Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi am a beginner and was wandering if I should get a garter snake or a leo

obviously the answer should be up to you do you either want a snake or a gecko?

think about which you will feel able to look after the most and which you would prefer.

in my opinion tho i would defianatly go for a leo and im sure most other people on this forum would seen as tho we all own leos and love them..

in terms of husbandry leos are fairly easy to keep and do not require much work to give them a good life.

just bear in mind that leos are addictive and im sure you wont stop at 1.
-----

They both have their advantages and disadvantages. Garter snakes and leos are beautiful and easy to care for. However, snakes will need mice as food (frozen/thawed) and leos will need live insects. Which are you more willing to deal with? Garter snakes are active during the day while leos are more active at night. They are both pretty nice animals for handling once they have grown older and have become accustomed to human contact. It really depends on you. I highly recommend them both!!!

Cleo
1:1 leos...soon to be 1:5!!!

I would get a garter snake...they're cheaper and easier to keep healthy.

With garter snakes, you can give them substrate, an ample water dish and maybe a plant or twig to climb on. For feeding, all you have to do is drop a couple goldfish in the water dish. it's easy and very inexpensive.

With leos, there is a lot more involvment. They require vitamin and calcium supliments and live bugs every couple of days. They also require a heat source, like an undertank heating pad. You must watch their sheds so they don't lose thier toes and monitor humidity.

Leos!!!

10 gallon tank or bigger with a screen lid
Substrate (paper towels, slate, or commercial bedding)
Water dish
Hides
Heat mat (or other heating device)
Rheostat or thermostat for temp control
Thermometer
Food (crickets, mealies, waxies, supers, pinks, butters, silkies)

Garter Snakes!!!

10 gallon tank or bigger with screen lid
Substrate (newspaper or commercial bedding)
Water dish
Heat Mat (or other heating device)
Thermometer
Hides
Food (CB snakes often start on mouse pinks and move up to mouse hoppers when older)
Temp control device (rheostat or thermostat)

Garter (or Ribbon) snakes eat fish and earthworms.

Unless you mean a Gopher snake? They are rodent eaters.

Ribbon snakes may be a bit pickier than garters, I don't know, I've never had ribbon snakes. Garters can easily be started on earthworms and "scented over" to eating mice. They often eat mice in the wild, when there's a high population of mice in their area.
Fish are problematic, and I hesitate to recommend them because people have a tendency to figure that cheap feader goldfish are the answer, and goldfish are harmful to the snake if fed as the staple diet.

Also, garters eating fish and worms have smelly droppings, and need to eat nearly every other day. Feeding on mice, they only eat once or twice a week, and have much less offensive droppings, while still growing at a normal rate. The primary reason to scent over is parasites. Fish are a high risk, and nightcrawlers are a medium risk for parasite transmission, whereas mice are a low risk.

I practically grew up in a pet store and every one of the garters/ribbons there were fed goldfish. I had a few when I was a teen and fed them goldfish too. I loved the way they swam around with their mouths open in the bowl to catch the fish. LOL!

I just asked a friend of mine about this (Jon of Next World Exotics) and he said pretty much what you just said, that a lot of people "convert" them because of problems with parasites, etc.

Thanks so much for the patient explanation! I couldn't figure out why the other person who posted kept saying mice! LOL! I know a lot of people confuse garters and gophers and at first, I thought maybe that was the problem.

Don't feed goldfish to garter snakes, they're parasite factories and cause deficiency disease. Feed nightcrawlers or other types of freshwater fish, such as tilapia, or better still, convert them over to eating mice.

Or, just go with the Leo. You'll like it better because stupid Garters musk all over you anyway!! LOL!