Garter Bomb incoming

[Steveo]

I have 7 babies coming in the mail this week. Super exited. 1.2 red plains, 1.1 pugets (female is blue already), and 1.1 easterns from an erythristic/flame cross x melanistic or snow (uncertain paternity). I will likely house them together in a 20gal long viv with an overhead ceramic heat source and then separate by sex when they're too big to have all in one viv.

:D

[kerensa]

*jealousy*
cruel cruel man.

pics comming too?

[Steveo]

Of course. I also need to take pics for the "other pets" thread and maybe also write an introduction like I said I would about two months ago ;)

[guidofatherof5]

I second the photo request.

[Dan72]

Congrats on the incoming, can't wait to see them.

[gazzamann]

i third the photo request :D

[EasternGirl]

Yep...must have pics! :)

[thamneil]

Photos or it didnt happen :)

[twgrosmick]

I also got a few coming in from the erythristic cross!! Did you get them from scott or jason?

[Steveo]

I also got a few coming in from the erythristic cross!! Did you get them from scott or jason?

Scott. I wanted a melanistic or two but he didn't have any so I'm hoping to make my own :P He's been great, excellent customer service and communication.

My boss is out this week so I'm wondering how long I'll be able to stand working on delivery day :) I'm hoping I can at least make it to 3pm...

[mikem]

Congrats, can't wait to see some pics!

[twgrosmick]

Scott. I wanted a melanistic or two but he didn't have any so I'm hoping to make my own :P He's been great, excellent customer service and communication.

My boss is out this week so I'm wondering how long I'll be able to stand working on delivery day :) I'm hoping I can at least make it to 3pm...

Jason has a snow female that was bred by a double het snow so he should have some melanistic 100% Het Snows available if that female drops. I have 11 snakes coming in from Scott also on wednesday. 1.1 Iowa Snow Plains, 0.1 Anerythristic Plains, 0.1 High Red HET SNOW, 1.0 Snow Red-Sided, 0.2 Albino Red-Sided, 0.1 Mid/High End Flame Eastern, 1.1 Erythristic HET either Snow/Melanistic (Same clutch), and a femael florida blue striped lol.

[EasternGirl]

Jason is a great guy...I have two snakes from him. Snake delivery day for us is like Christmas morning for little kids. I always start waiting by the window about two hours before the delivery is due! :D

[Reptiliancousin]

Congratulations!! Getting a new snake let alone seven is super exciting!

[Steveo]

Jason is a great guy...I have two snakes from him. Snake delivery day for us is like Christmas morning for little kids. I always start waiting by the window about two hours before the delivery is due! :D

I may order from Jason in the future. I like granites. But I went with Scott because I really wanted pugets. As far as delivery goes, the package will be held at a FedEx office about a half mile from my apartment. It's supposed to be there by 10:30 tomorrow so working all day is going to be tough.

[guidofatherof5]

Yeah, it's not easy on us either.:D

[ProXimuS]

So exciting!! Can't wait for piiics:)

[Invisible Snake]

I'm so excited!! I'm also getting several babies from Scott tomorrow morning, it's like being a kid again on christmas eve, I'm so excited I can't sleep and wish it was morning already lol :D

[guidofatherof5]

Calm down and get some sleep or Santa will pass you by.:D

[Steveo]

They're at the FedEx store waiting to be picked up *bouncebouncebounce* but it'll be at least 6 more hours before I can slip out of work :(

[guidofatherof5]

To hell with work. We're talking garter snakes here.:D

[ProXimuS]

They're at the FedEx store waiting to be picked up *bouncebouncebounce* but it'll be at least 6 more hours before I can slip out of work :(

I think this could classify as a "family emergency" to leave early:D

[Steveo]

They're here. All appear in good health I'vetaken some pictures, will have them up soon.

[Dan72]

Can't wait...... are they up yet?

[Dan72]

Congrats on your 11, you will post some pics as well, right;).


Jason has a snow female that was bred by a double het snow so he should have some melanistic 100% Het Snows available if that female drops. I have 11 snakes coming in from Scott also on wednesday. 1.1 Iowa Snow Plains, 0.1 Anerythristic Plains, 0.1 High Red HET SNOW, 1.0 Snow Red-Sided, 0.2 Albino Red-Sided, 0.1 Mid/High End Flame Eastern, 1.1 Erythristic HET either Snow/Melanistic (Same clutch), and a femael florida blue striped lol.

[Steveo]

Some of these are a little blurry, had to go manual because my camera can't autofocus at short range.

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[Steveo]

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[guidofatherof5]

Sweet. Glad they arrived safely.

[kibakiba]

That one hanging out of the cup sideways is too cute.

[ProXimuS]

Awesome babies! They look so cute all together:)

[thamneil]

Great looking little scrubs. Now I want my order to arrive :p

[katach]

Awesome babies! Congrats!

[mikem]

Congrats on the new additions! Love the pugets :)

[Steveo]

They're starting to settle in a bit. At first they were just hiding under the newspaper along the edges of the tank, occasionally popping their heads up, but this morning a few were sleeping in the hides. Some will still have a total freak-out if I move too quickly, though. I'm going to wait until they're a little bigger before decorating the tank and adding substrate because I want to keep a close eye on them for now.



That one hanging out of the cup sideways is too cute.

I made that picture the background for my computer at work.

[Steveo]

I picked up some Sally's brand silversides on the way home from work and these guys crushed them. I cut 2 up into little pieces and put them in their water dish and it was gone in 5 minutes. I cut up 2 more including some larger pieces for the Scott's garter (bigger than the others) and they were gone in another 8 minutes or so. The Scott's garter was the most timid and only grabbed the last few pieces once everyone else was done; the rest had already eaten some of his big pieces.

[thamneil]

Sounds like everyone is settling in! We need more pictures :)

[Dan72]

Awesome! Nice group you have there. Can't wait to watch them grow and get updates.

[Steveo]

Just a quick update - found 3 skins all stuck together when cleaning the tank this weekend. All eyecaps present and accounted for. I separated for feeding on Saturday because I've had to break up food fights every meal so far. It helped me figure out who eats what; all but two ate pinky parts and/or scented pinky parts. I think the one radix that only ate fish has eaten pinky parts in the past.

The male puget is a light eater and is only taking a piece of fish or two per feeding. He hasn't grown much, the others are probably 3-4x his weight. I have him in a tupperware to himself. I'm hoping a little extra attention will get him on the right track. I'm putting together a colony of feeder guppies this week, hopefully some live prey will get him going.

[Bear-Cat]

*melts* They are just adorable. The first one looks like wood grain! Such beautiful colors~

[guidofatherof5]

Eating and growing and shedding and pooping. That's good stuff.

[Light of Dae]

I'm so excited! for you ... and because I'm waiting on 11 snakes myself :)

[Steveo]

The male Puget Sound garter passed away today. I tried everything I could to get him going but he was weak and barely eating. He was so light that he floated in his water dish the other day.

The remaining six are doing very well, so there's that. I'm not sure if I want to look for another Puget, perhaps I'll wait and see if I can rent a stud a few years down the road.

[kibakiba]

Aww I'm sorry your little guy died! I hope everyone is doing well for you.

[guidofatherof5]

Sorry to hear the scrub passed.
I lost a baby red sided today. Same situation.

[Invisible Snake]

Sorry for your loss Steveo and guidofatherof5 :(

[ProXimuS]

Aww:( Sorry to hear about both babies.

[Steveo]

Sorry to hear that, Steve.

I fed the rest of the group tonight in individual containers while I cleaned the tank. Each was given 5-6 pieces of a mix of pinky parts and silversides, and each promptly cleaned their plates. It's still hard to pick them up gently but at least they didn't musk on me.

[Steveo]

These little scrubs aren't going to be little for much longer. The Puget and the male Plains are nearing 12" and are as thick as a pencil in the middle. It's hard to believe they came less than two months ago packed 2 or 3 per 8oz. container.

I want to put together a photo box and see if I can get some really nice pictures. I think it would be cool to have a week-by-week slideshow of the red radixes and erythristics coloring up. I think that'll also be a good time to start a "my garters" thread instead of resurrecting this one every few weeks :cool:

[Mommy2many]

I am so sorry to hear about your puget passing away. I was away at the time and just read this thread. Glad the others are doing well.

[ProXimuS]

Glad everyone is growing and doing well.

Any sign of your Scotti?

[Steveo]

Any sign of your Scotti?


Negative.

[Steveo]

Last night I fed everyone and did a full scrub-down of the tank. I put the carefresh in extra deep and they seem to enjoy it. The pickeringii has eaten both fish and mouse parts twice in a row; before that, she had usually just eaten the fish. I'm still going to offer fish until I run out of frozen silversides, then I'll transition to live feeder guppies that I'm raising up as a treat.

One of the female radixes looked to be on her way to a retained shed last night. It didn't stop her from feeding but I could see it wrinkling and folding over when she curled up. After her meal I helped her get it off. I tried to get her to crawl through a wet rag while I applied some pressure (this has worked with others), but any time I covered her head she just went backwards. I was able to get from the vent down with tweezers, but I put her in a shed box and she was able to drop the rest in one piece.

About 3 weeks ago I had to help a radix with a shed also. I hope this wasn't the same one.

[EasternGirl]

I'm so sorry to hear about your little puget...and I'm sorry to hear about the red-sided baby, Steve. I have had some troubled shedders. Adding a moist moss hide to the enclosure has done wonders. I used to have to help my albino checkered with every shed...but he has moist moss hides now and hasn't had any problems the last few sheds. I just take a little plastic deli cup and cut a little hole for an entrance and put it over the moist moss. I have done that in a couple of my tanks and the snakes seem to know to go and sit inside before a shed. Also make sure they have something rough to rub off the shed. I have noticed that carefresh does not work well for getting sheds off with problem shedders. Perhaps put some dry moss or aspen in a corner for them to slither through when shedding. This has also worked well for me.

[ConcinusMan]

I used to have to help my albino checkered with every shed...but he has moist moss hides now and hasn't had any problems the last few sheds.

Don't get too relaxed. Every dang albino checkered I ever had, suffered from the same issue. Then eventually, they seem to grow out of it, then BAM! dead one day from a retained shed in spite of moist hides and watching for signs of trouble. It's happened to every one I've ever had. I give up on albino checkereds.

Regardless of what kind of snake it is, repeated problems shedding isn't a good sign. I've lost nearly every baby that had that problem, in spite of making it to a year or so, and in spite of seemingly getting over it. And it had nothing to do with environment. No other snakes kept in the same tank had any issues, ever. Just specific snakes had the problem. Repeatedly. But I haven't had a single albino checkered make it. They all died of the same thing.

[EasternGirl]

Gee thanks Richard...now I will be worried about losing Hermes all the time. Chris has an albino checkered that is a couple of years old I believe. I don't think he has had any problems with shedding.

[ConcinusMan]

Wasn't meant to worry you. Just keep a very close eye. It's easy to miss when an albino goes opaque. If you watch closely, you'll know when he's due to shed. That way, if it doesn't happen when it should, you can intervene in time. If I wasn't so dang busy, and confident that they had outgrown the problem, I probably could have prevented the deaths. They would have died earlier, had I not noticed the problem and assisted with getting the old skin off in time. Once it gets to the stage where it's wrinkled, its often very difficult if not impossible to get the skin off.

Just a tip if it doesn't go so well. Get it started around the cloaca, peel backwards toward the head. Although still difficult sometimes, it's a bit easier than trying to do it the "correct" way.

Watch for fading yellows and eyes turning purplish. That's the opaque stage. After a few days to a week, the eyes will suddenly go back to normal. That's when you should expect a shed within 5 days or so. If it's been 10, somethings wrong and you may need to assist.

Just saying keep an eye on him. Although he may seem like he's over it, keep a close eye out for a failure to shed.