New rescue

[musicalKeyes]

This little guy (or gal) has been at my local petland for at least two months, and in that time, the only thing I've seen in his little teeny cage is little teeny fish in his water bowl. He hasn't grown at all that I can see since I first saw him, but he still looks decently healthy, not too skinny. Needless to say, I couldn't stand it anymore, and when I went in today for mouse bedding and saw he was ten dollars off, that was it. I'm now furiously reading everything I can, including the extremely helpful stickies in this section.

Sorry for the crummy pics, I didn't want to bug him too badly.


And his lovely new cage! No more reptile carpet and teeny stainless steel water bowls for him!


I hope he's a fighter!

[Christine]

Very kewl !

[Moofins07]

Awesome job! Always so great to hear of a rescue.

However, forgive my noobness, but... what is he?

[musicalKeyes]

Awesome job! Always so great to hear of a rescue.

However, forgive my noobness, but... what is he?

He's a Checkered Garter Snake, and he's feisty

[Moofins07]

He's a Checkered Garter Snake, and he's feisty

Aww, what a cuuuutie. I love his big, inquisitive head. I don't think I'd ever own any species of garters, though... I've gotten musked way too many times from all the ones I picked up as a kid.

[musicalKeyes]

Luckily the musking didn't ever bother me too much for whatever reason, and today I'm much more interested in their live birthing, which I'm really hoping to one day see for myself. Although this guy's got me twice already, even if at his size it's barely noticeable, hahaha I've had ones that, once they calmed down, never did it again, so they are out there.

[CoolioTiffany]

Garters are awesome, especially when they flicker out that tongue! The ones at the reptile sanctuary are a lot larger than yours in the photo but when they flick out their tongues it's incredibly long. I named one of them Gene Simmons

[Aeries]

Garter's make fascinating pets. The musking generally calms down after the first year. How you pick them up generally helps too. If you just reach in a grab them, they start flailing and spend musk flying all over the place. If you hold out your hand and wiggle your fingers a bit, they usually come check things out, then you can just slip your hands under their belly. Any time I've ever been musked is by a young garter, and in those first few seconds that you pick it up. After that they usually behave!