Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,

I have been keeping an adult Florida blue garter in a 40-gallon breeder marshland environment, along with an adult Eastern ribbon snake, for quite some time now. The setup formerly housed a second ribbon snake who had lived in the habitat for four years, as an adult.
Well, the garter enclosure where I purchased the garter had a label on the tank reading "All Specimens Are Male." Well, someone made a mistake. The garter had been in with the ribbon since December.
Today, I was cleaning a messy water bowl. When I lifted it up, I discovered about 11 "slugs", as well as 4 dead baby snakes that are quite rare- hybrids between Eastern ribbons and the blue garters. Some had gotten out of their amniotic sacs before death, while others were still enclosed. Because I was not expecting babies, the light had dried them out.
This is sad, but it is neat to see such unusual snakes. They have the tiny bodies of the Florida blue garters, but each has a very pronounced ribbon snake head. Most of the babies fell in two when I picked them up.

Anyway, I turned off the heat lamp, removed all of the cage furniture, and got that dry gravel and moss really nice and moist. I am wondering if I should expect more of these unusual snakes, and if so, how should I make sure that this does not happen again. Live examples would truly be something very bizarre to garter keepers! Thank you for any help, and I hope that more are on the way. I really want any more babies to make it. Thanks!
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DAVE

1.0 Western green toad
1.1 green treefrogs
1.0 Florida blue garter snake
1.1 Oriental fire-bellied toads
1.0 American bullfrog
0.1 Spanish ribbed newt
0.0.1 Eastern ribbon snake
1.1 red-cheeked mud turtles
0.1 Dubia day gecko
1.0 Sonoran gopher snake
0.1 rough green snakes
1.1 giant African black millipedes
1.0 Okeetee corn snake
0.1 Albino African clawed frog
1.0 Kenyan sand boa
0.0.1 Argentine flame-bellied toadlet
0.0.1 African bullfrog
1.0 yellow * Everglades rat snake intergrade
1.1 Western hognose snakes
1.2 fire salamanders
1.1 scarlet kingsnakes
0.0.1 Argentine horned frog
1.1 Southern ringneck snakes
0.0.2 Western hooknose snakes
0.0.1 Florida brown snake
0.1.1 Northern brown snakes
0.0.2 Western/ Midwestern worm snake intergrades

Did the babies look full term / normally developed? But, it may have been hard to tell with the state of decay you described. Who do you think the mom was?

-Alice

Hi there,

The babies had well developed teeth and scales, and all of the organs were inside. I think that they either dehydrated, or were crushed by the big garter. The garter had to have been the mother. It was enormous, but it eats a lot, so I just thought it was because it was eating too much, but it seems to have lost a lot of weight now. No more babies came. I am setting the tank back up again. They looked a lot like shortheadd garters, meaning that they had an avergae garter's girth, but with little ribbon snake heads. Also, their bluish color was much more bright blue, for reasons that I do not understand.
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DAVE

1.0 Western green toad
1.1 green treefrogs
1.0 Florida blue garter snake
1.1 Oriental fire-bellied toads
1.0 American bullfrog
0.1 Spanish ribbed newt
0.0.1 Eastern ribbon snake
1.1 red-cheeked mud turtles
0.1 Dubia day gecko
1.0 Sonoran gopher snake
0.1 rough green snakes
1.1 giant African black millipedes
1.0 Okeetee corn snake
0.1 Albino African clawed frog
1.0 Kenyan sand boa
0.0.1 Argentine flame-bellied toadlet
0.0.1 African bullfrog
1.0 yellow * Everglades rat snake intergrade
1.1 Western hognose snakes
1.2 fire salamanders
1.0 scarlet kingsnake
0.0.1 Argentine horned frog
1.1 Southern ringneck snakes
1.0 Florida scarletsnake
0.0.1 Florida brown snake
0.0.1 Northern brown snake
0.0.1 Smooth earth snake
0.0.2 Western/ Midwestern worm snake intergrades
"And tons of garters and ribbons are being born in the reptile room this very minute..."