Hi, I'm new here

[Nataseya]

I’m new to snakes as well. I just got my first one. (Not by choice, he was a gift)

I know very little about caring for snakes & the care instructions that accompanied him are somewhat vague. If any of y’all could answer a few questions my snake & I would be most grateful.

What to feed & how often - instructions said “snake food” every now & then (What does that mean?)

Housing - The previous owner kept him in this tiny little box with just a small water dish. I personally feel that this is unacceptable. (What is an appropriate size cage & what should be included in it?)

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks
S.

[Snaky]

Hi Nataseya, welcome to the forum.

There is a section where you can find quite some picture's for the enclosure:
section (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/enclosures/)
You can see lot's of picture's of how others decorated their cages. As for the size: Garters are active snakes that use the size that you give them, so I'd always go for a quite nice cage. My cages are 100x50x50 cm, but if I had the room I would prefer 120x60x60 cm. This is certainly big enough for a trio.

For the food, I'll direct you to the new wiki :) :
If you're wondering about the food, you've probably never heard of thiaminase, so this is quite interesting to know: Thiaminase (http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets/index.php?title=Thiamin,)
This is a global thread about food on the wiki:
general caresheet (http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets/index.php?title=Garter_Snake_Care_Sheet#Feeding)
I can certainly advice you to use the search function for words like red earthworm, fish, steak, pinkies, ...

I hope this gives you an idea, feel free to ask some other questions.

[Sid]

Hi Nataseya and welcome to the forum.:) A couple of questions so we can better help you out.

How old or what size is your new snake? I feed young or juvenile Garters smaller amounts and more frequently than I do adults. Do you know the species of your new pet or what area it came from? Is it wild caught or captive born?

Anything you have an answer to will better help us help you.

Sid

[GarterGuy]

Howdy and welcome to the forum S. Pretty much like everyone else was saying, need more info. on your snake (pics are especially helpful) so we can advise on just how it's best to care for it.
Roy

[Nataseya]

I apologize for the previous lack of info & for my incompetence.

I got very little info from the guy that gave him to me but here it is:
He came from a guy in the southeastern part of PA who collect snakes. He's an eastern garter - a red one (Whatever that is). He was captive born sometime last year ( not sure when exactly). As far as size can't get an accurate measurement - rough guess about 12" give or take.

Sorry that's all the info I have. I hope it's enough.

Thanks
S.

[KITKAT]

Take a photo of your snake when it is stretched out. Make sure the whole snake is in the photo, and ALSO a ruler. With that picture, we can tell you species, exact length (using a computer program that some of us have), and feeding recommendations.

Welcome to the forum!

[GarterGuy]

LOL....Hey, just noticed you're in Lancaster as well. Didn't think I'd see a local on here. Ok, so it's an Eastern garter, Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis...if it's a "red one" that's a very cool snake then...possibly a erythristic or maybe a flame (don't know anyone who'd give away either of them though??????). As far as a setup, a 10 gallon aquarium would be a good start for a 12" snake, you could go up to a 20 or 30 gal. and that'd pretty much be good for life. Get a sreen lid for the top, and a heat lamp or heating pad for heat ( I like the heat lamps for gaters myself, but they do just as well with the undertank heating pads too.) Make sure you get some clips for the screen lid as well....don't want to the little buggar getting out! As far as the insides, the basics are a water dish, some hides (just something for the snake to hide in or under, one on the warm side of the tank and one on the cool side of the tank) and a floor covering ( you can use paper towles or newpaper or a lot of people use the "reptile bark" sold in stores....my fav. is the stuff called CareFresh...I use it on all my snakes). Oh, also get a thermometer so you can keep track of the temps. in the tank. It should be about 80-85 on the warm side and in the 70's on the cool side. Besides that, anything goes, there's lots of differnt pieces of drift wood, cork bark, rocks, plastic or silk plants, ect that you can add to make it up how ever you want. Also I like to have a fluorescent light on them too.....just lights up the tank nice and makes for a better looking display. You can pretty much get all this stuff at petstores, depending where you are in Lancaster....ThatFishPlace, has a good selection of stuff (I live less than 3min. from the place...some of the people there know me by name...LOL)
As far as feeding, probably the best is to get it eating frozen/thawed mice.....if it's not eating that now, you can get feeder fish (rosies or guppies, NOT goldfish) or nightcrawlers (earthworms) for now..and yes, they're both available at ThatFishPlace (I sound like an ad for the place...LOL). I would give him/her a pinkie (ie. baby mouse) once a week or if you go with fish or worms, one or two of them twice a week. Also you can hit the fish market and get fish there as well. Just watch what types you get....from all I've heard and learned, looks like trout is the best bet, and it should be available as well.
Ok, think that should about cover it!:D Lastly, if you're really interested in reptiles, there's a Lancaster County Herpetology Club that meets in the North Museum every third Fri. of the month (this will be next Fri.), we have speakers from zoos, aquariums and who do research on reptiles come in and also have different events that we do and a members night when people can bring in their animals and talk about them. It's $10 a year to join, but totally free just to stop in and check things out. So again, hope the info. above helps and welcome to the wonderful world of snake keeping.:D
Roy

[Nataseya]

Roy,

Thanks so much for the info. I'm like 2 blocks from the North Museum so I look into it. Maybe I'll see you there

Thanks again
Shane

[GarterGuy]

Hey, no problem Shane, I'm not sure what we're doing this meeting, but when I find out I'll send you a PM and let you know. Good luck with the garter and hope to see you at the club.
Roy

[Nataseya]

Hey GarterGuy,

Was able to get an email address for the previous owner and you were right. It's a flame. Lucky me!

Shane

[Cazador]

Holy cow, Shane! Flames are a particular color variant (morph) of the Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis subspecies, and they're still fairly rare. That guy did you a favor cause "flames" are also pretty expensive. Garterguy gave you some really good advise. We've just started creating care sheets at this link (http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets/index.php?title=Main_Page). You might have a look in there once in a while because they're growing fast. Congratulations and best of luck with that little dude. It's a special breed!
Rick

[GarterGuy]

Hey GarterGuy,

Was able to get an email address for the previous owner and you were right. It's a flame. Lucky me!

Shane

OMGs!!!! You're kidding me!:eek: I can't believe someone GAVE you a Flame morph T.s.sirtalis.....they're at the top of my "I'd get them if I could afford them" list. Very cool! Hey the guy you got it from doesn't happen to be in the area and loaded down with any more "extra" flames?????;) That is really cool though, I really like the T.s.sirtalis and the Flames are just gorgeous snakes. If you do decide to come to the Herp Club meeting, you'll have to bring in your Flame during one of the warmer memeber's nights. The pres. of the club is a gartersnake fan and will just go nuts when he finds out you got yours for free! LOL:D
Roy

[Nataseya]

Hey Rick

Thanks for the advice, I'll be sure to check out the care sheets.

and Roy

OMGs!! Not kidding you. I must have done something to please the Gods.
As for the guy having more, he does. Not sure if he's willing to part with them. Won't see him until Ostara I'll ask him then & thanks for the advice "Bloodshed" is enjoying his new setup.

Shane

[GarterGuy]

Bloodshed.......very cool name. Definitely gotta get pics of him/her on here for everyone. Flames are just one of the coolest garter morphs. You'll have to take a pic of the new digs too, I always love seeing how other people setup there snakes. I was actually just kidding about him having more, but hey......if he does have more to part with let me know. Ostara huh, don't know if I can wait that long!:eek: LOL Well guess it's just a little more than a month and half away. Actually thanx for the reminder, I need to make sure I ask off for that in March.....I asked them to just change my holidays at the lab I work at, but it was a no go, so now I have to take vacation. At least a lot of them this year fall on weekends.:)
Roy

[Thamnophis]

Hello Nataseya, welcome here!