Garter Snake care in general.

[lilchan92]

So I work at a petstore and recently i've been getting a lot of people coming in asking about garter snakes. Now I have a lot of snakes and other reptiles but I have never had a garter snake before nor do i know anything really about them. So i just want to better educate myself and these poor snakes owners that don't know what they are doing. Can someone please explain to me general care for these snakes. Especially what they eat because a lot of people come in asking for crickets but this concept of a snake having a diet solely on a few crickets sounds completely blizzard to me. What kind of habitat do they live in? What kind of bulbs (temp) do they need? Ive attempted to look up care guides for these snakes but at times i dont really trust guides especially when they are from a non reliable source, id rather hear it from experience owners.

[Stefan-A]

Here is our general care sheet. Crickets are completely off the menu.
Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet (http://www.thamnophis.com/index.php?page=caresheet)

[guidofatherof5]

Never, never crickets and no GOLDFISH! The link Stefan provided will give you and /or the people you're helping all they need to know to give their snake a good start. You could also suggest they come to this website and read through the threads. We love visitors.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

I just keep them like lizards.Bright lights,big a viv as possible,as much space as possible,large water container, plenty of plants,branches ,cork sections etc .Simple ,really when you have the dietary needs sorted :)

[lilchan92]

So the store i work at just got a garter snake in and of course none of my coworkers know anything about these guys so i printed out your amazing care guide and had everyone read it. Im not happy that we got one of these in because of the fact that i dont believe any of us are qualified to care for an animal that we barely know anything about but its a good thing that i did do research on these guys before we got them in. I just want to double check everything so that this little guy gets proper care in the store and once he leaves the store.

at the current moment i am feeding him one night crawler two times a week. I chopped it up into small pieces and feed it to him that way he seems to love them. (am i feeding to often or too much? am i not feeding often enough or too little?) Are night crawlers the best for him right now i can get him silversides or feeder guppies if its better for him. Also should I put calcium with the night crawlers if so would i do it just once a week?

right now hes in a tank somewhere between a 5 and 10 gal. with aspen bedding some hides and branches. he has a small little water dish in there but i just reread some of your post and care guides and see that they are semi-aquatic snakes. Do you think i should give him a larger dish that he can swim in?


Heres a picture of the little guy its relatively small right now.
9050

[d_virginiana]

Looks like you've got an albino checkered (may be wrong, I'm not great with ID's). One thing to be careful of with albinos is bright light; ambient room light isn't a problem, but like with an albino of any animal their eyes are sensitive.
How big is he? He looks fairly small but I can't tell without a reference (like, if you could get a shot of above with a ruler/quarter/ect. that would be good). Overfeeding can be fatal in baby garters, so I feed little ones just enough to see a slight bulge every day to every other day depending on size. The nightcrawlers are good food items. Other than that, silversides chopped into small pieces are good too. If he's eating worms and/or frozen food, don't do guppies. They can carry parasites. Dusting isn't necessary, especially if you can get him to eat chopped silversides.
Garters like as much water as they can get, but a swimming area isn't necessary. Knowing that stores have size constraints, I wouldn't sacrifice floor-space for a huge dish.

The only other thing I was going to suggest was making sure he ate in another container because aspen can be very dangerous if ingested, but it looks like you're doing that from the picture.

[chris-uk]

I'm just incredibly impressed that someone working in a shop has shown that they care enough about the garter in their care to join the forum and ask questions. It's unfortunately not a common occurrence.

You've got the basics covered, regarding the water bowl I'd agree with Lora. Even when I've provided large swimming pools to my garters they rarely use it all, I think that garters tend to go to water to drive or hunt and don't swim unless they need to. The exception being several of the Mexican species which are more highly aquatic.
Add some chopped silversides and some pinky parts to the worm mix and see if he's picky. Getting variety into the diet early is easier than adding in different foods later.

[RedSidedSPR]

If other pet store employees like yourself were like yourself.. the world would be a better place.

[Mommy2many]

What a pretty snake! Thank you for looking into the proper care of him, having no knowledge of it prior. Good luck and welcome!

[lilchan92]

thanks for all the advice. I do feed in a separate container out of habit since i do this with all my own snakes. He ate silversides today and didnt seem to have a problem with those. With pinkies is it hard to get then to attempt to eat it? Ill get a better picture of him with a size reference on Thursday when i go into work but he is very very small.

[infernalis]

At first, you may have to rub a fish onto the pink, to make it smell like fish. In time the snake learns that pinks are food and the fish scenting is no longer needed.

I also concur that your desire for knowledge is admirable.

Far too many pet shop employees pumping misinformation to the general public every day, You are a breath of fresh air. :)

[lilchan92]

9095

That's him to see the size of him. He's doing really well ate a little silversides and nightcrawlers will try pinkies next time.I was even able to help a customer today who walked in with two garter snakes he got yesterday and had no idea how to care for them. Handed out your care guide an d sent him on his way with some lighting and food. Thanks for everyones help.

[guidofatherof5]

Awesome.

Be sure to invite them to visit the forum for any additional help/advice.