nothing to do with bp's, but i need help!

[dsmalex97]

I was just wondering what I have to do to keep a garter snake. I just found one and its quite cold out so I put him in a ten gallon with some aspen. I'm gonna find some kind of hide too, but I'm thinking about keeping the guy! Hes quite friendly, and doesn't seem to mind the tank at all lol. Just wondering if anyone else has kept a WC garter snake, and the best way to care for it. AGAIN i know this has nothing to do with bp's but you guys are super knowlegeable for the most part so I figured to ask you guys. I really don't like keeping WC animals, but he really seems to be hanging out. Lemme know if you know anything, thanks everyone!

[ItsMichael805]

hopfully this help
http://www.caresheet.com/garter_snake.html

[dsmalex97]

ehh kinda vague

[letstalksnakes]

Hi.
Well what i would do is look at the area from which you got the animal from and copy it.
Example: Is the area Savannah looking,Marsh,Woodland,Swamp?
Look at where you got the animal from and mimic its area.
You can do this by not using outside material but going to your local pet shop to get what you need.
Big waterbowl (To soak in and mabe feed in.),Co-Co Bark Bedding,Fake Plants,Climbing Branches,hide box ect..
Garters do make great captives but many factors involved in keeping one.
1)Parasites!!!Most likley the animal has some sort of parasite from coming from the wild and needs it to be taken care of for the future health of the animal.
Ticks(Which can be just pulled off,but can give your animal all sorts of internal parasites.)
Not to mention you do not know what the animal was eating before you got it and in turn got something from the food source it was eating.
Get a fecal matter and just have it tested at your local vet office.
Should not cost much to have this done.
This way you know what the animal has and the vet can properly get rid of what ever the animal has.
2)Feeding food items!
Personnaly i would wait about a week and a half before i would even try and feed the animal.
Reason being,it needs to get used to its new enclosure and everything else which will take about a week and half for it to actualy calm down enough to know everything is o.k and start eating for you.
I would also wait about a week and half before interacting with the animal also to give it the time it needs to get use to things.
Gold fish are o.k but should not be the animals prime diet,try to give the animal if you can a pinky mouse once in while or once a week,chop up a small worm,feeder roaches,most insects are o.k.,beef strips(As funny as that sounds has worked for me in the past).
Try different food sources to see what the animal is most partial with.
3)keep the enclosure clean!!!
Use a 50% water/50% bleach solution in a spray bottle.
Obviously take the animal out and waterbowl before spraying down the tank and wipe out the dirt and glass and clean up any fecal matter there.
I do this once a week.
4) Enjoy your new babe!
You have many years if properly taken care of the animal for you to enjoy its company.
They are smart,curious and allways on the alert.
In time the animal will get to know you and its routine.
This is just a rough draft and a opinion for you to go by,each keeper is different in the ways they take care of there animals.
I am onley giving you what i have done and mabe it will help you out?
Good luck and keep us posted.
Worse case,you can allways let the animal go back in the wild in the same place you got it from if it wont work out.

[dsmalex97]

Thank you soo much for your help, very informative. I've been reading a lot online about these guys, and as common as they might be are quite interesting. Just by looking at through the glass I am getting to know his personality, very inquisative and jumpy but polite. I'm going to do as you say and wait a week to feed him, I tried offering an earthworm that I dug up but he wanted nothing to do with it. I am going to go with a pinky mouse just because they are the most nutrious for them from the information I have gathered. I put a heat lamp over him too, just a 60watt night bulb with a hide, and a water dish as well. I think I'm going to decorate his enclosure a little too just cuz he's WC and is used to a lot of different types of cover. What temps and humidity levels should I be shooting for?

[mainbutter]

feeding garters:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ghlight=garter

I'd contact the OP of that thread about raising garters, she's probably got the biggest collection of them here on BP.net

[dsmalex97]

feeding garters:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ghlight=garter

I'd contact the OP of that thread about raising garters, she's probably got the biggest collection of them here on BP.net

thanks a lot!!!

[dsmalex97]

I actually decided to put him back in the wild. Everytime I would walk by him I would get sad, cuz I felt like he really missed it outside. Felt good to let him go.

[letstalksnakes]

Good for you!
Now your learning.
I really did not want to jump in and say "Hey,how would you feel if someone took you out of bed and put you in a cage and fed you cream of wheat?".
But on the other hand i do have friends who research different species of snakes including myself who do take them from the wild and keep them for a short period of time just to study the animal.
Obviously we let them go in a month or so back where we got them from after getting the information we need.
Length,weight,feeding,parasites and over all animal physics.
If you are looking for a nice pet snake go with a cornsnake.
They are from the colubrid family much like the garter,have a better attitude and are born in a captive sictuation which means you wont get an animal from the wild.
Not to mention not high priced at all to purchase one.
Just a suggestion.
In any case glad to hear you made the right choice and i am sure the animal appreciates it.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Hi,

It's cool that you decided to send him back on his way. Some garters ajus well into captivity, surprisingly quickly actually, while some will not. You can usually tell within a week or two if they re not having it. However, I am going to have to disagree with the following quote (NO offense to the poster!) because it is very degrading and misleading to the wonderful world of thamnophis husbandry!

If you are looking for a nice pet snake go with a cornsnake.
They are from the colubrid family much like the garter,have a better attitude and are born in a captive sictuation which means you wont get an animal from the wild.
Not to mention not high priced at all to purchase one.

Cornsnakes make a WONDERFUL pet snake, if you want a snake that is going to hide most of the time, and is VERY handleable. Corns are colubrids, but that is about as far as it goes to comparing them to a garter, or any natricine snake. Garters snakes are actually very readily available captive bred, the most famous being the checkered garter, Thamnophis marcianus, and their albino counterpart. You can get both normals and albinos now for under $20. This species takes to rodents VERY readily, and can grow very large. Females can reach 3 to 4 feet and be every bit as thick as a full grown corn. They also tame down quite easily, have pretty large robust offspring (not to mention, giving birth to live babies, no eggs to deal with!).

As far as corn snakes having a "better" attitude, this statement can only come from one who has not had the pleasure of dealing with the most endearing, personable, curious, bold snakes there are! Sure, there are certain species to avoid because a few can be wiry, The Blue Striped garter in particular is VERY skittish, and any species of ribbon. But even those calm down with work. Most species of garter snakes are incredibly mild, docile, not to mention one of the few snakes that are social in nature and seek out others of their own kind. And the thing is, how many corn snakes out there come eagerly crawling over to you when you open the vivarium doors, almost as if to greet you? How many corn snakes, when you walk into the room, will actively come OUT of hiding, to sit in the front of the viv and actively watch what you are doing? (and all the while HOPING you are gonna come open that cage!) The truth is, corns are hiders by nature and just because they are tame when they are held, doesn't mean they really care about you or what you are doing. Garters are active all day long, they will hang out in plains sight all day and will gladly slide off their branch onto your arm to investigate you. I keep, and have kept, many, many species of snakes, and none of the other commonly kept snakes stand a chance against garters as far as personality. If you want to see what interaction is like with my garters at feeding time ( a ton of fun) feel free to visit!

www.youtube.com/asnakelovinbabe

and so far, thats only feeding times, I ddint take any video yet of just plain interaction which is fun in itself!