New to garters and to this forum

[dewey3]

Hello all -

I have just (about 3 days ago) acquired a very tiny (about 6-7 inches I'd say) garter snake from a friend of ours who basically "collects" them....his yard and surrounding nieghbors yards are overrun with them....so he basically does a resuce and relocate although he has kept several.

I personally have not seen any garter snakes in our area since I was a child, and since moving further out into suburbia (I'm in the Chicago area) I've seen several. I had a snake as a child and LOVE them and always wanted to get another,, but just never did.

My snake is not "officially" named yet, although my children have come up with several, but none to my liking. So far the little guy or gal has chowed down on some earthworms chopped to size yummmm! And he seems to be adjusting nicely to his new surroundings.

Looking forward to meeting other snake lovers.....:)

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard, Colleen. :)

[adamanteus]

Hi Colleen, welcome to the forum. Great to have you here. Please feel free to post photos of your new acquisition. Although you will need to post three or four times before you are able to post pictures.

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/site-feedback-suggestions-questions/1008-guide-posting-pictures.html

[Josh]

Hello welcome glad to see him/her is eating im josh i think you wil have a great time at this forum. If there is anything we have is snake lovers.What kind of garter is he?
Can we see a picture of him/her?

[garterchick]

hi from austin texas, you'll love it here
tina

[drache]

welcome to this forum, Colleen
nice to meet you

[dewey3]

Thanks for the warm welcome all!!! I'm going to get posting so I can post a picture of him/her....Not sure, although I think he's (for simplicity's sake, I'm gonna refer to it as "he"...any ideas how I can find this out? I've heard different ways...but am unsure.

Anyway, thanks again!

[adamanteus]

The quickest way to get him sexed is to post a series of pictures of him, particularly showing the vent/tail base area from above and below, then let your fellow Thamnophis members advise you as to male or female.:)

[adamanteus]

Colleen, do you know what species you have?

[dewey3]

Well, as you can see from my avatar, I do not have a very good pic of him as far as markings, etc., but you can tell size wise how very small he is.

Unfortunately, my camera is out of batteries so I ended up using my daughters fisher price digital camera for this shot...can you believe they make digitals for kids?????

Anyway, not getting any good shots of him with that camera that can really show his markings. I'm in the chicago, illinois, usa area so I'm going to guess he's a common garter or maybe even eastern, but I'm still investigating. I'm almost 99% positive he's not a ribbon.

I vow to get some better pics as soon as I get some batteries.....

[adamanteus]

The avatar pics are always poor quality, so can't see much from that. We're all waiting for you to buy batteries now, Colleen!:rolleyes:

[dewey3]

Well, as you can see from my avatar, I just took this picture of him, however it was done with my 3 year old's Fisher Price digital camera! Can you believe they have digital cameras for kids????

Anyway, when I went to use mine, I discovered the batteries were dead, and I could find none that had enough power in them for my camera, so I used hers....I tried to get some close ups, but they don't show the markings, etc. and it just looks like a dark coil. So as soon as I get some decent batteries, I'll upload some pics.

But this one is useful as you can see how very small he is. I'm not sure at this point exactly which species, as I'm still investigating, but being as I hail from the Chicago, Illinois, USA area, I'm going with common garter, or possibly eastern. I'm almost positive it's not a ribbon....

[dewey3]

yes, I vow to get some batteries either tonight or tomarrow....:D

[GarterGirl]

Hey from Brooklyn
Welcome to the forum Colleen
Nice to meet you
I am Mikhaila!
I'm 9 years old!

Post some pics please lol

[Sid]

Hi Collen and welcome to the forum. Looking forward to your photos. Check the care sheet here on the forum under Common Garter. There is a sub species of T. sirtalis- "Chicago Garter". We do not have a photo of one as yet, but in it's listing we have a note on the difference between it and the T. s. sirtalis or Eastern.

Sid

[Lulu Bennett]

hi colleen and welcome to thamnophis. i hope you enjoy it here. a warning tho, its addictive lol. anyway i cant wait to see your pics. i'll help with sexing. as for it being a ribbon or garter, i have been told that garters tend to have dark lines at the edge of the mouth scales where as ribbons dont they have a full block colour.

here is a close up of sissle (T. Marcianus) my snake. not as clear because he is albino but if you notice the vertical lines just below the eyes.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//564/sissle21.jpg

If i am wrong then please correct me lol. y'all know how dizzy i can be lol

[DEKAN]

Welcome to the board I hope you have a great time here :D

[ssssnakeluvr]

it would either be an eastern (t sirtalis sirtalis) or Chicago garter (t sirtalis semifasciatus) babies like that need to be probed or popped tobe able to sex, looking at the tail won't work as the males aren't developed enought to be able to see them clearly enough.

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, Colleen :)

[GarterGuy]

Howdy Colleen and welcome to the forum. Looking forward to seeing some pics of your little one. Hmmm...digital for kids.....heck I had to wait 'til I was over 30 before I got a digital camara!:rolleyes:

Roy

[GarterGirl]

Over 30?
I've got one!
I got for Christmas when I was 8.

[Lulu Bennett]

i managed to get one when i was 19 and that was only because my mum knew i was going to a ladies night :D Mmm Mmm Mmmmmm!!! lol :eek:

[enigma200316]

Hi, just wanted to say welcome!!!

[dewey3]

Hi everyone...here's the best picture so far. Having trouble getting him to sit still....

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/snakey_001.jpg

[GarterGuy]

From the pic, I'd say you've got a Plains garter (T.radix). A side pic would be really helpful in confirming that. T.radix has it's side stripe on the 3rd and 4th scale row while the T.sirtalis subspecies have it on the 2nd and 3rd row. Also the Plains has spots on the side, below the side stripe and the Common does not.

Roy

[GarterGuy]

Over 30?
I've got one!
I got for Christmas when I was 8.

Oh, by the way......when I was 8, digital camaras didn't even exist, neither did the internet or personal computers. You're growing up in a great age my young friend.:D

Roy

[Stefan-A]

I bought my first at 24. :D

[dewey3]

OK, I'll try for the side shot....

By the way, I didn't get my first digital camera until I was 34!!!!!:eek:

[drache]

I just got my first digital cameral a couple of months ago and I'm 50
but I did get a 35mm when I was 7 or 8 I think

and does that snake look like a female to anyone other than me?

[Elliot]

Well the tail does taper off very quickly, but I'm not the best at sexing snakes.

[GarterGuy]

and does that snake look like a female to anyone other than me?

You know it sort of does, but baby snakes can be really hard to sex by visual clues...could be the hemipenes haven't developed enough yet to fill out the area behind the cloaca.

Roy

[drache]

true
and only time will tell