Ribbon snake?

I beleive it is illegal to collect puget sound garters, but I MAY be wrong. You might be able to legally keep one. Check your local laws. I know it's illegal to collect and sell them for profit!

If you can't get a true puget, why not opt for a blue northwestern? Thamnophis ordinoes, the northwestern garter snake, varies HUGELY. Some are brown, some are red, some are green... yellow...and some are almost identical to pugets, in that they are black and bright blue. Sometimes blue nothwesterns get sold as pugets by people who don't know what they are looking at. It takes an expierienced eye to tell the difference!

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Originally Posted by aSnakeLovinBabe

I beleive it is illegal to collect puget sound garters, but I MAY be wrong. You might be able to legally keep one. Check your local laws. I know it's illegal to collect and sell them for profit!

If you can't get a true puget, why not opt for a blue northwestern? Thamnophis ordinoes, the northwestern garter snake, varies HUGELY. Some are brown, some are red, some are green... yellow...and some are almost identical to pugets, in that they are black and bright blue. Sometimes blue nothwesterns get sold as pugets by people who don't know what they are looking at. It takes an expierienced eye to tell the difference!

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We collected and kept them as pets all the time as kids so it didn't even occur to me to look for a law against it. :P I'll definitely look that up.

As for what I can get, if I can't collect one from the wild then I probably won't get one. :( Sad but true. I have never seen a garter in a pet store out here. Ever. Someday I might order one from somewhere but for now I shop local, 3 out of 4 of my snakes are rescues.

If you ever want to purchase a high quality garter, check out Scott Felzer at albinogartersnake.com

He is the king of garter snake propagation, my hero, a valuable friend and a GREAT guy to do business with.

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Originally Posted by aSnakeLovinBabe

If you ever want to purchase a high quality garter, check out Scott Felzer at albinogartersnake.com

He is the king of garter snake propagation, my hero, a valuable friend and a GREAT guy to do business with.

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Thanks, I'll keep him in mind.

I just made my final order for the year from him. $600 worth of garter snakes... WOO HOO.

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Originally Posted by aSnakeLovinBabe

I just made my final order for the year from him. $600 worth of garter snakes... WOO HOO.

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:O I wish I had $600 to spend on snakes! yay for you! :banana:

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Originally Posted by truthsdeceit

:O I wish I had $600 to spend on snakes! yay for you! :banana:

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haha, I saved up really hard!

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Originally Posted by aSnakeLovinBabe

Hi there, being an expert in thamnophis husbandry, I must add this, do not feed silversides, a.k.a. smelt, to your snake. Sadly, silversides are also high in thiaminase and are not any better to use than goldfish. I was using these myself until I looked them up and almost had a heart attack. Rosy red minnows and Catfish, as well. Guppies and platies are safe if you need to use live fishes, but cuts of trout with a calcium supplement work WONDERFULLY. If you buy guppies, make SURE they are guppies, not all stores know the difference between these and rosy reds. You can also use salmon or tilapia strips. (as a side note, these may be saltwater fish but saltwater fish DO NOT contain salt in them like so many seem to think they do) I like to use trout as my first choice, because the snakes seem to prefer that the most. You should also check out the recipe for complete homemade garter snake diet that I will be posting in a few minutes. It involved the use of raw fish, gelatin, and vitamins/calcium. You can also switch the snake over to rodents using scenting. A ribbon snake makes a great pet, just know that they are rather flighty, and do NOT take well to being handled for the most part. They are more of a "look at" snake. But they are indeed, fun to watch! A female can easily reach 4 feet in length and gives birth to a HUGE clutch of offspring.

You can TRY nightcrawlers on your ribbon, not all ribbons will take them. I do have one ribbon who loves to eat worms though. Tadpoles, salamanders and frogs are all relished food items of any thamnophis. If you ever have a problem feeder, any amphibian is an instant cure for that. Freeze any amphibian prey before you feed it to your snake to reduce the risk of parasites by a considerable amount.

if you have any additional questions regarding garter and ribbon snake husbandry, I am an open book and more than willing to help.

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What species of "smelt" are you referring to?

Freshwater smelt (osmera mordax) contain thiaminase. I have not seen them sold frozen in tropical fish stores.

The saltwater variety that are sold frozen at tropical fish stores - and the pond (arctic freshwater) variety for that matter - do not. Tropical fish keepers have the same exact concerns regarding thiaminase as thamnophis keepers do. That's why frozen silversides are such a widely used staple.

Meant to add that the frozen silversides sold through fish stores are more often than not - menidia spp.. They are considered thiaminase free.

There is a common misconception that "silversides" refer to the rainbow smelt that were listed in the table that was linked to on Thamnophis Website. This is simply not true.

Sorry for multiple posts:

Silversides:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menidia

Smelt:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smelt

Not the same - none of the Menidia or true silversides are covered on the thiaminase table that all the forums inevitably link to.