best garter for a beginner

[Tora]

which garter do you think is the best for a beginner with snakes? I have owned a multitude of reptiles so I understand their basic needs, but I'm unsure of what to get. my best friend's garter who was gravid, just passed away before delivering and the scrubs were all underdeveloped, she was an albino checkered garter.

I'm looking at about a $150 budget in August to get one (and a decent set up as well) so it doesn't exactly have to be ultra fancy, but I kinda have my heart set on an albino garter (love red eyes!)

Do you think any breeders that will be going to the NRBE in August will have any garters? If I can't find a breeder near me, I don't like shipping because I like buying the animal when it's in front of me so I can check for anything that could be wrong with it, I'll end up going to petco, the one closest to me is actually the best petco I've been to, the animals are all taken care of unlike most of the others I've been in.

so back to the topic at hand, which garter do you suggest for a beginner?

[Zdravko092368]

If you like albinos and want an easy to care for garter that is generally readily available than you are looking at three options. Albino Thamnophis radix(Plains garter), Albino Thamnophis marcianus(Checkered garter) or an Albino Thamnophis sirtalis(Common Garter). They are $30-60 usually, checkered being the cheapest. I don't really know where you can get one without shipping unless a breeder lives close to you. The expo will most likely only have checkered garters if they even have any garters at all. Thamnophis are not well respected in the pet tradehttp://cdncache-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/) yet.

[slipknot711]

u can find albino checkereds at petsmart pretty often. usually run about $35. i bought a male from their, he has gotten huge and very healthy.

[snakegirl909]

I would recommend an eastern, they are my fav, but it's really up to you. I'm just going to warn you, garters are very addicting, so soon you'll have a room full of 'em ;). Good luck!

[Tora]

haha, I know just how addictive reptiles are xD I got an anole as a birthday present a few years ago and I'm now up to 12 of them and 2 crested geckos and I just want more xD I'll guilt trip my mom into taking me to the expo because I'm also in the market for a pair or trio of flying geckos.... so many I want and so little room :p

[guidofatherof5]

I would say a T. radix - Plains Garter is a good starter garter. They are hearty eaters and the females have great personalities.

[ObsidianDragon]

I love my Checkered, but he's a little spaz who isn't keen on handling. Or...on being seen. Or...anything to do with me, really. :) they're neat, I love them, but if you want one that tolerates you a bit more a Checkered--at least, a male one--may not be a good choice. He's not the only one I know of like this, or I wouldn't say much!

I'm jealous of Steve's garters, who seem to at least appreciate him as a food source. XD

[bigsnakegirl78]

Personalities depend on the individual. My garter is hilarious when he notices someone saw him, he goes all rigid and springs back in forth. I can just imagine an exclamation point above his head. Generally, our presence doesn't stop him from exploring, and he's even shown several instances of being thoroughly interested in me. I've had him follow my finger around his tank. lol

Although he's out and about sometimes nowadays, he was a lot more active before I gave him enough bedding to burrow in. That's where he spends most of his time. I also haven't been handling him now, so getting him out of his tank has been...interesting. But, he's usually good once I have him out, just have to work with him to get him to calm down.

I also know someone on DA who has an older and much larger male albino checkered, who's apparently extremely docile and calm, but from what I've read it's as OD says, males are spazzy. haha Females seem to be a bit more laid back, and they're larger. :)

I'd really love an Iowa snow plains garter, though. I think they're just beautiful.

[Tora]

If I get lucky enough to get a female from my petco, once again I don't fully support petco but ours has reptile knowledgeable people working there now, but I will be extremely happy. Would guys recommend a UTH or an overhead bulb like the Zilla Mini Halogen? I use the 25w for my cresties, and 50w for my anoles but I'm not sure whether to go with the uth or the overhead bulb.

[ObsidianDragon]

UTH! With a thermostat, naturally. I don't usually like using heat lamps for snakes, though. My humidity is crappy enough in the winter as it is.

None of my local Petcos or PetSmarts ever have garters. Corns, BPs, kings, maybe a red tail. That's it. A little disappointing, really. :( (Yes, I know, they're not the best place anyway. But my local ones take decent care of their animals, at least. Well--the PetSmarts do. PetCo makes me shudder.)

[Tora]

Pretty much what my petsmart has too, but they did just have a nice albino king with blue eyes and he wasn't shedding. If I had the room for a king and didn't have the pets that I have, I probably would have gotten it. I haven't been to petco in almost a year so I don't even know if the staff changed again or if it's still the better people.

[bigsnakegirl78]

I personally prefer using overhead heating for all my snakes, and garters can deal with extremely low humidity. Mine has shed without even one piece of stuck shed in humidity 10-13%, so I don't really bother with it. Usually during the winter the room humidity is about 30-40%, so the humidity under the lamp will be about 13%. During the summer, the humidity is 50-60% and under the lamp it's 20-30%, and I also offer a humid hide which he only ever used when the moss completely dried out (I found the shed in there when I went to wet it). >.>

I also hear garters love bright lights, so I make a point to at least provide a white light with no heat, and I put it on a 12-hour cycle. The light affects my garter so much he won't eat a few hours after it turns on or a few hours before it turns off, preferring to eat in the middle of the day. He gets no heat at all during the night.

[Tora]

Thank you! I had an extra one laying around with a brand new bulb, so I was thinking "Well, I can take this $30 off and maybe get another garter!" xD

[Jeff B]

You don't want to have a snake shipped to you from a reputable breeder, but you WILL buy one from Petco or Petsmart???? This does not make sense to me. I think the only real benefit is you will save money by not paying shipping costs, not ensuring quality of the animal you purchase. Of course I am biased.

[slipknot711]

ive bought from breeders and have picked up an albino checkered from petsmart once or twice in my day. for someone getting their first garter or snake i can understand why the petstore may be more enticing. many ppl start off with animals from our "crappy" pet stores, then they learn more and more and see breeders may be the way to go.

[ObsidianDragon]

I bought a $30 garter and paid $40 in shipping, so honestly I can kind of understand the appeal. It feels weird to pay more in shipping than the dang animal costs, you know?

Plus, having an animal shipped in is daunting to a beginner. At least, it was for me!

I'm still glad I got my garter from a breeder, but after I had a lousy shipping experience (entirely due to FedEx) I'm going to have to take more steps to make sure they can't mess up next time. :|

[Tora]

Sorry. I realize now why my post seems confusing... I had a bad experience with shipping animals, supposedly my RTB pair of Chahouas got lost in the mail and I realize now that it was most likely a scam and I'm out $800, but at least going to PetCo, I can hold the animal and see how the animal acts and know what I'm paying for. I know that there are many reputable breeders out there that won't scam me, but shipping animals is kind of... not something I want to go through again.

[d_virginiana]

Even if you had a bad shipping experience, it'd still be better to deal with that anxiety and get one from a breeder. With petstores, yeah you get to see and hold the animal before you get it, but you have no idea how it's been cared for. With garters this can be more important than with a lot of other species because they eat fish and petstores tend to want to feed them rosies. You could be getting a snake with neurological damage and never know until a month or two after you get it home.
I think part of the reason you rarely see garters in petstores is bc they have a hard time keeping them healthy. If you want a quality animal you should talk to a breeder.

[Tommytradix]

imo go with thamnophis radix radix they do very well and eat great also you dont normally find anything but checkereds in pet stores so you would have to buy from a breeder

[Tommytradix]

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[Tora]

So I just found a picture of a Florida Blue stripe and I am in love. I love albino animals, but I think I've found what garter I want... come on August!

[Zdravko092368]

A high blue similis is pretty hard to find TBH. Most will have barely any blue, don't buyhttp://cdncache-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/) one from a big company or without pictures first. Most are wildcaught and look very bland.