Hello Im new

[popeye]

Hello I am curently hunting for garter's to breed them and for personal pets. I almost caught a snake that was about 6-8inches long and had a blood red line on its back, it got away unfortunatly. I had a red garter and fed it nothing but worms and it did well should I feed my future garter's other things besides worms? I was wondering if there was a website that would show photo's and identify snakes where I am from. I live in Oregon, USA. Anyways thanks for any help you guys can give me.

[Brian]

Welcome Popeye! I hope the recent spinach problems haven't been keeping you down. LOL. All kidding aside. If you live in Oregon the snake you saw was a northwestern garter snake. Here is a link to a good resource on northwestern herps.
northwest herps (http://www.californiaherps.com/noncal/northwest/nwsnakes/pages/t.ordinoides.html)

Oregon is a beutifull place with a lot of gartersnake diversity. As you can see from the link above, northwestern garters are very variable in color and number of stripes. They would make a fun breeding project as its not currently known if all of color variations are genetic or not. Northwestern garters are very abundant there, so if you focus on wetland areas you shouldn't have trouble locating some of them. Depending on where you live you also have Oregon Red spotted garters and Valley garters. Good luck on your hunt. Northwestern gartesr are often thought of as slug specialists, but they will eat worms, fish, amphibians, and scented mice as well.

[popeye]

I have just cuaght a Thamnophis ordinoides or (Northwestern Garter) it has 3 tan yellow stripes and is about 13inches long. Will this snake be ok with eating grasshoppers,beetles,slugs,spiders? Anyways thanks alot for the help Brian.

[Brian]

It will eat slugs but not insects or spiders. Your best bet would be to feed it slugs and then try scenting a pinky mouse with slug slime. Worms should also work as will small fish. Congrats on your new pet.

[Thamnophis]

Welcome Popeye,

if you can please let us see your T. ordinoides.
We love Garter Snake Pictures. :)

[popeye]

Me and 2 of my buddies have cuaght 3 baby garters the babys are all about 3-4 inches long, I have kept one of the babys and my friends have took the other 2. I am wondering if it is ok to keep my baby with the much bigger snake of the same species? Im worried that the bigger snake will eat all the food and the baby will get nother to eat. Also I am try to figure out how to post pictures of all the snakes together. Thanks for the help with snakes.

[popeye]

I have the pictures in member galleries but I need better camera sorry about the quality