I've had my garter for about 8 months now and have a few questions. First, a bit about her. She's a garter from the pet store and is in great health. I've never had any problems with her. Right now, I keep her on Reptile Bark and I've read that some people use Aspen as their bedding. Is this ok for them? I have rats and use aspen with them, so that would save me a good 10 bucks every 2 months if I can use that. Also, my garter has been shedding every month since I got her. Is this normal for garters? She is about 16 inches long and is fixing to shed again. Is it normal for snakes to be exceedingly shy? I have a coconut shell in her aquarium, lots of fake plants, some sticks to climb, a hollow log, part of a cement block to warm up on, and of course, her water. She is in a 20 gallon aquarium (20 gallon tall aquarium. I couldn't find a long one ) and she has a heat light, tempurature cge, and humidity gauge. She almost always stays in her coconut shell and if she is out and I come in the room, she'll immediately leave whatever she was doing and go hide. She hates being handled, so I only do so when necessary. Is this normal? She's been that way since I got her. Also, how long do garter snakes generally live? Last I heard it was around 7 years. I'm hoping she doesn't get tons bigger as I don't really have room for a larger tank. I hear they only need a 10 gallon tank, but it just looked so small when she would stretch out. She never could stretch out, straight, so I decided to move her up to a bit bigger tank. She seems to like it Thanks for all the help

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