back from the dead....

[hjelte]

:o ...well not really but almost.

Hi everyone! It´s been a while and my excuse is serverproblems with my internet, I´ve moved to a new home and amidst of all this I´ve had to work my behind of to make ends meet the last couple of monhts. I haven´t had much time to surf so to speak.

But! Now I´m here again and I have a question for you all.....

Have anyone of you nortamercian residents who have the privilege to see garters in the wild ever noticed how deep a garter is capable of diving in water? (or anyone of you who for some reason have a very deep waterbowl in your tank:) )

Or does anyone have a godd guess or anything?

I came to think about it yesterday and thought I´d ask!

[enigma200316]

well I've seen my Garter go down about six inches in its water bowl to catch a fish before.......I don't know exactly how far they will go in the wild, but I'm sure they can go as deep as they want........:confused: oh yea and welcome back.....

[hjelte]

thank you! Ok I´ll have to check how much that is in centimeters:) Keep the answers and speculations coming everybody!

[Lulu Bennett]

welcome back sweety.
i dont know how deep they can swim but i know they can stay under water for 2mins or more (after 2mins of watching kia dive i pulled her out because it began to worry me lol :rolleyes:).

[Thamnophis]

In the wild they dive several meters deep when neccesary.

[enigma200316]

your a great mom Lulu............:D

[Lulu Bennett]

gosh that sounded odd...Lulu and mom in the same sentence lol. but i do try and look after them lol and they are my babies lol so i guess that does make me mom :D

[enigma200316]

it sure does......or you can just be their guardian, but I thought mom sounded better.....:D

[adamanteus]

Hi Hjelte, welcome back after your long absence!:)

[hjelte]

thank you everyone! It´s great to be back.

[Sid]

Welcome back.:) I agree with Fons. They can go several meters. Normally, If I see one in the wild, they are very near or on the surface of the water.

Sid

[hjelte]

ok . Seems they pretty much have the same diving-capacity as our grass snake natrix natrix here in sweden then. I´ve seen them dive a couple of meters to catch minnow and such.

[adamanteus]

ok . Seems they pretty much have the same diving-capacity as our grass snake natrix natrix here in sweden then. I´ve seen them dive a couple of meters to catch minnow and such.

Yes, I think Garters will dive as deep as they need to....to the bottom of whatever it is they're swimming in.:D

[Lulu Bennett]

i guess i didn't really need to worry tomuch about kia being head under for 2 mins then lol :o :rolleyes:

[hjelte]

very neat. I´ve read that ribbon snakes tend to flee on the surface of the water rather than dive. Is this true for garters as well or do they rather make their escape under water?

[adamanteus]

I can't really comment on Garters in the wild, but I've seen Natrix escape on the surface and by diving to safety. My guess would be thet Garters do the same.

[Stefan-A]

It's nice to have you back. :) As summer draws to an end, I guess we will be seeing more and more members returning.

It will be nice to see if Rick comes back. ;)

[hjelte]

Untitled Document (http://yellowfin.dnr.sc.gov/ACEHerpGuide/Pages/Snakes/Colubridae/Thamnophissauritus.html)
This would be my reference however reliable it is. It specifies that ribbons don´t dive wich seems kind of...odd? I don´t know.

[adamanteus]

It will be nice to see if Rick comes back. ;)

I'm sure he will. In fact, if I remember rightly, didn't he say he'd be back amongst us by late August?:)

[hjelte]

thank you stefan, good to hear from you.

[Elliot]

Untitled Document (http://yellowfin.dnr.sc.gov/ACEHerpGuide/Pages/Snakes/Colubridae/Thamnophissauritus.html)
This would be my reference however reliable it is. It specifies that ribbons don´t dive wich seems kind of...odd? I don´t know.

I've never seen my ribbons go completely underwater, and every time that I've seen them in the wild they just went off into some brush. They're rediculously fast on land, and I'd assume that they could swim away on the top of the water faster than underwater, so it makes sense to me.

[Lulu Bennett]

who's Rick?? :confused:
wonder where Morph has been too :confused:

[Elliot]

Rick is Cazador, the mod from Alaska. I think he stopped posting to go somewhere before you joined.

[hjelte]

I see. Interesting. But sureley they must have the ability to dive. They just seldom need to use it I guess.

[Elliot]

I see. Interesting. But sureley they must have the ability to dive. They just seldom need to use it I guess.

Most likely, I pretty much view a ribbon snake as a semi-aquatic garter snake.

[adamanteus]

Most likely, I pretty much view a ribbon snake as a semi-aquatic garter snake.

That's what I've always though too. I'm surprised to hear that they don't dive.

[enigma200316]

I'm sure they do it depends on what ever the snake feels it wants to do......:rolleyes:

[Elliot]

That's what I've always though too. I'm surprised to hear that they don't dive.

I'm sure they dive, but if they were trying to escape I would think they'd go across the top of the water, they're very fast swimmers. I would think of them diving when they were going after fish or maybe frogs or something else.

[hjelte]

yeah that seems to be the case. I was >this< close to buying a ribbon (a nitae I believe) this february on a big reptile-fair but I ended up with my parietalis instead. Slender little fellow as well, but i must admit I´m very keen on getting a ribbon....seem like interesting little critters.

[Snaky]

Welcome back:)

[hjelte]

thank you very much

[drache]

welcome back, Hjelte

[Sid]

Garters in the wild react much the same as a Ribbon Snake when retreating/ alarmed. They will swim on the waters surface until there is cover on the waters edge to retreat into.

[ssssnakeluvr]

I chased a red sided garter in Kansas that dove down in a slow moving stream about 4-5 feet deep...was irritated, wanted to add her to my collection! :eek:

[Gijs & Sabine]

Welcome back, Hjelte :) Are you going to the Hamm show 15. september ? Some members are going, so it would be great to meet eachother.

[enigma200316]

I didn't make it too this past show, but I'm really going to try to go in September.......:(