Hello!

[paperfeathers]

Hey, Ive been lurking around for a few days and thought I should introduce myself if Im gonna get into the garter community. Ive never kept garters before but I just got a trio of baby albino checkereds from Albert Clark which will be my first venture into garter snakes. Ive been keeping reptiles ever since I was little and my mom was in a turtle & tortoise rescue, going to reptile shows all the time, and Ive gotten to work with endangered species but for some reason never considered owning a garter snake. I thought they were shy & bad pets, but they are quickly proving me wrong! Im excited to be in a new community with friendly people.

[guidofatherof5]

Great to have you with us. Thamnophis is the best kept secret on the snake hobby.
I'll link the care sheet for you. Please ask all the questions you might have. We also would love to see some photos.
Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet (http://www.thamnophis.com/index.php?page=caresheet)

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//744/medium/welcome.jpg

[Zdravko092368]

Welcome to the site and the world of garters, hope they do well for you. Feel free to ask any questions and if you want join the group "Thamnophis" on facebook as well

[Albert Clark]

Hey paper! Welcome to the club. Glad to see you made it to the forum! How's the trio doing? Especially our little girls tail? So nice to have you here.

[Qwerty3159]

Garters are quite the opposite of shy, in fact they're the most personable and curious snakes I've yet to see.
Garters were my first snakes, welcome aboard

[paperfeathers]

female w/the hurt tail, Id like to get a better pick of her tail but Im worried about handling her so soon. I treated her with betadine today. Second picture is both the females, the tub in the background had the male in it while I was feeding him

Im keeping them in small cages until theyve had a few meals and fully adjusted. I tried putting them in the terrarium I made for them but I misjudged exactly how tiny theyd be! The terrarium is a bit too overwhelming for them right now I guess.

[Albert Clark]

They look great and thanks. Yeah, I wouldn't disturb the female with the tail injury bc that will just stress her unnecessarily. I can tell that seems to be irritated and must be painful. As long as she is feeding, is a good sign. Monitor it closely for any swelling or signs that it isn't healing well. If you can get a closeup of it while she remains in the enclosure will help. However I wouldn't move her around any more than is necessary. Keep her on the paper towels too so you can monitor the healing easily and reduce the possibility of infection.

[guidofatherof5]

female w/the hurt tail, Id like to get a better pick of her tail but Im worried about handling her so soon. I treated her with betadine today. Second picture is both the females, the tub in the background had the male in it while I was feeding him

Im keeping them in small cages until theyve had a few meals and fully adjusted. I tried putting them in the terrarium I made for them but I misjudged exactly how tiny theyd be! The terrarium is a bit too overwhelming for them right now I guess.

Are you sure it's not a bit to overwhelming for you:D

[Zdravko092368]

Huge terrariums with baby garters are definitely stressful for me. Seems like every five days id have not seen a baby for a few days so I panic and think it escaped and dig up the whole thing lol.

[Albert Clark]

I moved them from the group bucket to individual plastic bowls with lids. It is much easier to monitor feedings and it seems to give them more of a sense of security. Some of the bigger ones I pair up in the bowls.

[Albert Clark]

I moved them from the group bucket to individual plastic bowls with lids. It is much easier to monitor feedings and it seems to give them more of a sense of security. Some of the bigger ones I pair up in the bowls.
As they grow i will eventually move them into their own tubs and give them their own space. As babies and very young reptiles i think keeping them together may help with the psychosocial behavior and development. As they get older i rather move them to their own space unless breeding is the intent.

[paperfeathers]

They each ate 2 white cloud minnows apiece today and are doing well. Im not sure when I should try introducing them to the terrarium, maybe get a few more meals in them first? The terrarium is a 20 gal crestie cage that I was given, so its more of a cube than a rectangle but the babies are so tiny I worry the cage is too big for them.

[Albert Clark]

Hey paper, I would wait to put them into such a large enclosure. As they are very small and it may be too much space right now. I agree , get a few more meals into them and as they become more established in the smaller enclosure then you could consider placing them into a different larger one. When you do switch them as long as there are adequate hiding spaces and clutter and you make sure it's escape proof for the little ones.

[paperfeathers]

Will do! In that case I think Ill get a medium size cage to house them in for a while before putting them in the terrarium. Im fairly certain its escape proof cause the doors close pretty well but I think youre right that it will be better to have them grow up some more before placing them in there.

[Albert Clark]

How have you been making out with the progress? Are the little gals and guy steady with the food intake and settling in to their surroundings?

[paperfeathers]

They just ate salmon yesterday & im setting up a 10 gal for them until theyre big enough to go into the terrarium. The injured female is almost totally healed up theres just a very small scab left.

[Albert Clark]

They just ate salmon yesterday & im setting up a 10 gal for them until theyre big enough to go into the terrarium. The injured female is almost totally healed up theres just a very small scab left.
Wow! That is such good news. Try to fit some cut up pink mice parts too. They will need that to compliment their nutritional status. They really should be able to take 1 day old pink mice whole pretty soon. Great. Thanks for the update.

[guidofatherof5]

They just ate salmon yesterday & im setting up a 10 gal for them until theyre big enough to go into the terrarium. The injured female is almost totally healed up theres just a very small scab left.

You'll probably get a spontaneous shed to remove that scab and aid in healing.

[Albert Clark]

Those females should actually be ready for a 1 day old pink mouse cut lengthwise. Cut them before thawing them out to minimize the guts and gore. Only if you can handle it. But they need the rodent in the diet.

[paperfeathers]

The male shed this morning so the rest should be shedding soon too. They ate some guppies today but I will pick up a small pinky to feed the females for next time.

[Albert Clark]

The male shed this morning so the rest should be shedding soon too. They ate some guppies today but I will pick up a small pinky to feed the females for next time.
That's amazing news and means they are growing. Congrats paper! The addition of the mice into the diet will compliment their health and help them to grow also. That's mostly what they were getting here.

[paperfeathers]

Fed them pinky mice bits and the females ate it no problem but the male refused, gonna try to get him to eat tomorrow. The female w the hurt tail shed and the wound is totally gone, also shes the fattest of all three of them so i think shes doing fine lol.

[Albert Clark]

Fed them pinky mice bits and the females ate it no problem but the male refused, gonna try to get him to eat tomorrow. The female w the hurt tail shed and the wound is totally gone, also shes the fattest of all three of them so i think shes doing fine lol.

Fantastic. What I would do when I had them here was place the food into a small to mid sized bottle cap using it as a plate. Put the cut up pink parts into the bottle cap which was prescented with fish or mixed with smaller amounts of fish and offered that way. I am so glad the female healed up well. She will probably turn out to be large and healthy like her mom. Males can usually be more picky than females. He'll be fine. Just offer food every 3 days. Nice job paper!

[Albert Clark]

How are you enjoying the albino checkereds?

[paperfeathers]

Got the male to eat yesterday FINALLY. All of them have shed and are a lot more active now. The second female was having some trouble with stuck shed but i fixed it by upping the humidity. Otherwise they have been perfectly fine.

[Albert Clark]

Great! Always nice to get good news. I actually had 5 of their brothers and sisters in a 5 gallon tank all with shedding issues. I moved them all to individual tubs and cured the issue. Most of these guys and gals are on day old pink mice. I can really see the growth in them now. Gonna have to advertise them as "well started" albino checkereds soon and raise the price. Lol. Just a little increase.