Blackbelly Garter snake mega post

[annulataarethebest]

Hmm where to start...
Last season when Scott Felzer produced the Blackbelly Garters from Central America(?) I happened to grab a trio of them. I kept the 3 of them in a single tub in my hatchling snake rack, minus the keeping them together part I pretty much kept them like how I keep kingsnakes and milks. Whenever I was able to get around to getting feeder fish they would get 2 dozen rosies in a waterbowl and they would eat most of them, whatever they didn't eat would be eaten the next day. All of them shed at least once a month and grew quick like most garters do...

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/117834blackbellygarters2jan.JPG

Out of that trio the 2 biggest ones resemble little anacondas, which supposedly is what the typical blackbelly garter specimen looks like. The smaller one, which I'm assuming is the male doesn't really look like the females... (the male is in the lower left corner of the next pic)

http://gallery.kingsnake.com/data/117834blackbellygarters5jan-med.JPG

Here's the one anaconda lookalike female in her new enclosure...

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/117834blackbellyfemupclose.JPG

Here's the other one in my hand...

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/117834blackbellyfeminhand.JPG

Here she is in the tank...

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/117834blackbellyfemintank.JPG

THEN, Joe P offered me some more blackbelly garters, which of course I couldn't pass up..
The one is a patternless greenish male, he's an adult I think but my younger-than-yearling females are already as big as him. It wasn't easy to get a good pic of this guy yesterday that's for sure. This is the only half decent pic of him I got.

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/117834blackbellyolivegreenmale.JPG

[annulataarethebest]

What I was REALLY looking forward to is this little female blackbelly garter, the red form. This snake is so awesome looking, kind of looks like a pine woods snake with a stripe. I don't know if it's a morph or not, but I plan to find out. :)

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/117834blackbellyredfem.JPG

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/117834blackbellyredfem2.JPG

I have a feeling these guys will all breed in 2013. I hope I can get them switched to pinky mice, I had one of my original females eat a pinky mouse probably 4 months ago after I dipped in a bowl with some fish in it. Tried a couple times after that and nothing. I've heard they were difficult to get on mice but Scott Felzer said his adults eat unscented rodents.
To me this is one of the coolest garter snake species out, I've yet to be bit by any of them, they rarely musk, and after squiggling around for a minute they settle down. And all you really have to do is put fish in a bowl and the tank comes to life...

(In the bowl is one of my original females, then the original male dipped his head in the water, the red female is to the right of him thinking of a strategy, and the patternless male is to the left)

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/117834blackbellyfeast.JPG

Here's the red female near the other 2 females.... they just look sooo different.

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/117834blackbellysfacetoface.JPG

Anybody else working with these?

[katach]

Gorgeous!

[guidofatherof5]

They look great.
I think switching them to pinks is a good idea.

[Natrix]

They look great, the red phase is really nice. ;)

[chris-uk]

I like the pattern on the original male. Great series of pics.
I don't thinks there are many of these Blackbelly garters being kept, I've not heard of them in Europe at least.

[EasternGirl]

Very lovely.

[BUSHSNAKE]

they are for sure one of the cooler species out there, i love mine. Good to see yours are rocking!

[Stefan-A]

So that's what they look like.

[BUSHSNAKE]

theres 2 red morphs...a red belly kind and a red stripe kind, im gonna breed them together to see how red they can get

[EasternGirl]

Very pretty. That one in the first pic is so cute.

[Light of Dae]

Did no one else notice he is feeding ROSIES? As in a bad fish? No One? Really? 2 Dozen Rosies a feeding is going to add up quick, I'm not talking money wise, I'm concerned about Thiamise issues.

Guppies or Platies are the only two safe LIVE fish that I am aware of.

Someone Correct me if I'm wrong.. Considering no one else caught that.

[Light of Dae]

I'd hate to see such beautiful snakes die of a vitamin B deficiency.

[guidofatherof5]

Did no one else notice he is feeding ROSIES? As in a bad fish? No One? Really? 2 Dozen Rosies a feeding is going to add up quick, I'm not talking money wise, I'm concerned about Thiamise issues.

Guppies or Platies are the only two safe LIVE fish that I am aware of.

Someone Correct me if I'm wrong.. Considering no one else caught that.

Good point to bring up.

He also is trying to get them switched to pinkies.;)

[EasternGirl]

You are correct...I did not catch that. Dae is right, rosies are not a safe fish to feed to garters. Switch them to guppies or platies if you want to feed live fish, and I do recommend trying to get them started on pinkies.

[annulataarethebest]

Whenever I started feeding them they would get 2 dozen rosies per feeding, which wouldn't last. They currently go through a good bit more than that, I put probably 7 dozen guppies in their water bowl the day I took pics and by the time I was done making this thread the bowl was empty. And guppies are tiny, so for 2.50 a dozen I'll go for the rosies when they have them. I don't really know how big adults of this species are, but I somehow don't see them getting big enough to eat fuzzies... And pinkies arent really nutritionally beneficial so where's the middle ground at...

[guidofatherof5]

If I had a choice to feed fish or pinkies I would go with the pinkies.
I think they a very good source of nutrients.

[EasternGirl]

Yes...many of us feed pinkies to our snakes and they seem to be providing substantial nutrients. Of course, a varied diet is best for optimum health, in my opinion. I always recommend a diet consisting of pinkies, fish (I prefer fresh fish fillet such as tilapia or salmon), and earthworms, along with a calcium/D3 supplement. This is what I feed all of my snakes and they all seem to be doing well. Many members feed their snakes a similar diet. Some members feed pinky only diets and their snakes do very well with that diet too. The problem with some live fish, rosies being one of them in particular, is that they contain thiaminase...an enzyme that can be dangerous when the levels of it build up over time in garters. It causes a vitamin B1 deficiency which can lead to tremors, convulsions, and eventually, death.

[BUSHSNAKE]

Im feeding mine F/T smelt dusted with B1

[BUSHSNAKE]

a striped no spots green one

[EasternGirl]

Pretty...

[annulataarethebest]

Yeah that one's pretty sweet Joe, are you breeding any this year?

[BUSHSNAKE]

next year, we will be trading them like baseball cards probably

[annulataarethebest]

Hopefully, seems there's definitely more than a handful of different patterns in the blackbelly. My original male is mostly black, with a green stripe. Felzer is selling het melanistic blackbellys this year, I wonder what the melanistic blackbelly looks like?

[BUSHSNAKE]

jet black, no white...theyre cool