Hello from washington state!

[jon7]

Hello Im Jon. I am new to garters. Washington has no shortage of garters at all. Lol. I keep ball pythons, but i have always been interested in keeping garters since i was little. so a few days ago, I went out and caught a bunch, a few of every color. Dont worry, i dont keep them in the same room as my pythons. what i would like to know is how you guy and gals keep yours, tub and rack set up? or a ton of tanks? my plan is to breed them and try to get some cool morphs, i guess if it goes beyond that, its fine with me. how do i tell the sex of each? what do you do for a feeding schedule? sorry to ask so many questions, i dont care for searching all the forums on this slow a$$ computer. Lol.:D

[infernalis]

http://www.thamfriends.com/mat.jpg

[thamneil]

Welcome from a chilly Winnipeg, Manitoba!

[Invisible Snake]

Hello and welcome to the forum! :)

Garters do better in vivs as opposed to a drawer rack, we can try and help you sex them if you post some vent pics and as for feeding; babies eat every other day, juveniles every 3 days and sub-adults/adults twice a week. (feeding schedules differ from person to person)

Garters are more demanding than ball pythons and way more interesting to observe. Garters have a higher metabolism than most colubrids and are very active.

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard.

[jon7]

thanks for the info invisible snake. i did not know it was that crazy. lol. guess i have research to do.

[snake man]

Hello, and welcome.

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you with us.
Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet (http://www.thamnophis.com/index.php?page=caresheet)
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//744/medium/welcome.jpg

[-MARWOLAETH-]

Hello and welcome to the forum.:D
Have a good read of the care sheet it covers the basics but if it doesn't answer all your question don't hesitate ask:).Here's a link to the care sheet. Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet (http://www.thamnophis.com/index.php?page=caresheet)

[mikem]

Welcome to the forum!

[katach]

Welcome to the forum family!! I am also in Washington on the kitsap peninsula, where are you at? We have vivs for our 12 snakes. Breeding isn't something to jump into lightly, there is a lot of differences between garters and other snakes such as garters give live birth. Babies require a lot of time and patience. Make sure you are ready and have as much homework as possible before you start. Morphs aren't quite the same as in the corn and ball market. You should only breed the same species with the same species. ie Northwestern (T.ordinoides) with a NW, Puget (T.s.pickeringii) with a Puget. Hybrids are not welcome in the hobby by most of us, they muddy the lines and wouldn't be a great as you might think they would be getting the worst traits from each species. Welcome again to the forum and please don't hesitate to ask questions! :)

[i_heart_sneakie_snakes]

I'm in Washington too!! Right smack dab in the middle. Between my 6 adults and 14 babies, I have 5 aquariums. 2 are so big they cover an entire room wall!!! I like to be able to see them, I don't care for rack systems, but thats just me.
Where are you at in Washington??

[ProXimuS]

Hello and welcome! We will be more than happy to help with anything(I see most questions have been answered:)). If you can post some pictures, we can try and help with what species and gender they are:)

[jon7]

Ok guys and gals here are some pics of the snakes. Ive pretty much got the sexing down, now I just wanna know what kind they are. i have a few more, but they are in shed, so i dont wanna stress them out.




http://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh576/jon710/2012-09-10_21-47-36_918.jpg

http://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh576/jon710/2012-09-10_21-45-50_647.jpg



http://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh576/jon710/2012-09-10_21-44-02_300.jpg

http://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh576/jon710/2012-09-10_21-43-55_790.jpg





http://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh576/jon710/2012-09-10_21-42-59_250.jpg

http://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh576/jon710/2012-09-10_21-42-49_196.jpg

[katach]

You have a lovely group of Northwesterns (Thamnophis ordinoides) I have 7 myself. They are wonderful sweet friendly little guys. Breeding can be tough and babies are not easy, but they are worth it! If you have any questions about them, there are a few of us on here that keep them. There is Chantel, I heart sneaky snakies, and Steve, that I know of... Oh and me :)

Can we get a whole body shot of the one in the second photo? Did that one just eat?

[ProXimuS]

I would also think Northwestern(Kat would definitely be an expert on them though:p) The one in the second pic looks possibly gravid....

[jon7]

@ Sneaky snake im in shelton. @katach i just got "her" 2 days ago. and "she" is getting bigger by the day. i think "she" is prego. Lol. in one litter i got twins!! I didnt even know she was prego. Lol

[jon7]

HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! i did not intend on breeding anything any time soon. but because they are wild caught, they just popped! Then im heretrying to figure out what i need to do to keep the babies alive. i want to get into the morphs but not that soon. Lol what do you guys think of the last one? kind of a checker pattern. that one and the first one are my favorites. but the first one is gravid, so her pics dont do her justice.

[katach]

How many did she give you? For the first few days you want to keep them on moist paper towel. Keep them warm and hydrated. Give then a small water dish, and a hide. Don't worry about them not eating right away, they are full of yolk still. NW don't typically start eating for about 2 weeks, but keep offering about every other day. Start with cut up night crawler pieces about the size if their tiny little heads. They can be stubborn so you may need to trick them into eating if they take too long. I like to buy a bit of salmon and squeeze it over the worm bits, it makes it nice and smelly for them. Keep us posted and ask as many questions as you need to.

[Lisa4john]

Congrats on the babies! Washington is a great place to live, I love the green, not so crazy about the rain half of the year. You take care of those babies and good lucky! It's sink or swim time. ;)

[jon7]

She gave me i think 5-7. One of the other girls gave me 13 with 3 still borns. Still have 2 more gravid girls to go!

[katach]

Wow! 13 is a good size clutch for a NW. Pictures are required of coarse! :D How are they doing and are the mommas?

[SilasBannook]

Congratulations on the catch. You have wonderful looking snakes. As a question to the forum in general, how much later in the season can we still see garters gravid? I am expecting that after the middle of September we won't be seeing any more birth announcements. Am I right to think so?

[guidofatherof5]

Captive garters can breed anytime of the year if given the opportunity.

[jon7]

here is litter one. there are a ccouple more in the back that didnt wanna stay with the group. Lol

http://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh576/jon710/2012-09-11_19-15-41_456.jpg

twins from litter one!!
http://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh576/jon710/2012-09-11_19-20-28_708.jpg


litter 2. there turned out to be 10 total and no still borns!
http://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh576/jon710/2012-09-11_19-15-18_6.jpg

then this guy, i just caught him about an hour ago. lol
http://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh576/jon710/2012-09-11_19-24-23_776.jpg
http://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh576/jon710/2012-09-11_19-24-34_592.jpg

oh ya, both momma's are doing good. momma 1 ate today. and tomorrow im gonna offer again for momma 2

[katach]

Great looking babies! That one you just caught is beautiful, looks like my female black and white. Is your new addition a male?

[jon7]

it is a male. lol. im excited to see the twins grow up some.

[Invisible Snake]

Does the black & white one look like that in person? I've never seen a NW garter that color, he looks awesome! And now I want one :D

What type of morph is he?

[jon7]

Actually he is more of a blue. Its such a light blue it almost looks white! Ive never seen a wild one this light. And i have no idea how to tell morphs apart.

[Lisa4john]

That guy is so cool looking, I like him too, you wanna catch me one of those guys? Just kidding... mostly. ;)

[jon7]

I plan on breeding at some point in time. So maby i will get few of those guys

[katach]

FYI, babies are polymorphic so don't count on them coming out liking a certain way. NW aren't one if those that can be predicted.

[jon7]

Well that sucks. Lol worth a shot though. Lol. Im still learning these guys.

[Lisa4john]

That's ok, I'll just take him. Teeheehee :D

[jon7]

Lol. Does anybody know what morph he is?

[katach]

I would say not a morph, but a color variation, and a black and white. Morphs are ones that can be reproduced in the offspring, whereas the color variation can't be guaranteed in the offspring. He is a handsome little fella though.

[jon7]

Im stoked to find out though

[ConcinusMan]

Actually he is more of a blue. Its such a light blue it almost looks white! Ive never seen a wild one this light. And i have no idea how to tell morphs apart.

Technically, they're all "morphs" as northwesterns are polymorphic. Definitely polymorphic on a population level. There is usually a wide variety of colors and patterns in a single population. although usually in a population, one or two distinct types (color and pattern) dominate. Which morphs dominate can change dramatically just by traveling a few miles away. Sometimes it doesn't matter what either of the parents look like, sometimes the babies are just a mixed variety of colors and patterns. Sometimes all the babies look just like mom. (I just recently had a small litter of completely stripeless babies, just like their mother) They breed in the fall before brumation, and in mid winter/early spring. Sometimes a female will breed with several males and hold sperm up to a year or more before ovulating. I've even heard of females having babies 3 years after last contact with a male. This makes it difficult to know for sure who the father is. In fact, a single litter may have several fathers. Also, one cannot calculate a due date based on the date of the mating. They mate when they want, and ovulate when they want. Often they do not even have babies just because they mated. They just hold the sperm until they're ready. Babies can be born from early March, all the way to early October. Any month during that time frame.

[ProXimuS]

Wow! Congrats on the babies! And I agree, that male is real pretty:)