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Garters everywhere!

Depends on the laws where you live IF you can collect them. Here in Pa. you're allowed to "harvest" one native species as long as it isn't endangered or protected. The San Fran garter is beautiful with turquoise blue and red streaks AND ILLEGAL TO KEEP! What a shame. SIGH!

If you keep any for pets, please don't feed them crickets! It will kill them! ( In fact I'd like to know if you can feed any breed of pet snake crickets without it harming them! ) Frogs, earthworms and goldfish, guppies and pinkies work just fine. They also get a whole lot bigger in captivity than they ever would in the wild and they like company so you can co-hab them. The wild ones will usually brumate in communal dens.

Neat hunh? I've been hanging out on the garter snake forum.

Wish I could find a den site where I live! I'm dying to find a garter now! Any suggestions where would be an ideal location? I'm sure I live in prime garter country. I've got woods, hills, big rocks and a stream right outside the back door.

Devon
 
I was in a conservation area when I found these guys and I'm of a conservationist philosophy where nature is concerned, so I am very cautious about revealing their location online. All of the garters I picked up were only held as long as was necessary to take a couple of photos and were released in the same spot. They were definitely sharing a den and I'm hoping there will be plenty of garter babies in their futures, uninhibited by human development or interference.
 
Great pics. They look so chill. Almost inquisitive. I've seen some indonesian garters in petshops here in NY but they're not as cool as the specise we have here in the states. Thanks for sharing.
 
Garters were long thought to be nonvenomous, but recent discoveries have revealed that they do in fact produce a mild neurotoxic venom
Garter snakes are mildly venomous.

Garter snakes are nevertheless harmless to humans due to the very low amounts of venom they produce, which is comparatively mild, and the fact that they lack an effective means of delivering it. They do have enlarged teeth in the back of their mouth, but their gums are significantly larger. Whereas most venomous snakes have anterior or forward venom glands, the Duvernoy's gland of garters are posterior (to the rear) of the snake's eyes. The mild poison is spread into wounds through a chewing action. The properties of the venom are not well known, but it appears to contain 3FTx, commonly known as three-finger toxin, which is a neurotoxin commonly found in the venom of colubrids and elapids. A bite may result in mild swelling and an itching sensation. There are no known cases of serious injury and extremely few with symptoms of envenomation.
 
I would probably catch a garter to keep as a pet but I have some health concerns regarding bringing a wild snake(that could be diseased have mites anything) into my home where I have corn snakes.
 
Pal-O-Mine said:
If you keep any for pets, please don't feed them crickets! It will kill them! ( In fact I'd like to know if you can feed any breed of pet snake crickets without it harming them! ) Frogs, earthworms and goldfish, guppies and pinkies work just fine. They also get a whole lot bigger in captivity than they ever would in the wild and they like company so you can co-hab them. The wild ones will usually brumate in communal dens.

Devon
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In my research I found that goldfish are poisonous to garters. Just an FYI.
 
What a great day herping! I keep a few garters (2wc/2cb). They're fabulous display animals because they truly are as curious as they look in the pics. They're very active, diurnal and so fun to watch. The only species you can't co-hab is T. elegans vagrans or wandering garters. The rest don't seem to mind a tank mate at all. They are messier than corns and most aren't as fun to handle as corns but, as I said, make great display animals. All four are near my desk and are busy busy busy right now :)
 
jitami said:
What a great day herping! I keep a few garters (2wc/2cb). They're fabulous display animals because they truly are as curious as they look in the pics. They're very active, diurnal and so fun to watch. The only species you can't co-hab is T. elegans vagrans or wandering garters. The rest don't seem to mind a tank mate at all. They are messier than corns and most aren't as fun to handle as corns but, as I said, make great display animals. All four are near my desk and are busy busy busy right now :)
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maybe you could provide some insight on bringing wild caught into a home with captive bred snakes since you have both?
 
I sooo want to find a den so that I can assault the poor buggers with my camera! That's the only way I want to take a lot of garters from the wild---on film! :)

Devon
 
toad772 said:
maybe you could provide some insight on bringing wild caught into a home with captive bred snakes since you have both?
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Sorry, I assumed you were the one who posted in the garter forum where it was covered fairly well... my apologies if that's not the case!

Although I do have both, I would always recommend going with a trusted breeder. For the most part garters are still 'cheap' and can be had for very little money from reputable breeders, so why risk damaging their natural population or endangering your corn collection? That said, as long as it's legal to collect them in your area and you're comfortable with the risks (which I do think are relatively small, btw) no one is going to have a problem with you collecting one or two for your own private collection.

The neighborhood kids drug home my first garter and were passing it between themselves, dropping it, squeezing it, generally unintentionally torturing it, all the while begging all their parents to let them keep it. I said, 'let me see it' and of course fell in love with the poor dear. Looking back, I should have gotten in the car and driven him back to where the kids caught him, but then where would I be now? That was in 2002. Since then I added the two captive bred garters, and then another wild garter, the same species as the one I already had, showed up in my suburban driveway. By law I'm allowed to collect/keep two of each species so was ok there. I was still worried about bringing her in, but after a long quarantine she's been housed with my first wc with no problems.

So, yeah, it's up to you (and perhaps your local laws) whether you're comfortable bringing in a wild caught animal. A good long quarantine far from your current collection is always a good idea.
 
jitami said:
Sorry, I assumed you were the one who posted in the garter forum where it was covered fairly well... my apologies if that's not the case!

Although I do have both, I would always recommend going with a trusted breeder. For the most part garters are still 'cheap' and can be had for very little money from reputable breeders, so why risk damaging their natural population or endangering your corn collection? That said, as long as it's legal to collect them in your area and you're comfortable with the risks (which I do think are relatively small, btw) no one is going to have a problem with you collecting one or two for your own private collection.

The neighborhood kids drug home my first garter and were passing it between themselves, dropping it, squeezing it, generally unintentionally torturing it, all the while begging all their parents to let them keep it. I said, 'let me see it' and of course fell in love with the poor dear. Looking back, I should have gotten in the car and driven him back to where the kids caught him, but then where would I be now? That was in 2002. Since then I added the two captive bred garters, and then another wild garter, the same species as the one I already had, showed up in my suburban driveway. By law I'm allowed to collect/keep two of each species so was ok there. I was still worried about bringing her in, but after a long quarantine she's been housed with my first wc with no problems.

So, yeah, it's up to you (and perhaps your local laws) whether you're comfortable bringing in a wild caught animal. A good long quarantine far from your current collection is always a good idea.
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I was the one who posted there but no one really said anything i wanted know how big the risk was and no one really said anything that I didn't say in my original post.
 
toad772 said:
I was the one who posted there but no one really said anything i wanted know how big the risk was and no one really said anything that I didn't say in my original post.
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I don't think anyone really knows how large the risks are, so it's always easier to advise others to err on the side of caution. We do seem to have a fair amount of sudden deaths on that forum and I would guess that at least some are due to parasites.... either there when caught if wc, introduced by new snakes, or introduced via (live?) prey items. These deaths are seen in both captive bred and wild caught individuals, so it's very tough to say what's causing them. Only you can decide whether it's worth it or not... you're going to have to quarantine whatever comes in anyway, but you can decrease your risks greatly by going with a breeder who has had a healthy collection for many years. Stick around that forum... we have a lot of members who are european and don't have the option of capturing garters, but no one is going to judge you either way.
 
jitami said:
I don't think anyone really knows how large the risks are, so it's always easier to advise others to err on the side of caution. We do seem to have a fair amount of sudden deaths on that forum and I would guess that at least some are due to parasites.... either there when caught if wc, introduced by new snakes, or introduced via (live?) prey items. These deaths are seen in both captive bred and wild caught individuals, so it's very tough to say what's causing them. Only you can decide whether it's worth it or not... you're going to have to quarantine whatever comes in anyway, but you can decrease your risks greatly by going with a breeder who has had a healthy collection for many years. Stick around that forum... we have a lot of members who are european and don't have the option of capturing garters, but no one is going to judge you either way.
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well there is alot of sudden deaths in young corns aswell
 
I probably won't get any the risk is to big but is there anyway I could make a outdoor home for one?
 
toad772 said:
I probably won't get any the risk is to big but is there anyway I could make a outdoor home for one?
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I guess it would depend on your weather, how diligent you were in making sure temps were ok, etc. Can't stress enough to keep glass tanks out of direct sunlight. Then what will you do with it come winter time? Releasing a snake that's spent any time in captivity isn't a good idea. Besides, if you don't spend a lot of time out there, what's the point? Really, the fascination with garters, to me anyway, is in observing them. If they're not somewhere where you can see them you may as well have another corn in a box :poke: Sorry, I love my corn, but his empty looking tank really doesn't need to be in sight at all times :)

Right now, in one garter tank I have one curled up in his driftwood log staring at me and one climbing the driftwood log and up onto his vine. In the other garter tank I have two adults curled up together looking cozy on their basking rock. In my corn tank, I have one very healthy corn who had a perfect shed for me overnight and ate this morning... I know he's in there somewhere :)
 
jitami said:
I guess it would depend on your weather, how diligent you were in making sure temps were ok, etc. Can't stress enough to keep glass tanks out of direct sunlight. Then what will you do with it come winter time? Releasing a snake that's spent any time in captivity isn't a good idea. Besides, if you don't spend a lot of time out there, what's the point? Really, the fascination with garters, to me anyway, is in observing them. If they're not somewhere where you can see them you may as well have another corn in a box :poke: Sorry, I love my corn, but his empty looking tank really doesn't need to be in sight at all times :)

Right now, in one garter tank I have one curled up in his driftwood log staring at me and one climbing the driftwood log and up onto his vine. In the other garter tank I have two adults curled up together looking cozy on their basking rock. In my corn tank, I have one very healthy corn who had a perfect shed for me overnight and ate this morning... I know he's in there somewhere :)
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yeah I thought of that after I could keep one or two in my basement and not go down there when handling my corns(I usually stay on the top 2 floors with my corns anyway)
 
Jitami, you are making me want to buy a garter at the next reptile expo! They really are a lot of fun to watch; there is almost an intelligent curiosity to the way they look at you. If I had to guess what the smartest snake is, I'd vote for them.
 
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