Hey all

[happycallis]

Thought I'd say hi to all of you guys and gals, My names Matthew and I have been keeping snakes on and off for 20 years or so now. Currently have around 40 or so snakes, mainly royals and a couple of retics.

I found this website through the wonders of google as I have been trying to find a snake that I had 20 years ago while I was a lot younger. I think it may have been a Yellow belly water snakes sp nerodia erythrogaster flavignster but have seen Lake cuitzeo garter and liophis poecilogyrus. As they all look kinda simular so was looking to see what everyone opinion was. FYI im in the UK

Cheers

Mat

[infernalis]

http://www.varanid.us/mat.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

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

[chris-uk]

Welcome aboard.

The snake you had 20 years ago wouldn't have been a Lake Cuitzeo Garter, as they hadn't been brought to Europe back then (Steve Bol brought them back from Mexico around 5-6 years ago). The Cuitzeo is also quite different to the Nerodia and Liophis, no yellow belly and just creamy white under the chin and pinkish white under the tail, the rest of the belly is a bluish black.

[happycallis]

Hi Chris,

Many thanks for your reply, handy to know that it's not the Lake cuitzo garter. The info on the nerodia is quite scarce as to people keeping them in the uk if any. The liiophis looks similar to the nerodia. I have a feeling that it was the nerodia and would love to find someone that has them and let me have a look at the and hopefully acquire a pair at some stage.

Regards

Mat

[Mommy2many]

Welcome to the forum from Connecticut!

[chris-uk]

You're looking for species that aren't often seen for sale in the UK. The Liophis may be the most likely to find, from posts on other forums I'm aware that there are breeding pairs in the UK, and as they are the sort of snakes that appeal to garter keepers there may be people on thamnophis.com that keep them. Nerodia seem to be rarely mentioned, and the species I remember seeing advertised was the diamond back water snake.

Part of keeping rarer species must be the kick you get when you actually find what you're looking for amongst the thousands of pythons, boas and corn snakes that dominate the hobby in the UK. Happy hunting!

[EasternGirl]

Welcome to the forum!!!