Reptile & Amphibian Forums

After I finish my turtle pond I'm going to have a very large (100-ish gallon)tank...it's like 5'x2'x2 or something. I'm hoping to do a naturalish display with snakes in it. I've got a short list; Florida kingsnake, Everglades ratsnake, Neroida, or garters.
I was wondering about setting up a divided tank (if I go the garter route), with about 1/4th the area being water, probably a foot deep with a submerged filter. I just don't know about doing a tank with multiple garters, which is what I'd prefer. I'd prefer a larger subspecies as well. But I haven't ever done garters seriously--just a couple Thamnophis I've caught over the years. So I'm sort of at sea on good species to try if I go this route. Something largish, and are garters safe to keep together? I know Lampropeltis aren't nor are Pits or Elaphe.

My vision is sort of having the front right corner area being water, with a good bioactive substrate, and I'll try for some ground cover (we've got something that grows in the yard I think would work), coupled with some stone to maybe replicate the stone wall where I found my first garter.
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

That tank might work well for Water Snakes. There's a local nature center that has garters in a big enclosure with other species of reptiles and amphibians (painted turtles, bullfrogs), but I think that sort of thing would be tricky to maintain.

I've kept Black Rat Snakes in a 55 gallon as a pair and they were great display animals - though most types of rodent eating snakes spend the majority of their time hiding.

I built this "natural" setup for my pair of Baird's Rat Snakes and they remain hidden 95% of the time.

Tim

Third Eye

Of all the snakes on the short list, the garters would be the ones that you would see the most and enjoy the viewing of a display tank of due to their diurnal nature, as Tim eluded to the more nocturnal snakes would be hidden most of the time.
You wouldn't necessarily need to have a divided water area, as that would be harder to keep high drinking water quality, instead you could just use a large water bowl with a similar set up to what Tim's picture shows. I have had display set-ups in the past like that for garters and it was a lot of fun to watch them as they can be very active during the day, especially in the mornings.
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

You might want to try Green snakes. They thrive in naturalistic setups are diurnal [so you can enjoy watching them explore their vivarium] They are also one of the prettier of the smaller colubrids. They are relatively cleaner than some of the other vivarium possibilities also.

I'd love to keep those but I can't find anyone that has CBBs available and I dislike going w/ wild caught. I don't like overcollection, dealing with parasites, feeding issues, etc.
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa