Goodnight from the Netherlands..

[Eightlegged]

Hi all!
I stumbled across this forum whilst looking up things about garter snakes. I'm hoping to find one for myself this sunday on a large reptile show here in the Netherlands. I've heard they're not too common around here, but I think I might find some.

My name is Marieke but I'll listen to Eightlegged here aswell. :D I know how difficult my name is in other languages. I'm 20 years old.

I'm new to the whole snake-thing, I've never had one before. I do keep loads of other critters though, including tarantulas, frogs, rodents, scorpions and land hermit crabs.

I'll probably be reading here most of the time, but you might find me posting aswell ;)

Regards, Marieke

[KITKAT]

Welcome to the forum! I have a friend in Germany... Herten... which I think is not too far from the Netherlands border.

I wish you luck in your hunt for a snake... I believe we have some members on the forum from the Netherlands, and if you browse around in here, you will find their posts!

;)

[Cazador]

Hi Marieke,

Congrats on finding the forum. I think you'll find that your fellow countrymen (and women) are very knowledgeable and helpful when it comes to keeping garters. They'll be a great resource for you, as will the rest of the members on this forum. Cheers,

Rick

[Snaky]

Welcome to the forum Marieke.

Gijs & Sabine will be there, so you'll certainly find garters :) .

[adamanteus]

Hi Marieke, and welcome to this great forum.

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard. :)

[Gijs & Sabine]

Welcome to this nice forum, Marieke:)
Like Snaky already said, we'll be there on the show this sunday. And we bring a few garters with us. Sirtalis sirtalis, proximus proximus and radix. And we'll expect a lot of other garterbabies this spring:rolleyes:

Hopefully we meet you at sunday, otherwise you're always welcome to visit us at home.

Best wishes, Sabine

[Eightlegged]

Thanks everyone! And awesome to see fellow dutchies on here!

Sabine, if I recognise you(r table) on sunday I'll definately say something! I'd love to meet you guys.

I was actually going to be looking for a baby garter, because I love seeing animals grow up under my care. I know now that this isn't the right time to be wanting a baby snake of a lot of species. I guess I'll have to wait until spring!

[GGarter]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Ask away, I'm almost getting used to get my questions answered right away...:D

[GarterGuy]

Howdy and welcome to the forum. Good to see another tarantula lover here!:D You'll have to check out pics of my "girls" that I have in my gallery...under "Other kids" album. Yeh, we're coming up on baby snake season at the shows....can't wait myself!
Roy

[Eightlegged]

Nice tarantulas you have there Roy! I have or have had those species aswell. I have about 70 tarantulas at the moment with some offspring coming up :D

[GarterGirl]

Welcome to the forum!
You like tarantulas? Awsome! I'm Mikhaila! I'm 8 years old. I'm planning on getting a tarantula soon. Are they easy to keep? What kind should I get?

[jewel-dragons]

hay marieke!!!!
welcome here i know you from other dutch fora ;-)

my Thamnophis Sirtalis Tetrataenia's has baby's now,so next week they have to come out,what kind of specie are you search for?

bye bye Kuno

[Eightlegged]

Hey Mikhaila! Nice to meet you! :)
Some tarantulas are quite hard to keep, but the ones that are suitable for first-time tarantula owners are quite easy. I recommend a Chacoan Golden Kneed tarantula to start with, they have a very mellow temperament, are very hardy and also very pretty! The scientific name is Grammostola aureostriata.


Kuno, I'm not sure yet to be honest. I'm the kind of person who knows what she wants when she sees it in real life. And I've never seen any species of garter snake in real life :D

I would love something like this (http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/VHS/sp_easterngartersnake002.JPG), is this the regular s. sirtalis?

[adamanteus]

Although I'm "into" British and European spiders, I've only kept a Tarantula once. I had a Trinidad Chevron (forgot the latin name now). It was a beast! Scared my half to death! Never again!!

[Eightlegged]

Psalmopoeus cambridgei would be Trinidad Chevron. Not the best species to start with, lol! I have them too, they're great but so fast, defensive and pretty venomous aswell! I think you'd be more into them if you'd had a docile species ;)

[adamanteus]

Yes, it was pretty fast! I never knew that the venom was also an issue though:eek:. I think maybe you're right, I should have started with a Red-Knee or something more placcid! Tarantulas aren't really my thing, although they are doubtless fascinating, I'll stick to British and European species! I have a friend who keeps many Tarantula species, maybe as many as you, I'm not sure. His home is full of them!

[Boots]

While I am not the first to welcome you as it should be, let me say Welcome to our forum.

Jason

[drache]

Nice to meet you, Marieke
Welcome to the forum. I'm Mikhaila's mom - already known as the snake lady, soon to be spider lady as well . . .
I'll have to grill you for info before the Expo.

[GarterGirl]

Marieke
Are red knees also easy to keep?

[Eightlegged]

Red kneed tarantulas or Brachypelma smithi are easy to keep, yes. However, they are very quick to kick urticating hairs when disturbed. They itch very badly! If that is not a problem for you, they're a very good species to start off with!

And Rhea, no problem! I'm only happy if I can help people along with the spider hobby.

[GarterGirl]

Marieke
What can I do to avoid having hairs kicked at me? What makes them kick hairs?

[GarterGirl]

Marieke
I looked on the internet. The Chaco Golden Knee (Grammostola aureostriate) are very pretty! I want to get one SO badly! I think I might want to be like you someday with over 70 tarantulas, but I don't think my dad would let me!
My mom wants a Mexican Fire Leg (Brachypelma boehmei). Are those easy to keep?

[Eightlegged]

What makes them kick hairs is stress. The first means of defense with most American tarantula species is kicking hairs, before turning to biting. A lot of Brachypelma species will kick hairs at you at the drop of a hat, and the B. boehmei is probably th worst when it comes to that. They're gorgeous and they're a good species to start with because they're not very venomous and don't require difficult circumstances, you're just bound to get hairs kicked at you.
It varies from animal to animal how the temperament is. They can even change attitude between molts.

You can avoid it by not buying an American tarantula species ;) But if you want a tarantula, you want one of those. African or Asian spiders are more difficult to keep, most of the times extremely fast and venomous.

You can minimize the hair flicking by disturbing it as little as possible. Handling for example is extremely stressful for a tarantula and so it's best to not handle them.

The Grammostola aureostriata does have the hairs but I've never had one that was easily stressed out and never had one flicking the hairs at me. I've had quite a few of them. If someone asks me what the best species to start with is, I tell them aureostriata.

[adamanteus]

I guess the main thing to remember with urticating hairs is to make sure you don't get them in your eyes. That could be a real problem. Not too pleasant up your nose either!

[Thamnophis]

Hi Marieke, welcome here on this amazing forum.
I do not believe I have seen you on the "gebruikerslijst" of the Dutch Thamnophisforum ;)

[GarterGirl]

What about Brachypelma smithis? Are they easy to keep? I think we'll get that they are! They're VERY pretty! Or are they the same as red knees? My mom really likes them! So do I!

[Eightlegged]

Good point there, James! If you're very unlucky you could end up blind from urticating hairs!

The B. smithi is indeed the so called Mexican Red Kneed tarantula ;)

Fons - I'm indeed not on the Dutch forum! Yet. Might be in a minute ;)

[Thamnophis]

Shouldn´t you be in bed, Marieke? It´s late in Holland :D