Biggest Garters

[abcat1993]

Post pictures of your biggest garter snakes. (Mine's tiny so no post for me)

[Thamnophis]

Mine are also to small to win the price of Biggest Garter.

[reptileparadise]

well, she's probably not the biggest you'll ever see...but she is defenitly the biggest one i've got. Crappy picture, because i handle them a short as possible...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v479/vuurbuikpad/P1010016-1.jpg

[Thamnophis]

It is big, Jeroen.
What do you keep in those open "boxes"?

[reptileparadise]

jeroen? :p

in keep leopardgecko's in those open boxes. Had a lot of offspring which made a rack system the best option.
I use the same 'curvers' for N. Maura and garter babies, only with a lid ;)
When some garters are sold and i only have a few left, i keep them in a normal terrarium...just because i really love looking at them!

[Thamnophis]

Sorry Jeroen... I meant Sjoerd :D

Getting old and after a few beers... :rolleyes:

Nothing wrong by keeping those in curvers, but I agree... you cannot enjoy the a s much.

[ssssnakeluvr]

http://www.donsgartersnakes.com/pictures/thumb63.jpg

here's my florida blue, 32 inches long...

[abcat1993]

How long does it take to grow that long/ how old is that snake?

[ssssnakeluvr]

she is 3 years old, has been eating pinkie mice as a baby, and on to adult mice now. garters can grow fast on a rodent diet. I have 2 nice red oregon red spots I got last year as newborns that are taking pinkie rats. they were about 8 inches long last July when i got them, the male is about 18 inches long and the female about 16 inches. I will post other large garter pictures later when I get my regular computer running again.

[ssssnakeluvr]

http://www.donsgartersnakes.com/pictures/slide124.jpg

Here's my valley garter.....32 inches long.....

[ssssnakeluvr]

http://www.donsgartersnakes.com/pictures/slide108.jpg

and here's my 31 inch female red sided garter, slightly older pic...about 27 inches at the time of this pic.

[ssssnakeluvr]

http://www.donsgartersnakes.com/pictures/slide104.jpg

....and my western terrestrial garter....33 inches long.

[Sid]

Open link below for an unusually marked 39 inch Eastern Garter. My largest by far.

MySpace.com - View Image (http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=115401000&imageID=1240271343)

Sid

[abcat1993]

What attachment?

[KITKAT]

My Florida Blue female was 36 inches long, and had a large section of her tail missing from a lawnmower. She was WC, and I kept her for a time, then gave her to a friend in Florida, as she was too old to breed.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/minno1.jpg

[abcat1993]

Do you have a pic of her with you or something to compare it to?
I am a juvenile snake now!

[abcat1993]

Are eastern garter snakes the biggest type of garter? If not what is? Just wondering how big mine will get

[Stefan-A]

T. sirtalis is the second largest species, I think (135-140cm / 53-55"). T. gigas (Giant garter snake) would be the largest (160-165cm / 63-65"). Of course these are just the estimated maximum lengths, I doubt either actually gets that big and the males are generally a lot smaller.

If you have a male, it probably won't grow bigger than 65-70cm / 25-27".

[Cazador]

I was just reading a book last night that said T. gigas normally only lives to be 5-7 years old in captivity, compared to a normal lifespan of about 10 years for most other species. This is a common phenomenon, where larger organisms in a clade have reduced lifespans.

[abcat1993]

Where can you find these for sale? I probably wouldn't get one but I thought they were threatened? Although I think the california red sided or some other popular California garter is threatened/endangered.

[Cazador]

I doubt you'd find T. gigas for sale. They only live in California and are currently threatened. The CA red sided is abundant, but the San Fransisco garter (T.s. tetrataenia) is on the California and Federal Endangered Species List. Here's a web page to give you some info about T. gigas. Cheers,
Rick

[abcat1993]

I don't see a link. The San Fransisco garter is what I was trying to say (or thinking of). But aren't they illegal to own in the US without a permit or something?

[Cazador]

Oops. Here you go, and yes, they're illegal to own in the U.S. without a special permit.

Thamnophis gigas - Giant Gartersnake (http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/pages/t.gigas.html)

[Gijs & Sabine]

This is our female plains garter (Thamnophis radix )
She is about 8 years old and 47 inch long.
This year she gave birht to 55 babies, 2 died and the others are very healthy.

Sabine
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/P1010243_Medium_.JPG

[reptileparadise]

she is absolutely...wow!
my god, 119 cm!!!...impressive!

[abcat1993]

I wonder what my mom would do if my garter got that big. She is already telling me that if it gets two feet it's gone. :D

[Thamnophis]

That radix is indeed a monster!

A monster, but beautyful... dat dan weer wel :D

[bigstan03]

Hey all I am a newbie here and I never really had any interest in snakes until I found one in my yard the other day and I was wondering if anyone could tell me what kind of garter it is and some helpful hints on how to take care of it and yea do they bite often . Thats my wifes biggest ? Thanx in advanced . Pic :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/bigstan03/Myfamily004.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/bigstan03/Myfamily002.jpg

Stan

[KITKAT]

Hi Stan!

I think that is a Dekay's snake... but get a couple more opinions before you take my word for it, cause I am relatively new here too!

[bigstan03]

Thanx I have to get a book or something on the different types. I did not no they came in so many colors. I always seen the all black ones .

[KITKAT]

The Dekay's snake is not a garter... it is a seperate species. But care is very similar. I think you can feed your Dekay's with nightcrawlers. Avoid "Red Wigglers", as they can be toxic.

[bigstan03]

Thanx when i got it I brought some crickets thinking he would eat them but he didn't atleast i didnot see it . I will go get some worms and see what happens I was reading is it true thet it fish to ?

[KITKAT]

Garters eat fish. They often live in the ecotone around water.

However, Dekay's are more of a meadow and forest ecotone species, and would not have access to bodies of water. They do not eat fish.

In nature, the Dekay's eats nightcrawlers, slugs, terrestrial snails, and perhaps soft bodied insects. The only soft bodied insect we have readily available on a commercial scale is the waxworm. These are very soft, and might be accepted, but they are also VERY high in fat and phosphorus. If your snake will accept them, feed them very sparingly.

Your best bet to get started is to visit a good bait store and get a dozen nightcrawlers.

[bigstan03]

Thanx for your Help KITKAT .

[Sid]

Hi Stan,
I've kept the Brown snakes(DeKay) in the past. They also do very well feeding slugs.

Sid

[Beautifylgirl]

Here is my snake. I'm pretty sure the general guess here is that 'it' is a T.S fitchi. It is a little more than 32 1/2 inches long. ( dont' know how impressive that is since I guess they can get about 52 inches)

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k269/Beautifylgirl/Snake/pictures198.jpg


Brittany

[hjelte]

Beautiful! I hope my female radix grow to be this big and healthy-looking!

[Faunaofthenorth]

I once had a female Eastern that was 53" long, and i am not kidding, It was gravid, and it was the biggest snake i have ever caughten. I do have several pics, but i am not sure how to post pics, can someone please help, and i also have pics of my 48" Eastern Garter as well.

[Cazador]

Just follow the link to learn about http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/site-feedback-suggestions-questions/181-posting-pictures.html

[Faunaofthenorth]

Hey thanx! Thats actually easy. here's the Big Eastern that was 53", srry for the quality.


http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/Big_Garter2.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:;)


http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/Big_Garter3.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:;)

[Cazador]

Man, that's a lot of snake! What did she eat, poodles?

[Faunaofthenorth]

LOL! Haha no, she ate nothing for about two weeks until she had the 58 babies then she literally gorged herself on full adult, frozen(then thawed) rats. But sadly i decided to let her go soes i can catch her again....and well a year later i caught her again, and she seriously had to have been almost 6 feet long. I removed about 6 small scales on her tail in a pattern and thats how i know its her, and i caught her again last summer, and she seems to be getting bigger, and the last time i caught her, she had a squirrel sized lump in her body. LOL yes shes big.

[abcat1993]

I think BIG is an understatement. That's enormous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Faunaofthenorth]

LOL! Yeah, she was gigantic. My neighboor said that before i caught her, he'd seen that same snake(cause thats where i caught her at), attacking a coupleof hatchling crows, and the mother bird was screaming and constantly flopping around pecking at the snake. Wll, when i caught her she regergitated one of the baby birds. I have pics of that as well, but they hrdly turned up, they look like theres a big grey fog on them.