king snakes, not garter snakes. I found two people trying to sell garter snakes, and they were wanting $100 or $140 for Eastern garter snakes. I don't know what Eastern garter snakes are, but the garter snakes I'm wondering about are the ones I used to be able to find around our house when I got very lucky. I checked the Snakes of North America website at www.pitt.edu/~mcs2/herp/SoNA.html; and the snakes I used to find looked a lot like either Butler's garter snakes, Western terrestrial garter snakes, giant garter snakes, or common garter snakes.
God bless, Jason Irelan

[pythonregius76]

Is this guy for real? Honestly - from everything he has posted thus far all I see is a guy trying to get a rise out of the good, intelligent people who use these forums - and he seems to be succeeding.

Now, let's be honest, anyone who openly discusses torturing any animal through mutilation, or chasing them around with toys, is either in need of a serious psychiatric evaluation, or he is just trying to be funny (although so far has proven nothing more than what a troll he really is).

If he is genuinely interested in keeping any type of animal, the first piece of advice I would give is reconsider any thought along those lines - get yourself a stuffed toy instead. At least then he would have something else with a troll's intelligence to talk to instead of wasting all of your time.

Rob Reid
Edmonton AB

[JasonIII]

Is this guy for real? Honestly - from everything he has posted thus far all I see is a guy trying to get a rise out of the good, intelligent people who use these forums - and he seems to be succeeding.

I'm not trying to get a rise. I'm trying to get a live garter snake, and I'm not going to quit until I do.

Now, let's be honest, anyone who openly discusses torturing any animal through mutilation, or chasing them around with toys, is either in need of a serious psychiatric evaluation, or he is just trying to be funny (although so far has proven nothing more than what a troll he really is).

I never openly said anything about torturing a snake through mutilation; and you're going to get a nasty PM for what you just said, since I'm sure the moderators wouldn't approve of insults and name calling on their forums. Although calling me a troll for something I didn't even do should certainly qualify as name calling, so I don't know why you're still a registered user. Like I keep trying to tell everyone, I'M NOT IN THE MARKET FOR A VENOMOUS SNAKE RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!! I'm wanting a garter snake. The cheaper the better. I offered to mow my neighbor's lawn if they'd get me one; and I doubt they'd pay $140 to have their lawn mowed, which is why I'm not interested in an Eastern garter snake. I SAID THAT IF I WERE TO HAVE A SNAKE'S FANGS OR VENOMOUS SAC REMOVED, I'D WANT IT DONE BY A CARING VETERINARIAN UNDER AN ANESTHETIC, WHICH WOULD MAKE THE PROCEDURE COMPLETELY PAINLESS, NOT HAVE AN UNOFFICIAL PERSON GIVE IT A BUTCHER JOB. Okay, I didn't propose the idea of having a snake's venomous sac surgically removed before; but I am now. The post about a coral snake that didn't survive the procedure being harmless was a joke, since I wouldn't have any use for a dead snake. Just because I made a couple hypothetical statements about how I would tease a snake if I wanted one for that purpose doesn't mean I don't deserve to have a garter snake. I've been interested in snakes since I first saw one by a creek when I was little, and I would never chase a garter snake with a radio controlled vehicle because all it would do is run from it, and that kind of reaction doesn't interest me. I'd rather do that with a rattlesnake because I know they're more aggressive and will strike; but fortunately, I'm not interested in a venomous snake right now.
God bless, Jason Irelan

[DaemoNox]

You do realise how childish that is, no sense of responsibility at all. Harrassing a snake with radio controlled car is torturing it; how about we run something into you or poke you just because we want to see you get mad and attack it. It doesnt matter how old you are, you still need to grow up. I would not trust a living creature in your general area if thats your idea of how to respect and handle them, (you could do everyone a favor and tease the rattler with your hand or foot instead of the car).

If anyone gets a nasty PM from this guy foreward it to me.