Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi all, Garter snakes are native to maine (where i live) and i was wondering, Is it better to catch a whild BABY or buy a wildcaught from petco?

wouldnt it be easier just to find a baby and hand tame it?

thanx for the help.

Personally I wouldn't give petco my business or take one from the wild. Either way you will end up with problems. Order one from someone on the ks.com classifieds that offers CB babies. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

Hello, how far away from Salem, Massachusetts are you? If your willing to take a ride down here I'd be happy to give you 1 or 2 of my CB baby eastern garters (no charge). Their just normals and I have ten left. I plan on keeping a few but your welcome to a couple. Their currently eating worms but I plan on switching them over to pinky pieces soon. Their parents eat fuzzy mice with zeal (sometimes 2 or 3 at a time). If you are interested you can email me at snakinaroundtown@yahoo.com. Personally I wouldn't buy wc garters from Petco, it just isn't right that their selling wild caughts there (especially garters), just my opinion though. If you do decide to I'll meet you at our local Petco (in Peabody, Ma) which is actually the only one I've ever seen that properly cares for their animals. Take care, Scott.
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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws.
But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
—Martin Luther King Jr

np
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

I'd much rather see someone start off with an established CB e. garter than a w/c from Petco that you don't know for sure what it's feeding on (if it's feeding at all.) I recently gave a pair to a guy living near Cape Cod and last that I heard he's very happy with them and their eating great. It's the first snakes he's kept in many years and it's kind of an introduction back into the herp world. Take care, Scott.
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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws.
But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
—Martin Luther King Jr

The herp community needs more people like you. I remember the first time I saw this was with Fred Albury. He gave a kid a rubber boa for free since he could not legally sell it to them but wanted the kid to have an established, cb, quality snake. I am sure everyone appreciates what you are doing. Thanks again. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

...specifically given that I am the guy he's referring to that he gave the baby garters to. I think they are great snakes to observe, very active, very curious, and attractive. As a third party to this conversation I can vouch for Scott's generosity, which I very much appreciate.

The garter kids are growing quite nicely on a near daily diet of earthworms and tiny slugs. I turned up an old small fridge with a small freezer a few days ago that I want to use to try and convert them to something nutrituous and obtainable in the winter - i.e. hopefully f/t mice. With this fridge, I don't have to put my family through sharing our grub with that of the snakes...

Hello, glad to hear they are doing good. Is your wife getting more used to having slithering things in her house . Good to hear about your newfound freezer. It will space out your need for feeding (and give you more time to have more snakes, LOL). I haven't forgotten about getting you pics of thier parents. All of my pics are on the hard drive of my broken computer so I have to take apart my daughters computer and hook the harddrive up to hers and get the pics off of them. I'll try to get them to you soon. Take care, Scott.
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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws.
But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
—Martin Luther King Jr

Well, if you insist on a wild-caught, I'd just go out and catch one. But I agree with the others that a captive-bred would be preferable. I'm not sure of the laws in Maine, but most states prohibit the buying and selling of snakes that are indigenous to that particular state (unless proper paperwork is available to prove that they're from out of state).

I'd take Scott up on his offer if you can do that.

One other thing to consider is that the garters native to Maine are Maritime Garter snakes, a subspecies that is different from the "typical" Eastern Garter. I'm not overly familiar with Maritime Garters, but the descriptions indicate that the dorsal stripes generally are far less developed, or even lacking entirely. They may not be as attractive in general as, say, a nice striped-phase (or spotted-phase) Eastern Garter. But I really don't know. Just something to think about.
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MichaelB