New snake owner

[thredhd]

Okay so my kid just had to have a snake (we are reptile people, i have an iguana, my husband has a bearded dragon, and we have a mud turtle we saved from the pool one year). We got a garter snake since its native to the area and figured it would be a decent starter snake. well we bought it at the pet store and the other day the darn thing just had babies!! 5 live and 3 stillborn. anyway, we barely know how to care for the mom, let alone the babies. some advice would be great.

[thredhd]

sorry i didn't mean to end that post lol....just any advice on lighting, heat, food, taking care of the babies. not sure how many we'll keep. right now we have the babies separated from the mom. mom eats rosey minnows. trying to get the babies to eat some baby feeder guppies. they don't really seem to understand what they are yet. they are just 2 days old. i gave the babies the uv light that i had on the mom until i could get another one. the light is more of a full spectrum light that i had an extra of from the other reptiles. don't have any heat on any of them except the lights. mom has always been happy, active, eating well, and pooping well so i figured she was probably happy enough. giving the babies a wet paper towel to go to in case they need some moisture.

[guidofatherof5]

The babies will need to shed immediately. An ice cream bucket works well with a little warm water in it. These babies will also be thirsty. Dehydration is a big concern for neonates. After they shed they can go into something tall with a water dish and something to hide under. A piece of cardboard with two ends turned down works great. Even a piece of paper will work for a hide.
Do you know what species garter you have? Where are you located?
Here is a link to the forum care sheet which would answer many of your questions. Anything not covered feel free to post on the forum.
We would love to see a few photos of the adult so we can ID it for you.

Garter snakes don't eat crickets/meal worms or any other type of bug.
A diet of rosey minnow can cause a B1 deficiency because of thiaminase(this is covered in the care sheet)

Be sure to introduce yourself in the "Welcome Lounge" once things settle down.

Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet (http://www.thamnophis.com/index.php?page=caresheet)

Welcome Lounge (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/welcome-lounge/)

[thamneil]

The UV isn't really a huge priority with garters. I wouldn't worry about it. Other than that, our care sheet should bring you up to date.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your babies!

[thredhd]

yeah i know they don't eat crickets, you'd be surprised how many people tell me to feed them that. the only reason the mom is on roseys right now is because we were having a problem getting her to catch the feeder guppies. we are breeding those which is why we have some really small babies to offer the baby snakes. mom seems to do better if we drop one fish at a time on the carpet of her cage and point her to it. it won't be long before she's on guppies again. we seem to have a problem finding feeder fish down here. i live in wilmington nc. we have 3 pet stores here and only 1 sells guppies but half the time you go in there they have all their fish under some kind of quarantine. the other stores only have roseys or goldfish. and we've had times they've all been sold out. that's why we're breeding our own guppies, they breed well and we just can't deal with the pet stores unpredictability. (we're also trying our hand at breeding crickets for the beardie since the pet stores sell out of large crickets often too - plus these stores are all on the other side of town from us).

anyway, mom is a ribbon snake. we assume she probably did her mating at the pet store and all their garters looked just like her so the babies should probably be ribbons too. we had no clue she was pregnant, she did not look it. but her litter was small. we have 2 paper towels in the bottom of the baby cage, keeping one misted with water in case they need a wet area and keeping the other dry. they have a place to hide and climb and a shallow water dish. they already did their shedding as soon as they came out. we don't know when they were born, just that we woke up to a very big surprise lol. as for heat, right now the ambient temp of the house is low to mid 70s and then the light on top i'm sure warms the glass tank a degree or two. i need another light anyway so i may get a basking light.

[EasternGirl]

You will find that garters are so much more than starter snakes. :) Garters are a choice of many over other types of snakes because of their intelligence, social nature, and personality. I can't imagine wanting a different kind of snake after my experience with garters. My female eastern garter had three babies (and 37 stillborns). I moved the babies to their own tank right away...gave them a normal 40 watt bulb in a dome lamp on one side of the tank for warmth and basking (although I don't use it much in the summer), a small shallow water dish to drink from and soak, a few hides, and some small plastic plants...oh, and some moist sphagnum moss to keep them hydrated...I just put a pile in one corner and spritz it with water to keep it moist. I fed the newborns small meals of chopped up nightcrawlers, small pieces of fresh, raw tilapia or rainbow trout, or chopped up frozen/thawed pinky mice, every two days. Now that they are a few months old, I feed them every 3-4 days. Check out the caresheet that Steve posted and let us know if you have any other questions! :) And...welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of garters!

[guidofatherof5]

Can we get a better look at the adult female, please. Body shots.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

I'd say sirtalis ​or one of the subspecies.

[ProXimuS]

Yea...the head doesn't look to ribbony to me. And it seems like I can almost see some reddish color on the dark area between the stripes on the side. Better pics would be great;)

[guidofatherof5]

My first impression was T.sirtalis parietalis (Red Sided garter) but a few good photos should help nail the ID down.

[thredhd]

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[guidofatherof5]

Not a ribbon snake. I believe that is a female Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis (Red Sided Garter).
Good looking snake.

[ProXimuS]

That's what I'm leaning towards too...Very pretty girl nonetheless!

Does anyone know, is it common for garters(and probably other types of snakes) to be sold as completely wrong species?:confused:

[guidofatherof5]

Yes. Rhea and I were discussing this very thing the other day. I need to start a thread with that in mind.

Thanks for the brain nudge.

[i_heart_sneakie_snakes]

She's lovely!!

[Steveo]

That's what I'm leaning towards too...Very pretty girl nonetheless!

Does anyone know, is it common for garters(and probably other types of snakes) to be sold as completely wrong species?:confused:

I see it on kingsnake.com pretty frequently. Mostly dealers who don't know what they have. Right now you can get some "Western Garter Snakes" which are actually Plains garters.

[Invisible Snake]

Does anyone know, is it common for garters(and probably other types of snakes) to be sold as completely wrong species?:confused:

It happens a lot with garter snakes, my guess is because they aren't as "popular" as boas/pythons and corns/kings.

[thredhd]

well this one was sold as just a garter. i don't know that they had a subspecies on the tag. but it was someone else who told us it was a ribbon. with his job he should have known what he was talking about lol.