Why do you keep them?

[Josh]

Garters.
I am always asked that.
"Why do you own those dinky little snakes?"
i say because they are so exciting
why do youi keep garters?

[enigma200316]

Garters.
I am always asked that.
"Why do you own those dinky little snakes?"
i say because they are so exciting
why do youi keep garters?

I get the same Josh, and they also say why not something like pythons or whatever........I simply say I love all reptiles, and I have kept those other snakes before and just prefer to keep Garters now...........:)

[Josh]

I mean dont get my wrong pythons and what not are beatiful.
but they just sit there eat and poop

[Zephyr]

Story time! :D

2 years ago, while herping on a disputably unprotected part of the local forest, my mother "ran over" *not quite* a small male garter snake. We had been looking for snakes that day, and this one had run right out for us. So, as my first wild snake capture (My actual first snake, a rough green, had been killed by a cat in my old treehouse), I decided to keep him. I set him up in a tank in the house. A few days later, he was gone. I was somewhat sad. After 3 days, I found him chilling on the cover to my fish tank in my basement. So he was moved outside. Me, being naive at the time, gave him only crickets. The months passed, his captivity with me being from June 17 to January 17, each day passing without him ever having eaten... And on that fateful day, after I finally discovered that he would eat fish, I decided to give him a rinsing. However, I was not aware that I had turned the water on a little too warm... He'd never struck at me before, and I knew for sure something bad had happened. 15 minutes later, he was dead, and I was literally crying my eyes out. I swore in the middle of my sobbing that I would avenge him and literally stated that I would erect an outdoor pen in his honor and breed hundreds of garter snakes. So, two years of experience and knowledge later, here I am, proud to continue his legacy.
RIP
Scooter G. Wheel
http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/2076/scootymv9.png

[MayorOgden]

Honestly, I got my garter after I went to the reptile store and they didn't have kenyan sand boas in stock. I saw the young, active garters and said "what the hey." He's been so entertaining ever since! His personality is a little more complicated than I thought it would be. I love that he loves to explore so much. He's never boring!

[Josh]

Honestly, I got my garter after I went to the reptile store and they didn't have kenyan sand boas in stock. I saw the young, active garters and said "what the hey." He's been so entertaining ever since! His personality is a little more complicated than I thought it would be. I love that he loves to explore so much. He's never boring!

Those are the bottom lines

[Stefan-A]

Garters.
I am always asked that.
"Why do you own those dinky little snakes?"
i say because they are so exciting
why do youi keep garters?
My reply usually depends on how the question is asked. If there's even a hint of disapproval, I usually give a reply that is an implied insult. In any other case, I'll give pretty much the same answers as the rest of you.

Sometimes a moving picture says more than a thousand words. ;)
YouTube - Fierce creatures (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlPPgK9xm9w)

[ssssnakeluvr]

[quote=Stefan-A;56339]My reply usually depends on how the question is asked. If there's even a hint of disapproval, I usually give a reply that is an implied insult. In any other case, I'll give pretty much the same answers as the rest of you.

same here....I have always loved garters...so active! they were the first snakes I ever caught and kept. I like all snakes, but these guys are just so cool!!!

[EdgyExoticReptiles]

I love Kenyan sand boas, there soo cool

Honestly, I got my garter after I went to the reptile store and they didn't have kenyan sand boas in stock. I saw the young, active garters and said "what the hey." He's been so entertaining ever since! His personality is a little more complicated than I thought it would be. I love that he loves to explore so much. He's never boring!

[EdgyExoticReptiles]

Oh yea some of my friends were like u breed garter snakes? there so puny. So i showed them a pic of my pugets and there like woah can i buy one?

[Tori]

I grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and spent my childhood roaming the woods. I had been taught from birth that snakes are evil! "The only good snake is a dead one!" And I never questioned it as a child. But as an adult I started taking my boys when they were very young into the mountains, just hiking like I had always done and of course they had to catch everything that moved. My husband was terrified of snakes so I couldn't bring any home, but I did let the boys sneak and keep a couple for a few weeks at a time. After my divorce I moved here to Michigan and it finally hit me while hiking that I could keep any "kritter" I wanted to now and took home the first garter snake I could find. After that I was hooked. I also kept other snakes, but none were as much fun as the garters and so I now have still have two corn snakes, but the rest are garters. Other snakes are just bad tempered or boring.

[gregmonsta]

They were the snakes that were ordered for my school project .... and I had read nothing but good things about them in my collection of 'First Snake' books at the time. Nothing compares to them in the amount of activity and fun ... but I do love all snakes ... I spend most nights with my snake encyclopedia as bedtime reading.

[TerriandClint]

They were the snakes that were ordered for my school project .... and I had read nothing but good things about them in my collection of 'First Snake' books at the time. Nothing compares to them in the amount of activity and fun ... but I do love all snakes ... I spend most nights with my snake encyclopedia as bedtime reading.

Greg, you've been reading the same 3/4 snake books since DECEMBER!!!! I've lost count of how many times you've read that garter book of yours .... geeky greg .... :eek:

[gregmonsta]

Well .... You MUST train hard in order to be a true geek :D

[ssssnakeluvr]

Well .... You MUST train hard in order to be a true geek :D
well...it comes naturally to some of us.....:cool:

[Snake lover 3-25]

i keep mine bc i had a few corns and they were boaring and week.......... and garters are just so tolerant and active....... but they are still able to be calm and easy going....... and they all have their own seperate personalities......:D

[jeanette]

Well i only recently got my first pair of Garters, they have joined the rest of mini zoo.
Garters ive found to be unique in snake behaviour and im quite fascinated with them, they have a character all of their own, with a unique social system among snakes, omg theres just so much to learn about them and i havent even started identifying individual species yet.
i have a complete obsession with reptiles and amphibians!!!!
im guilty of wanting to live in an exotic pet zoo!!!
:D :D :D

[enigma200316]

well...it comes naturally to some of us.....:cool:


yeah Don, and we won't mention any names........:D;)

[ssssnakeluvr]

yeah Don, and we won't mention any names........:D;)
I resemble that remark!!!!!! :cool:

[Rook]

well I had been looking into a Corn Snake, but they didnt seem to DO much aside from look pretty. well someone on anouther forum suggested a garter snake, so we looked into it, and really liked them, much more active and entertaining, plus a Garter isnt much of a danger to most of my other creatures should one ever escape. Pythones and Boas are illegal here, so even if I didnt have the other creatures neither would be an option lol

[KITKAT]

I love garters and Oscars. They know you are there, and they demand food!

As I write this, my baby red side is STARING at me!

[Odie]

Cheep, easy to feed and
Garters are just so tolerant and active but they are still able to be calm and easy going and they all have their own seperate personalities :cool:

[Josh]

wow glad to see all the responses!

[SpyrotheGartersnake]

i like garters because unlike some snakes they like to be active unlike ball pythons who just like to mostly lay around. another reason is because of the unique colors they come in:D

[infernalis]

Just because they are cool, and all the other reasons previously stated.

[Garter_Gertie]

Because I fell in love with Winnie. Never knew you could feel this way about a snake!

And I can't do kings and corns because I'm still terrified of those. The coral snake syndrome. Gophers have no personality and don't have cute faces. I will admit my second love is Hoggies. Like garters they're cute and have personality.

Will not do boas. (shudder)

[Lori P]

(Laughing uproariously) Famous last words, Gertie... famous last words!! I shall document this for when you have a boa snuggled in your lap and you're ohhhhhing and ahhhhhing on about your new kingsnake.... :-)

[infernalis]

So Gertie, what would you do when the phone rings and some 20 year old girl says come get my python before I throw it out the door????

I had no intent to own a python, then the phone rang.....

Needless to say he sits here pampered silly, eating chocolate covered mice, sipping the finest well water, swimming in our tub and watching animal planet all day.

Once you start, it's hard to look back.

http://www.reformedsniper.net/cane/bath.jpg

[Garter_Gertie]

Never, Lori!

Dekay, I'd tell her to call the MN Herp Society. OR I'd take the thing, toss it in the tub, and I'd call the MN Herp Society. But I don't ever want one of those horrible, ugly SCARY things!!!!!!!!!! No offense meant to you parents of boas and pythons. I saw one - a HUGE ONE!!! LONGER THAN I AM TALL!!!!!!!!!! AND ABOUT AS BIG AROUND AS MY THIGH!!! - at Twin City Reptiles. It gave me the heebee-jeebees!!!!!!!!

[infernalis]

How about this pretty thing???

http://www.reformedsniper.net/chomp/oreo.jpg

He's fully grown, this is as big as he'll get. and he's a clever one too.

[Garter_Gertie]

Wayne, I'm terrified o'them BOTH. They're ugly and scary to me. And those RATTLE SNAKE PICTURES!!!!! I can't look at them. Makes my skin crawl.

Oktay. I'm a woosie. SOMEBODY has to fill that role here, may as well be me!

You and Lori just keep on thinkin' you know what's gonna happen. I suggest both of you NOT hold your breath. People in h&!! will get ice cream cones before *I* EVER have snakes like THOSE!

[Lori P]

(Madly saving these messages for later) LOLOL!!

You know what, Gertie, we'll still accept you for your love of dear Winnie and your soon to be hoggy. But we may feel the uncanny need to torment you from time to time. :rolleyes::D:D

[Garter_Gertie]

Yeah. I'm SURE! You're that way! Forget the archives. It ain't gonna happen. YOU'LL see!

[infernalis]

Gertie, I'll need your home address, I found this cute little guy in my yard, and I would like it if you could give him a loving home. Thank you.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc140/DMong_bucket/Emerald.jpg

[Garter_Gertie]

NOT FUNNY YOU BOZO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I SCREAMED MY HEAD OFF AND SCARED PICKLES AND MAYO - AND ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For-get-it!!!!!!! I HATE those fanged things. (shudder)

Wayne, I don't get mad, I get even. If I EVER find out your weak spot - spiders, water, flying, WHATEVER - I shall seek my revenge.

WHAT AN EFFIN' HORRIBLE CREATURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(The snake. Not you, dear Dekay.)

[Lori P]

(Snickering and snorting) Now Wayne, that was plain mean. (Chuckle) You really should be ashamed for tormenting Gertie so. (Chortle snort) It's NOT FUNNY. (Falling off chair in mirth)

[Garter_Gertie]

(Snickering and snorting) Now Wayne, that was plain mean. (Chuckle) You really should be ashamed for tormenting Gertie so. (Chortle snort) It's NOT FUNNY. (Falling off chair in mirth)

You are SO BAD! SSSSOOOOOOO BBBBBBAAAAAAADDDDD!!!!!!! You are horrible and ROTTEN!

911!!!!!!!!! 911!!!!!!!!! Call 911! I CAN'T BREATHE I'M LAUGHING SO HARD!

You rotten thing, Lori!

[anji1971]

Gertie, you really should never say "never".:D
Lori was as terrified of spiders as you are about these snakes, and now she has a tarantula. Who'd of thunk it??

[Garter_Gertie]

Bless my stars and garters! TARANTULA?! NO WAY.

Anji, she's nuts. Nutz, nutz, nutz! Never, never, never, NEVER. N-e-v-e-r. Never.

[Lori P]

LOLOL.... here's the thread about my fuzzy spider, to give you an idea of how it all came about!! I never planned to have a tarantula... but fate has a wicked sense of humor!!!

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/garter-snake-lounge/2557-omg-i-kind-rescued-tarantula-help.html

[infernalis]

I clicked on that link to the spider thread, I remember reading that as a "lurker" last winter.

I would have done the same thing:)

[Garter_Gertie]

Lori, I read all 13 pages. You did a wonderful humane thing. I applaud and respect you.

Will pm you for your address should the same ever happen to me. It'll come to you as I AIN'T GONNA KEEP IT!

[Lori P]

LOLOL... ok, but any tarantula you send me must be accompanied by the garter of my choice!!!

[jitami]

Gertie, you really should never say "never".:D
Lori was as terrified of spiders as you are about these snakes, and now she has a tarantula. Who'd of thunk it??

Me too, so my dear sweet (p.i.t.a.) mother in law got one for my then four year old son for his birthday. Like a four year old is going to care for a tarantula! I'm not going to say it got a lot of handling ;) but I read everything I could and did the absolute best I could for it. Tank came in handy later for a few different praying mantis and for a short time our garter baby:)

I have to say, as we speak we have a black widow in a jar on my kitchen counter. It didn't have the typical red markings so we put it in a jar to have a closer look at it. It's been in the jar for a week now and I just told my boys yesterday that either they set up a better home for it and feed it or it needs to be killed. I seriously have nightmares about spiders, but I'm still not going to starve one to death. Squish it, sure, but not starve it. :rolleyes::eek::rolleyes:

[Garter_Gertie]

N-e-v-e-r. :p :eek:

[jitami]

Lori, just read all 13 pages of Tatiana's thread. You're such a kind caring soul. Good for you for getting over your fear of holding her. I never did hold our Itsy. Thankfully someone mentioned that males only live a few years. I was starting to worry that I had done something wrong since he was only with us for a couple of years. He was wild caught and definately a male, so... whew... I probably didn't cause his demise!

[Spiritwolf]

My present "garter gang" and hopefully soon to be added garter gang as well as my corn crew and Feisty who until I manage to find her a mate, is a little loner, I can blame on JC!