Breeding size

[count dewclaw]

From the articles I've read I understand garters can usually breed around 18 months of age. But I have some WC and have no idea how old they are, so I was wondering if you could tell by how big they are. I'm not sure how big an 18 month old garter snake should be...thanks for the help.

[zooplan]

Minimum breeding sizes for wild garters are reported at "Rossman et al." and they deffere from specie to specie.
Mostly they are little bit more than half of the maximum size for females.

[count dewclaw]

Thanks. These are Eastern garters. The one I think is female is around 24 inches (she would not hold still). The two I think are males are between 18-24 inches. So, I think they are basically full grown. Typical size was given as 18-26 inches in the book I have (max. 48 inches).