Hey there from Ky!

[TheBuschman]

Hey there! My name is Eric Buschman, I'm 18 years old, I'm relatively new to keeping critters and am looking forward to expanding my collection. I currently keep a Pacman Frog, a Malaysian painted frog, a Jones Armadillo lizard, and a Tarantula(Grammostola rosea). I am getting a garter snake in the very near future and look forward to learning all about them via this forum :D Thanks for having me!

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

Simau.Croeso i'r fforwm:).You certainly are in the best place to learn Thamnophis information.

[chris-uk]

Welcome from a hot, sunny evening in Coventry.

Do you have your eye on a particular species of garter, or still deciding?

[Mommy2many]

Welcome to the forum from Connecticut!

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you with us. Garters are the best.
Here is a link to the care sheet which is always a good place to start. Any questions not answered there can be posted to the forum.
Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet (http://www.thamnophis.com/index.php?page=caresheet)
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//744/medium/welcome.jpg
Looks like you have a couple of native garters to your State.
Here's a link to snakes of KY. Nice pdf. with range maps for each snake.
http://www.fw.ky.gov/pdf/kysnakebook.pdf

Eastern Garter (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis)
Eastern Ribbon (Thamnophis sauritus)
Western Ribbon (Thamnophis proximus)

[ProXimuS]

Hello and welcome:D We would love to know what kind your looking to get!

[i_heart_sneakie_snakes]

Welcome to the forum :) Do you have your eye on any particular garters??

[mikem]

Welcome to the forum! :)

[TheBuschman]

Hey everyone. Thanks for the welcomes, really makes me feel well, welcomed =). Im looking at getting a chekered garter snake from bhbreptiles. Is this a good source for garters? I wish i knew the scientific name for it so i dont sound so ignorant =P. I do have a quick question about the smell. How bad or often do they actually smell. Ive heard it can be pretty bad. How often do your snakes musk? The problem is that since im still living at home i have to have the cage in my room and i have a pretty sensetive sense of smell so i dont want to get a pet only to be kicked out of my room by the smell, if that makes sense. Any help answering these qs would be great. Thanks in advance!!

[chris-uk]

Hey everyone. Thanks for the welcomes, really makes me feel well, welcomed =). Im looking at getting a chekered garter snake from bhbreptiles. Is this a good source for garters? I wish i knew the scientific name for it so i dont sound so ignorant =P.

Thamnophis marcianus


I do have a quick question about the smell. How bad or often do they actually smell. Ive heard it can be pretty bad. How often do your snakes musk? The problem is that since im still living at home i have to have the cage in my room and i have a pretty sensetive sense of smell so i dont want to get a pet only to be kicked out of my room by the smell, if that makes sense. Any help answering these qs would be great. Thanks in advance!!

I don't know who has told you that they smell bad. OK, so a musking isn't a pleasant smell, but they only do it if they are unhappy with how you handle them. My marcianus girls haven't musked me since they were a couple of months old, and when they are small the volume of musk is minimal. Also, the marcianus musk isn't the worst, Cuitzeo musk is much worse. The other thing to remember is that if you get musked it will generally be on your hands, so get some good soap. ;-)

[guidofatherof5]

Thamnophis marcianus.
Musk stinks like nothing else. Garters as a rule don't with the right substrate it shouldn't be a problem.

[ProXimuS]

I currently keep my snake in my room(Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake), and so far haven't had any issues with smell. I clean his cage about once a month, with occaisional spot cleanings when needed. Mine has also never musked me. So, it's kinda dependent on the snake and situation.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

BHB isn't a good source for the active and intelligent snakes such a garters because they don't give them any stimuli in their cage and keep them in a rack where they don't have a photo period.They keep them as if they are a nocturnal sedentary species like a corn snake.

[kueluck]

Welcome to the Tham-ily. I'm happy to see that you are going to learn about them, BEFORE getting one, and you've come to the perfect place for information & support. As for where to get one, I would only purchase a garter from a breeder on this site, just my personal opinion.

[guidofatherof5]

I currently keep my snake in my room(Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake), and so far haven't had any issues with smell. I clean his cage about once a month, with occaisional spot cleanings when needed. Mine has also never musked me. So, it's kinda dependent on the snake and situation.

Someday Emily, someday.:D

[Invisible Snake]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

[EasternGirl]

Welcome to our forum family! You are certainly in the right place. Don't feel ignorant about anything...we all started somewhere...ask any questions you like..we are here to help. Garters usually do not smell in general...like others have said...they only smell when they musk. Now, I have found an exception to this when keeping wild garters that are very frightened. Sometimes they will musk all over their enclosure when first taken into captivity and it can smell a bit. But like Steve said...the right substrate can help with that...and since you are looking to purchase a captive bred garter...it shouldn't be a problem. Some garters musk and some don't. I have some that musk pretty much every time I handle them and some that have never musked me. It smells...but you just wash your hands and that is that. I have twelve garters in my living room and my house smells fine. No bad smell emanating from the tanks.

[Didymus20X6]

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/attachments/welcome-lounge/4500d1332817250-just-saying-hi-t9i0px.jpg