My First Garter!

[Reptiliancousin]

Went to the San Antonio Reptile Expo last Sat. and found a booth with many new born Blue-Striped Garters and HAD to get one! I'm super excited! I chose a male and maybe plan on pairing him with my large female ribbon next year. I love my baby garter! The people I bought Bobbie from said he was three days old. They also said that their store also receives ribbon snakes daily, including the blues that I"ve been searching so long for. Excited about that too! Anyway, here's Bobbie:
54675468 546954705471

[Invisible Snake]

Congratulations on your new addition, may I ask what do you mean by pairing?

[mb90078]

It is not a good idea to mix both species and gender in the same living quarters. Nor is it a good idea to put a large one with a baby.

That aside, looks like a very nice one you've got there.

[guidofatherof5]

Nice looking little scrub.
I hope he will start eating for you right away.
Best of luck. Keep us posted.

I'm concerned they would sell a 3 day old snake.

[Reptiliancousin]

No mix breeding? Okay, I was under the impression since they're closely related it'd be alright. I won't do that then!

[Reptiliancousin]

Why are you concerned? Should I be worried?


Nice looking little scrub.
I hope he will start eating for you right away.
Best of luck. Keep us posted.

I'm concerned they would sell a 3 day old snake.

[Invisible Snake]

They can most likely breed but the babies would come out as hybrids and when it comes to garters, noone likes a hybrid.

And the concern I would have about buying a 3 day old snake is getting it to eat, babies can be difficult eaters, also some babies can just die for unknown reasons weeks after their birth.

[guidofatherof5]

All of the breeders I know about never sell snakes unless they've had a few meals and have shown signs of thriving.
I'm by no means saying there is something wrong with your snake. It's just the fact that you will have to get it eating now.
Have you tried feeding Bobbi and if so what?



Why are you concerned? Should I be worried?

[kibakiba]

Putting a baby with an adult is asking for trouble, and if you mean breeding... Most people here are completely against it. There are plenty of threads that you can search, if you want to know the reasons why we're against it.

[chris-uk]

Get some food in him (you said it's male, but at that size it could be hard to tell, how did the seller sex the babies?), hopefully he'll take to food straight away.
I'd also share the concern about selling snakes at 3 days old, I had four checkereds last year at about 6 weeks old, and 2 of them didn't make it to 6 months (one FTT, and one with a spinal disorder). To me, someone selling 3 day old snakes at a reptile expo just stinks of trying to make a fast buck and not caring about the snakes or the buyers. Unless they warned every buyer and were selling cheaper to account for the risk that they may not survive (even then I'd be concerned).

[guidofatherof5]

Please keep us informed about your awesome little scrub.
We want to help and are just concerned.
I certainly meant no disrespect to you.;)

[Reptiliancousin]

Oh, none taken! I appreciate everyone's imput. If I'm doing something wrong by all means tell me!


Please keep us informed about your awesome little scrub.
We want to help and are just concerned.
I certainly meant no disrespect to you.;)

[Reptiliancousin]

So far I've tried to feed Bobbie a baby guppie and tiny cricket. The guppy he just played with and let die and I haven't been able to locate the little cricket.
The people sexed Bobbie by squeezing out his parts. I'm a little suspicious with that since everything I've read it's hard to determine when the snakes are this young.
I watched as they did and a little white thing popped out but now I'm wondering if it was musk instead of male anatomy.

[guidofatherof5]

Ditch the crickets and any other bug. Garters don't eat bugs.
Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet (http://www.thamnophis.com/index.php?page=caresheet)

[guidofatherof5]

At this point I wouldn't worry about sexing Bobbi/Bobby.
Have you tried and earthworms or night crawler pieces?

[Reptiliancousin]

To my surprise he ate the dried out guppy he left this morning. I forgot to take it out yesterday. My mistake. I haven't yet tried earthworms or night crawlers. I did put in three meal worm an hour ago but so far he hasn't messed with them. He was interested yes, but not eaten them.

[Invisible Snake]

To my knowledge you aren't suppose to feed garter snakes meal worms.

[mikem]

Don't bother with meal worms. Insects are a no-no. Stick with guppies, night crawler pieces and chopped pinkies. If you scroll down about half way in that caresheet that Steve linked to a few posts above, there's a section on feeding. Lots of great info there. Good luck with the little guy, love the photos, especially the last one with his big ol' head ;) So cute, lol :p