New forum member

[josh1990]

Hello,
I`ve stalked this forum for some time and I thought I might as well sign up and talk to others that love garters as much as I do. I`m also very interested in small snakes that are not often kept such as green, brown and red-bellied snakes. This also leads to my first question, what part of the forum are other snake species talked about?
Thanks,
Josh

[guidofatherof5]

Storeria has always been welcome on this Thamnophis page. Can't say there is a specific place for them we just accept them in most of the forums.
Personally I think they are an awesome snake. Neonates can be very difficult to raise as they are so small. They can also be temperamental when it comes to eating. I find they have great personalities.

[Zdravko092368]

Earth snakes and Ground snakes are two other neat small species you could look into. Welcome to the forum. :)

[josh1990]

Thanks for the warm welcome! Glad to hear that more folks enjoy Storeria as well, I only have one female Northern Red-bellied snake at the moment but I did have a male with her that passed a few years ago and I have kept Northern brown snakes in the past. I would imagine that the young would indeed be hard to raise unless one cultured a constant supply of tiny slugs and earthworms. I`ve never found earthsnakes before but would love to add them to my life list. I live in the mountains of Virginia so no earthsnakes enter my area but they do occur in the Coastal and Piedmont of the state. Sonora look like they would be great little captives too, with the vast array of colors and an invertebrate diet. Does anyone one the forum keep Sonora as well?

[guidofatherof5]

I had a group of Storeria dekayi - Brown Snakes born here. The majority didn't want to eat so I decided to release them in the area the mother came from. Seconds after releasing them in a marsh area the neonates were hunting and pulling snails from their shells. It sure made me feel better to see these little snakes eating. I left the area feeling pretty good.

[josh1990]

I had the same thing happen to me with my Northern red-bellied snake; she had a litter of 12 and they refused to eat so I released them from where I had collected the female and male. Come spring I hope to find a male red-bellied and a pair of Northern browns. I often find the two species together under discarded roofing shingles along with Northern ring-necks.

[guidofatherof5]

I have a photo of an x-ray of the specialized teeth used for pulling snails out of their shells, can't seem to locate it right now. I''ll keep searching and post it up later.

[josh1990]

Wow! I`d love to see that. I`ve had red-bellied snakes curl up their "lips" to show their blackish gums and fish-hook teeth. I often find empty snail shells scattered around in Storeria habitat.