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Garter snakes- should I do it?

C

claire.chapman11

New member
At the pet store I work for, we have a baby albino checkered garter. He's been there for months, and nobody could get him to eat until I came in (they didn't know that garters like fish so the pinky needed to be scented). Anyway, he's beautiful and I'm thinking about taking him home because we have a sort of bond, but I'm not sure yet. Anyone ever have garters? Are they an enjoyable snake to own?
Thanks in advance for replies.

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The only experience I have with Garters is catching and releasing them! I've gotten musked every single time. :awcrap: :p

If you have a special bond with the snake though and are dedicated to helping him, why not! Sounds like he's not in the best situation and you could give him a better home. If you do have snakes now I'd keep him in a strict quarantine and maybe even find a vet to swing him by for a check up. Considering that he's at a pet store and not from an established breeder you don't know his background. He might even be wild caught. I understand falling in love with a snake at the pet store though, my first Corn came from one.

Let us know if you end up grabbing him!
 
We had a couple of garters when my kids were small. Back then we didn't have access to much good info so our husbandry makes me ashamed looking back. Got bit once but never musked. Very nice snakes. We were told to feed feeder goldfish and we did. If you love the snake there is no reason not to get it. They make good pet snakes.
 
Albino checkered garters are more likely to be CB than WC, though they do pop up quite a bit more often in the wild than say corn snakes, probably because they're such prolific breeders. I know they have hundreds of hatchlings at Reptiles by Mack, and though most typically are sold wholesale to various parts of Asia, we did have the occasional pet store order one or two. The few adults I worked with were very calm and easily handled with no aggression, especially the males. One female was particularly aggravated, but I suspect she was gravid. It's worth noting that males stay much smaller than females, perhaps slightly larger than a typical yearling corn. Most can be converted to mice, but if not they'll happily take f/t fish. I really liked the babies, though they are pretty flighty. Checkered garters are one of the easiest garter species to tame down, so you'd probably have good success with this one if you've already developed a sort of bond with him. :)
 
Heck, one of my earliest memories of snakes is that I caught a garter that unbeknownst to me was a gravid female. So one morning when I looked into the cage, there were a bunch of these little worm things crawling all around.

I didn't know what to do with them (this was pre-internet days) but just on a hunch went and caught some earthworms and cut them up into bite-sized (for the babies) sections. That is the first time in my life that I actually got snakes to eat for me, and was enthralled watching those little baby garter snakes pouncing on those worm chunks. Prior to that I had caught many queen snakes, but could never ever get one of them to eat anything for me.

Some varieties of the garter snakes can be quite beautiful, and seems to me there was a thread posted here a while back where someone posted an assortment of photos showing this fact.

So heck, if you want the snake, get it. Life is too short to have regrets because of indecision and lack of just following your heart.
 
The thing to remember about Garters is they are "Not" constrictors and they do not wrap around you and hold on to you like a constrictor will. Anyone with a Corn snake, Boa or Python knows what it is to have a snake "Hold on to you" rather than you hold on to the snake. garter snakes are different. If you relax your grip, they can actually fall out of your hands and right to the floor.

(Garter snake feeding video below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEUMxpEUjQU
 
I love gartersnakes. For much of my childhood, gartersnakes were the only snakes I knew. I was a gartersnake catching specialist! I didn't care if I got masked, bitten, whatever. I just loved them. I successfully passed this love for gartersnakes on to my daughter, and grandson. I say go for it!!
 
42becde3438aa1177c5e84cbfc47a2e2.jpg

Here's the little one

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I used to chase them around as a kid too. Ours were striped.

Years later, when working at a dairy, I found a baby behind the desk in the office. Scooped it up to take it outside, and my co-workers looked on in horror. I just couldn't believe that was a big deal to them.
 
Fun snakes to keep, they tame down as well as most snakes. This little Florida blue striped garter now eats strips of fish out of my hand.


Research a little and go for it. :)
 
I love Garters! I have been tempted to get into them a number of times.

Garters are rear fanged, and have a mild neurotoxic venom to kill their prey. They are not a danger to humans, but some people might have a mild reaction around the bite are if they allow the snake to chew on them.

Some day, I might get into them, I have a local friend who breed gorgeous California Red Striped Garters, and he gets the babies started on pinky mice.
 
Awww what a cutie! Definitely captive bred. The only garters I've encountered have been in the wild. I wonder if they don't musk as often when they're captive bred? My hatchling corns musk me when they're real young. They grow out of it real quick though.

Congrats and keep us posted!!
 
Jessicat said:
Awww what a cutie! Definitely captive bred. The only garters I've encountered have been in the wild. I wonder if they don't musk as often when they're captive bred? My hatchling corns musk me when they're real young. They grow out of it real quick though.

Congrats and keep us posted!!
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I would imagine they don't musk as much. This girl never musk, but she does pee sometimes when I pick her up. I've decided to go for it. I have a thermostat coming in the mail for my spare heat pad and then everything will be ready to go :)


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She's lovely!

If you are not already aware of it it http://www.thamnophis.com/ is a great site for Garters, very similar to this forum - very good folks there (like here) .. I found the site when someone offered me one when they learned I had snakes.. Mine is a total spazz, Though I have to admit that I have not worked hard at taming him down.

I don't know how fussy the different species(?) are, but mine is a garbage disposal, he eats pinkies, chunks of fish, earthworms, etc.. They really are a neat snake, much more visually oriented than scent and active in daytime.

A word of warning though, read up on http://www.gartersnake.info/articles/2012/all-about-thiaminase.php Certain fish, noteably the rosey red minnows (underappreciated fish) feeder fish contain thiamninase, and feeding only them will result in a vitamin deficiency that will kill the snake in a horrible way. The good news is that Tilapia is just fine and as long as your snake doesn't need a live fish for a feeding reflex - you can buy frozen tilapia fillets for humans at any grocery store - Just hack off chunks to feed (a fillet will last a loooong time with a small snake) Since you mentioned feeding pinkies to her, She'll get enough calcium and probably won't need a supplement like a pure fish eater might.

Nancy
 
claire.chapman11 said:
I would imagine they don't musk as much. This girl never musk, but she does pee sometimes when I pick her up. I've decided to go for it. I have a thermostat coming in the mail for my spare heat pad and then everything will be ready to go :)


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I'm so happy. Awesome news. She already owns you, you know ;)
 
nancyg said:
A word of warning though, read up on http://www.gartersnake.info/articles/2012/all-about-thiaminase.php Certain fish, noteably the rosey red minnows (underappreciated fish) feeder fish contain thiamninase, and feeding only them will result in a vitamin deficiency that will kill the snake in a horrible way. The good news is that Tilapia is just fine and as long as your snake doesn't need a live fish for a feeding reflex - you can buy frozen tilapia fillets for humans at any grocery store - Just hack off chunks to feed (a fillet will last a loooong time with a small snake) Since you mentioned feeding pinkies to her, She'll get enough calcium and probably won't need a supplement like a pure fish eater might.

Nancy
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My opinion is that unless captive snakes are getting unfiltered UV light, then they will need to have vitamin D3 as a supplement in their diet. Also, unless the pinky mice are fresh from being with the mom mouse, they will not have much in the way of calcium in them. Providing both calcium and D3 as supplements might just be a good idea.

This is not exactly in relation to animals in captivity, but possibly interesting nonetheless -> http://www.vrp.com/bone-and-joint/vitamin-d3-higher-doses-reduce-risk-of-common-health-concerns
 
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