Considering a garter

[Dreamwallaby]

Hello everyone,I am currently the owner of many corn snakes and love their diversity and friendly demenaors. I recently saw a neon blue red sided garter pic though and it was so cool looking. I have a large 75gal tank in my living room that currently houses one of my corns but since they spend all day hiding its kind of a waste of a display tank. I thought maybe that awesome garter snake would be more interesting. Maybe even a trio in there with the size of the tank. I found a breeder and ready to order the first b since it won't be here until May I have more time to research
thabks for having me
stacy in NJ

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard.

[chris-uk]

Welcome aboard.

Infernalis are great.

[guidofatherof5]

Garters are awesome.

[ConcinusMan]

Sounds to me like you would be happier to have a group of garters in a display tank. As long as it's lit well and has "sunny" basking areas they will be out and active every day, not just when they get hungry.

[Dreamwallaby]

Thanks for the warm welcome :)
I think with the size of the tank I can do 3 garters in there maybe? I'll probably want to mix colors(not sex) and still haven't decided on the other morphs yet. We'll see. I attend the Hamburg expo but not sure I have ever seen the neon blue red sides there(or any garters really) so I plan to order them. I'll keep them in separate tanks to start until they get some size to them.
I'm sure I'll have questions for the group soon as my research progresses.

[ConcinusMan]

Thanks for the warm welcome :)
I think with the size of the tank I can do 3 garters in there maybe?

more like 13 lol. ok, that might be a slight exaggeration. Or not. Depends on how big they are.

[Selkielass]

75 gallon? Six or more, but they would have to have compatible temperaments or you would end up with bullying.

Get the right mix and you could have a really gorgeous display- skip belly heat and go for sunlight like heat to encourage them to climb and sun instead of lurking in warm hides.


some species are happier to climb and sun than others. My Butlers spend all day in their fake treetops, while my puget remains stubbornly hidden. Go figure.
albinos prefer to hide from light, so don't take this advice as a blanket statement. Albinos need their dim lairs.

[Dreamwallaby]

So I am thinking the infernalis, an Eastern Flame and a Puget Sound. Any reason these 3 can't be together?

[ConcinusMan]

No, but to prevent crossbreeding, keep only same sexes together unless they are under 1yr old.

[kueluck]

You're going to be very happy with garters. I have 3 girls that are super friendly, have never been musked or pooped on except when babies and that's because they were feed daily and were just sitting in my lap to long. Only bitten when I smell like food, like having frog or toad scent on me. (the frogs and toads are friends NOT food) Two of my girls will hang out for hours wrapped about my neck while I clean the house, watch TV or sit at computer, but then I do handle my snakes just about every day. The 3rd one prefers to just sit in your hands or lap. Oh, and watching them explore their home when I rearrange their place is very entertaining. I call them the cat like snakes, so curious.

[Rad snakes]

Garters are epic! I love them especially because they are very easy to take care of. I couldn't bear watching a snake eat a live little baby mousy, so I feed mine fish and night crawlers. Garters are an awesome choice for a pet

[guidofatherof5]

Frozen/thawed pinkies are a great option in that case. They are a great source of nutrition for your garters also. ;)

[KDale]

No, but to prevent crossbreeding, keep only same sexes together unless they are under 1yr old.

whats bad with cross breeding

[guidofatherof5]

What's not bad about cross breeding! Muddies the gene pool and creates "mutts" that are worthless in the hobby and can only continue to impact the gene pool if allowed to breed.
The variety offered by all the garter species negates the need to cross breed. There have been accidents in this area and the snakes look like watered down versions of the parents.

[ConcinusMan]

We try not to let 2 different species or subspecies of garter snake, mate and produce offspring. It usually produces undesirable results. There are over 50 distinct species.