Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I usually don't post on this forum but,for the past couple of months or so,I've become more and more interested in getting into the garter snakes.As a chid in W.V. I used to catch easterns all the time but,never had anything really colorful.I am really looking forward to seeing what will be available this next season! Keep the pics coming! Jeff

Hey Jeff, glad to see you over here. I'm a big garter fan myself. I love their moderate size and the many color variations that they come in. I'm working with blue stripe garters (similis), plains garters, and also red-sided garters (paratalis) All of mine are females, so I'll have to purchase some males to pair with them for some future projects. I'd love to produce some blue stripes & some Axanthic plains in a few years. Might even have some at one of the Richmond shows. Anyway, here's some older pics of some of my garters. Their color is much more intense now then in these photos. I'll take some updated pics when I get the chance.
Female red-sided

Axanthic plains She has a lime green dorsal stripe, & bluish ventral. She is also more intense in color now then back when the photo was taken.

Blue stripe garter (similis) This girl is developing a nice royal blue color.

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The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee.
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
when the gales of November come early.

Hey!,Thanks for sharing the pics.So,I take it that the red sideds start out not so colorful.That makes me want a pr. even more. Jeff

One of the best aspects of keeping garter snakes is that they can be set up in a terrarium with a basking light. They have a lot of interesting behavior that can be observed when kept this way. And some of their natural variations (as well as the morphs) in my opinion make them one of America's most beautiful snakes.

This is a female I caught in Ohio last summer - she was photographed and released where found.

Tim

Third Eye

that's a cool looking garter!Thanks for sharing. Jeff

Hey Jeff,
I also caught and kept garters as a kid and I remember the musk and biting, but the cool thing is when you buy CCB hatchlings and raise them up they never pull that crap, and with all the different morphs now available (in big part due to Scott Felzer, credit were credit is due) its really exciting what the future holds for colors and patterns. Personally having kept 11 and 13 ft burms in the past, (which since getting married that will never happen again) the garters are obviously much more managable in size, and they are by far the most alert, intelligent snakes. With all the hype around the ball pythons and corns, the garters are very, very under rated in the pet snake world in my oppinion. I'd give up my balls before my garters...wait did I just say that?
Hope you get some, they are a blast to watch.
The other Jeff
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1.0 pastel ball python
0.1 mojave ball python
0.1 normal ball python
0.2 3-toed box turtles
2.3 eastern box turtles
0.0.5 3-striped mud turtle
1.0 northern diamondback terrapin
2.1 tiger salamander
1.1 red-sided garter
1.0 anerythristic red-sided garter
1.1 Iowa snow plains garter
1.1 Het butter stripe cornsnake
0.1 anerythristic motley cornsnake
1.1 Blue garter (Puget Sound)

I think seeing all the nice pics of red-sideds and the blacknecks did it for me,also being able to switch them to rodents helped.I agree that they are seriously underrated! Jeff

switching them to mice was easy and it's much easier to thaw a mouse from the freezer and better balanced nutrition, but I will say this,it is super cool to watch them go fishing for live fish, however. All my garters are on mice except my large wild caught female red-side, she was reluntant to switch, but I didn't try real hard because I love to watch her fish, but I don't keep her tub in the rack with the other snakes, because I believe that there are more risks with live fish than frozen rodents, as far as diseases go.
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1.0 pastel ball python
0.1 mojave ball python
0.1 normal ball python
0.2 3-toed box turtles
2.3 eastern box turtles
0.0.5 3-striped mud turtle
1.0 northern diamondback terrapin
2.1 tiger salamander
1.1 red-sided garter
1.0 anerythristic red-sided garter
1.1 Iowa snow plains garter
1.1 Het butter stripe cornsnake
0.1 anerythristic motley cornsnake

I've seen w/c easterns catch fish and you're right it's a trip to watch! Don't know if you saw it or not but,there was an ad on k.s. recently for a red spotted garter,and when I responded the guy threw in a black necked for just a little more,needless to say,I jumped on the offer.I will post pics as soon as I can! Take care!, Jeff

Look forward to seeing pics of those beauties. All of mine are rodent wrecking machines. As babies, all of my garters were devouring unscented pinky parts by their second to third feeding.
As of now, my 07 similis (blue stripe),as well as my normal & axanthic plains garters are feeding on fuzzies. My redsided is still on pinks.

Steve
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"Book ‘em, Danno”

Steve, dont' get me wrong im not bragging here, but my female snow inhales 2-3 small mice every 4-6 days and she attacks them, yanking them from the tongs, it's awesome. I think she is a lion trapped in a small snake body. She is by far my favorite snake that I have ever kept and I have kept many different species over the years, even a timber rattlesnake, but that was a long time ago and I lived out in the country and was single, no way would my wife put up with that. The garters were the first snake she said yes to coming into the house. who could say no to a cute little harmless garter snake?
Cheers to the garters
Jeff
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1.0 pastel ball python
0.1 mojave ball python
0.1 normal ball python
0.2 3-toed box turtles
2.3 eastern box turtles
0.0.5 3-striped mud turtle
1.0 northern diamondback terrapin
2.1 tiger salamander
1.1 red-sided garter
1.0 anerythristic red-sided garter
1.1 Iowa snow plains garter
1.1 Het butter stripe cornsnake
0.1 anerythristic motley cornsnake