Hello from New York!

[ZZTalon]

Hi All,

My name is Chris (Christina). I'm a Science teacher and live in Peekskill, NY in Northern Westchester by the River. Anyone nearby, or from NY State? :) I've had snakes and other herps for years, but recently began a garter collection to hopefully use in some educational programs down the road. (when they get a little bigger.) It's become a fun obsession, and this forum has such a wealth of information, all of which is greatly appreciated! (Thanks all :))

I see a lot of people list what they've got, so if you're curious I've got Wandering, Northwestern, Red-Sided, Plains, Checkered, and Pugets. All wild type, most are in pairs, give or take a few snakes. ;) Kids really connect to garters, or as many of them say, "gardeners". Personally, I find the adaptive radiation/phylogeny interesting. Ironically don't have Easterns, as I was waiting to renew my natives permit to add them. (Just have turtles on it now) Other than that I have Corns, (Great for teaching Mendelian genetics!) Turtles, and a Dart frog/house gecko setup.

Looking forward to getting to know you guys, and hope you all have a great weekend!

Chris

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard.

[infernalis]

Hello Chris, I live in the finger lakes region of NY.

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

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you with us.
Here's a link to the care sheet. It's always a good read.
Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet (http://www.thamnophis.com/index.php?page=caresheet)

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//744/medium/welcome.jpg

[ZZTalon]

Awesomel! I love CNY/the finger lakes, lived/worked in Syracuse for a few years while in college (SUNY ESF).


Hello Chris, I live in the finger lakes region of NY.

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

[ZZTalon]

Indeed! It's the best around.
I have to admit I was stalking this forum a while before joining, and the care sheet was fantastic in getting everyone set up.

[infernalis]

Awesomel! I love CNY/the finger lakes, lived/worked in Syracuse for a few years while in college (SUNY ESF).


Watkins Glen is right up the street from me. Syracuse is a 2 hour drive.

[guidofatherof5]

Indeed! It's the best around.
I have to admit I was stalking this forum a while before joining, and the care sheet was fantastic in getting everyone set up.

That is great to hear.

[ProXimuS]

Hello and welcome:)

[Invisible Snake]

Hello and welcome to the forum! I'm in NYC :)

[ZZTalon]

Watkins Glen is right up the street from me. Syracuse is a 2 hour drive.

Nice! I went there once years ago, I remember the waterfalls. It's on my to-do list when my budget allows and I can get up their again during herping season. :-D One of my hobbies is working on a website (NY Wildlife (http://www.newyorkwildlife.org)) I started to try an document wildlife (I tend to focus on herps or birds, unless I can get a camera trap up) locally. It's always a work in progress, and I'm nowhere near an expert in web design, but it's fun.

I meet so many kids that can tell you all about polar bears and tigers, but have no idea what's in their own backyard. I run a tent at festivals (under the website name) and live animals are a big draw. I've got native turtles, but recently started bringing my corns, even thought hey aren't native, the reactions people have to snakes seem so much stronger and more emotional (whether positive or negative). One of my biggest pet peeves is how quick people are to kill a harmless snake for no reason, (often water or garter snakes!) whether due to ignorance or trying to be being macho/stupid. So I'm working on some fun things to get people informed and to care, at least in my very small corner of the world. ;-)

[ZZTalon]

Hello and welcome to the forum! I'm in NYC :)

Cool! Not far at all, I'm at the Bronx Zoo and Museum of Natural History all the time. Ever go to the White Plains shows?

[Invisible Snake]

Cool! Not far at all, I'm at the Bronx Zoo and Museum of Natural History all the time. Ever go to the White Plains shows?

Yeahh, I didn't go the one recently, but a friend of mine went and he told me saw some checkereds and "blue garters" for sale lol

[mikem]

Welcome to the forum!

[ZZTalon]

Yeahh, I didn't go the one recently, but a friend of mine went and he told me saw some checkereds and "blue garters" for sale lol

Yeah, there's one table in the new section. They bring Pugets, Plains. There was a little more variety at the last one. It was starting to get a little boring, it seemed like every table was ball Pythons and Western hogs.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

:DWelcome to the Thamily:D

[hjelte]

Sweden says welcome!:)

[chris-uk]

Welcome aboard.

Great to see garters used to educate youngsters, and it sounds like you should be a good contributor to discussions when they turn to genetics.

[Light of Dae]

Welcome here!!

Why weren't you my teacher when I was in school lol I asked if I could bring a Garter to my class for show and tell and was told it would never happen :P

[Greg'sGarters]

You need a natives permit in NY? In NJ we can own Easterns without a permit. NJ is ridiculous, we need a permit for Rat Snakes, but we don't need one for an ostrich! Not joking!

[ZZTalon]

You need a natives permit in NY? In NJ we can own Easterns without a permit. NJ is ridiculous, we need a permit for Rat Snakes, but we don't need one for an ostrich! Not joking!

Yes, It usually doesn't apply to albino/non wild type specimens, or non-native subspecies, but in NY you need a "License to collect and Possess" to keep native species. In terms or Garters= Eastern and Shortheads. It's to protect wild populations from exploitation in the pet trade. They actually did a huge bust a few years ago, called "Operation Shellshock" and nabbed a group trying to sell a wide variety of WC animals on the internet. Unfortunately most of the animals were in pretty bad shape, and could not be released. It's actually an interesting discussion topic, people buy and release non-native sliders into central park constantly, and we now have pretty strong populations of these turtles (who out compete native painteds @ basking sites) in certain areas.

I think overall though it's a good thing, (despite my personal enthusiasm/excitement to be able to keep whatever I want) I've seen people pick up box turtles and try to keep them as pets in an aquarium full of water, only to have them drown, thereby removing a perfectly healthy animal from the breeding population.

[SilasBannook]

Welcome to the forum. Great info on licensing issue in NY. I look forward to reading what you have to share. It also sounds like you have a great collection. Do consider taking pictures and showing us your set up and the snakes you care for.

[Artic Exotics]

Sorry to interrupt.....

Hi new york :-)

WELCOME!!!