Where did you get yours?

[Corinne33]

I was just curious how many wild caught garters vs private breeder vs pet store snakes we have on here. Mine was technically born in captivity but momma was caught gravid.

For those who have bought and caught snakes do you find any long term differences in them?

I went to the store today to get some carefresh and a thermometer and the only snakes they had were pythons (which call me a wuss but i don't have any desire to own a snake that could someday eat my cat). I wouldn't even know where to buy a garter so if i ever decide to get another i'll be moving tarps and wood piles in the back yard!

[wolfpacksved]

WC 0.1 radix, 1.0 Chicago. Sheet of plywood and a railroad tie really do me right.

[gregmonsta]

I have 1 WC Gulf coast ribbon snake(shop bought), 1 shop bought CB Everglades ratsnake and the rest are all CB direct from breeders and fellow Thamnophis lovers :D.

[jitami]

My first was WC 7 years ago by some neighborhood kids. All the kids were begging their parents to keep it, my boys included. I went out to check it out and felt so sorry for it being mishandled by the kids that I immediately asked to hold it and didn't let go til it was safely in my house <gg> I should have taken it straight to the creek where they caught it and released it, but those mommy instincts had already kicked in and it was my new baby.... silly... I know! Then I found all of these fine folks last spring and agreed to take two siblings from an accidental captive breeding. The week they arrived another wild garter showed up in my suburban driveway and I ended up quadrupling my snake population in a week's time! I'd go captive bred if you have any choice whatsoever. My captive bred guys will eat anything and everything and are always out cruising around their tank... one's staring at me now :) My two wild caught either hide or bask or eat. If they're not hungry they're hiding. If they've just eaten they're basking. Other than that I don't see them. Still love them, but captive bred really seems the way to go for so many reasons...

[drache]

19 cb, one wc, one not sure
can I tell the difference? maybe
not sure that it isn't a personality thing
my two big parietalis girls are both cb
one is totally chill, the other outspazzes my wc garter any time

[Lovok]

Wild caught, in a wood pile at my best friend's place up in south-central PA (the home town).

[sirtalis01]

17 CB 3 NY WC 3 oregon WC.....

[Millinex]

I'v always been a fan of natives. My fence lizard, my bullsnake, my garters, my fish are even native. And what is the best way to get natives? Catch them! Nothing to me is more rewarding than catching something and taming it down and making it a splendid pet, I can't stand just throwing money at it to make sure I have a healthy snake, I'd rather get it there myself.

Although I would say my growing Nile Monitor is the exception, I bought him (I'm sure WC) and I spoil him rotten lol.

[Mommy2many]

I love all my snakies, W/C or adopted. They look at you with those eyes and say "Where's the pinkie?" Oh yeah, and I love you. I just love looking into those big snakie eyes.:p

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I have some wild caught animals but mostly I have snakes purchased from breeders or sometimes wholesalers at reptile expo's. I will collect a wild specimen if it's aberrant or if it has amazing coloration and would be worth a line breeding effort. There are some looks that I feel strongly would be VERY cool to breed for. Such as the pale olive green stripeless eastern with brick red spots. My female, she makes me drool! I prefer captive bred if I can get it, but many of the snakes I am after just simply are not routinely available CB yet. That will be the whole goal of my business, to make CB specimens of a wide variety natricine snakes easier to get and established true captive born and bred lines. So many natricine snakes available right now, even if they are captive born babies, are from WC parents. I would like to work towards getting captive bred babies from captive born parents and so on and so forth!!!

[Stefan-A]

From breeders, like I had a choice. :rolleyes: If it were legal to keep local species, I'd still go for captive bred.

[GradStudentLeper]

From breeders, like I had a choice. :rolleyes: If it were legal to keep local species, I'd still go for captive bred.


I need to find a place for me to get Natrix...

In any event, almost all of my snakes are wild caught, by me. All... 54 of them (This includes lab animals)

15 nerodia eythrogaster (lab)
1 Non lab N. erythrogaster
15 thamanophis cyrtopsis (lab)
12 Thamophis proximus (lab)
2 Nerodia rhombifer
1 Nerodia taxispilota
1 Thamnophis elegans
1 Thamnophis sirtalis
1 Chionactis occipitalis
1. Pituophis catenifer
1 Pituophis melanoleucus
1 Trimorphodon lambda
1 Rhinocheilus lecontei
1. Elaphe obsoleta

Then there are the 10 turtles.... All but 3 are wild caught, also by me. The frogs... yeah....

[Stefan-A]

I do have a Natrix maura pair and I could legally keep N. tessellata, but not N. natrix. It would require a permit to keep them and I'd need a better reason than I have. I could always get them for a study, but since they're vertebrates, I'd need a permit for that as well. :rolleyes: But I'm still glad they're protected.

I would be very interested in seeing the setups you have for the natricines.

[GradStudentLeper]

I do have a Natrix maura pair and I could legally keep N. tessellata, but not N. natrix. It would require a permit to keep them and I'd need a better reason than I have. I could always get them for a study, but since they're vertebrates, I'd need a permit for that as well. :rolleyes: But I'm still glad they're protected.

I would be very interested in seeing the setups you have for the natricines.

I need to get a camera first... The problem with being a starving Ph.D student is the lack of extra funds, particularly after one spends most of their reserve funds traveling around getting 42 research specimens, and then needing to house the irresistible by-catch. :)

I should be able to give a complete upgrade come Sept, and will post pics then.

As for the Natrix, I can probably find a US breeder. Particularly because I want to include them in my research.

[Snake lover 3-25]

i have one CB garter........ but even though she's meadow's baby she is NO comparison. meadow is 100 times more tame than willow..... even though willow has been held every day since birth and meadow was caught as an adult only 3 years ago. she's been tame since i first had her. she's a snake who when she escapes will find me in my house, usually even before i notice she's missing. once i woke up with her curled up under my chin. when i take meadow outside she sticks close to me, even following me around if i move or climbing on top of me if i sit down. she won't eat food if i touch it, she would never bite me....... she's one very special snake.