Indo garter

[big J]

I have a indonesian garter and i'm pretty sure it's a male, does any one know of any morphs of the indonesian or is it a morph already.

[Stefan-A]

Well, it's way beyond being a morph, it belongs to a different genus, Xenochrophis. Not a true garter, but a keelback. I doubt anybody has developed morphs of the species yet, most animals sold seem to be wildcaught.

[adamanteus]

As Stefan says, Xenochrophis is unrelated to the genus Thamnophis. I have personally never seen or heard of different colour morphs in this snake. But other members may well be able to correct me on that.

[big J]

thanx I realy had no clue it wasn't eaven thamnophis it is doing very well on pinkies he's about 2 feet and is very gentle i even let my 2 year old hold it

[adamanteus]

Thamnophis is found only in North and Central America. Xenochrophis is (of course) Indonesian. Their habits and care are pretty much the same though. I will just say this...Xenochrophis are often loaded with parasites when you first get them, so keep a close eye on that.

[big J]

I've had this one for about a month he has no mites and appears to have know parasites that I am aware of. I got him from a good friend at a locally owned pet store where they take extremely good care of all their animals. I asked him if he could get me a female but he said that was the first one he has found in a long time.

[adamanteus]

We do have other members who keep this species, but I think they are maybe more readily available in Europe than they are in the US.

[drache]

We do have other members who keep this species, but I think they are maybe more readily available in Europe than they are in the US.

I know of a place in Florida that seems to have them pretty often. Theirs are definitely imported and the ones I got from them were not in great shape. They're not that great at sexing either, but the snakes were not expensive.

Now I'm actually a good deal confused again
because
I just looked to find more info about them, because of the keelback issue
let me explain:
when I showed them to my vet, he said " you have to be careful, 'cause they sometimes mix keelbacks in with them"
hm
well, the Xenochrophis vittatus my search turned up - also known as the Striped Keelback, does not really look like what I have
well it does - upon close inspection look a lot like mine
Check out and compare:
Snakes of Southeast Asia : Striped Keelback - Xenochrophis vittatus (http://ecologyasia.com/verts/snakes/striped_keelback.htm)
and
http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/garter-snake-lounge/564-yesterday-hamm.html
my snakes look like Kuno's
I think I'll go search some more

[adamanteus]

I guess there is always some (regional?) variation in every species, Rhea. They both look like Xenochrophis vittatus to me.

[drache]

you think it's just a regional subspecies thing then
you're probably right
they just at first looked so different to me

[Stefan-A]

Maybe not even a subspecies thing, just variation.

[drache]

I need to remind myself of the variation within some T. sirtalis subspecies
then it doesn't seem so odd