new snake owner says hello

[bigdaddydan74]

greetings to everyone. just got a garter from a friend and was doing some research and found this forum. imm sure it will be a great help!!!

[felicianolis]

You are welcome in this forum! ;-D

[ssssnakeluvr]

Hello and welcome to the forum!!! What kind of garter did you get?? Hope we can be of any help to ya!!!

[bigdaddydan74]

not sure yet, trying to find out it came from found it in idaho it has red checker sort of.

[bigdaddydan74]

i will post some pics early next week

[ssssnakeluvr]

Welcome to the forum!! If the garter you got was from Idaho and has red on it, it's a valley garter, thamnophis sirtalis fitchi. I grew up in Idaho, small town of Cascadem 75 miles north of Boise. I used to catch them up there. I currently have a large female valley garter....32 inches long!!

[bigdaddydan74]

this one is about 24 inches

[ssssnakeluvr]

that's the average size I used to find, males tend to be smaller. I had a friend out south of Boise that was almost 4 ft long! He sent it to Scott Felzer, but it passed away...:( do you know where in Idaho it was found??

[bigdaddydan74]

around the post falls/coeur d'alene area

[ssssnakeluvr]

Pretty country up there!!! Valley garters are primarily amphibian eaters, mainly frogs. They normally take fish ok too. My female takes frozen/thawed fish and pinkie rats.

[bigdaddydan74]

this one eats plenty of fish. anything else i should feed it ?

[ssssnakeluvr]

fish is good for it, occasionally worms also. I wouldn't feed frogs or salamanders as they can get internal parasites from them. If you plan on keeping her for a long time, you can get frozen/thawed or live pinkie rats and rub them with fish and get her eating them. She won't need to be fed as often with rodents as they provide more nutrition in a small meal.

[Cazador]

Got to agree with the ssssnakeluvr on the amphibian comment. They're notorious for passing parasites on to pet garters. Captive snakes are under additional stress because of their confined quarters, foreign smells, frequent handling, etc. Stress reduces the immune system, which makes them more vulnerable to common pathogens than wild garters are. Captive garters with parasitic infections also reinfect themselves to a greater degree because of the confinement issue. Many people feed amphibians, but they're taking an unnecessary chance. Can't wait to see pictures,
Rick

[abcat1993]

Why are they more likely to get parasites from toads and frogs than worms?

[Thamnophis]

Why are they more likely to get parasites from toads and frogs than worms?

Probably because he parasites that live in ampibians can also live in reptiles. At least, some can, I believe.
The (most) parasites from worms cannot do that and will probapbly be digested when they are eaten.

And... Welcome here, Bigdaddydan74! :)

[Cazador]

Really good question, abcat :) . In short, amphibians live in environments that harbor a lot of parasites, and they actively search for, and consume prey that is often already parasitized. Worms don't do this, which is one reason their infestation rate is much lower.

Amphibians and reptiles also have similarities that make them more suitable hosts for the same kinds of parasites (e.g. more robust digestive, circulatory, and respiratory systems, higher nutrient throughput, regulated pH levels, and more similar lifestyles than worms and reptiles), so many generalist parasites are able to live in both. Worms mostly conform to whatever environment they're in, which lowers the infestation and reproductive rates of any parasite that manages to colonize the worm.

That's a really quick and dirty overview, so send me a PM if this wasn't clear enough. Regards,
Rick