Hi I'm new here and so glad this forum exists

[lokai99]

Hi everyone! I'm Joey. I was referred here by Don Belnap (thanks Don!). I have been on this snake husbandry journey for a year now and have learned TONS. I just have colubrids now, but have been researching the big and beautiful family of garters. I'm new but already I can see these snakes don't get the credit they deserve. I would love love love to add a garter to my collection. I am in awe with the FL blues, the blue stripes, and of course, the Puget Sounds. I would love to meet some new friends here, learn as much from you experienced keepers as I can, and if possible make a few contacts who can help me find a garter for my first experience.
Thanks and I look forward to knowing you all better.

Joey

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard. :)

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, lokai99 :)

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you on the forum. We'll do all we can to make your Thamnophis experience as pleasant as possible. You're right, they don't get the credit they deserve.
Glad to have you with us, Joey.

[drache]

welcome to our forum, Joey

[Mommy2many]

Welcome to the forum!

[brubru2]

Hi there, glad to see you have joined.:D

[ConcinusMan]

Welcome! (BTW, garters are colubrids. *wink*)


Kingdom: Animalia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal)
Phylum: Chordata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chordata)
Class: Reptillia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptile)
Order: Squamata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squamata)
Suborder: Serpentes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpentes)
Family: Colubridae (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colubridae)
Genus: Thamnophis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thamnophis)

[gregmonsta]

:D greetings.

[lokai99]

Haha...hey thanks for pointing that out. Genus...family...sometimes a lil confusion makes life fun :). Perhaps i'll brush up a little more. I knew kings,corns, and milks were all related. I think it was the "live" birth that was confusing me. That's why I joined this forum..to add to what I already know...or correct what I think I know.

[ConcinusMan]

I see an opportunity here to shed a little insight about "live" birth. Garters in reality are born from eggs. It's just that the mother holds the eggs until they hatch, or are ready to hatch. That's why we call them "gravid" instead of "pregnant".

[lokai99]

I did know that, that's why I said "live", but thank you.

[lokai99]

I lake the term gravid... I'll use it instead of with eggs haha. So would pregnant be strictly mammalian, as in a "pregnant shark" would probably be a misuse of the term?

[lokai99]

**like*** not lake

[Stefan-A]

You can edit your posts. :) There's a button for it over there. ----->

[guidofatherof5]

You can edit your posts. :) There's a button for it over there. ----->

Just be quick about your editing as the button for editing disappears after about 30 minutes from your post time.
I have found typos after the button was gone and had to live with my errors:D

[ConcinusMan]

You can edit your posts. :) There's a button for it over there. ----->

But not for long. The time limit for editing is quite restrictive IMHO. Perhaps we could relax it a bit? But then, again, tolerance for double posts give us a way out for now.

@Steve: you are such a gracious contributor. If we didn't notice your "shortcomings" we would be missing something. It's part of your charm. Heck, some of your most charming snakes are really F'd up, but we love them. You're sincere and forthcoming with your observations. If you didn't make a mistake or two, I would personally think that something is wrong!

[Stefan-A]

But not for long. The time limit for editing is quite restrictive IMHO. Perhaps we could relax it a bit?
From my point of view, it could be more restrictive. It's one thing to correct errors or rephrase and a completely different matter to add content. Both are likely to go unnoticed by those present (i.e. me) at the time a post was first made, but it doesn't matter as much if it's just a question of "cosmetic" changes. I would miss a lot of stuff directed at me, for example, if I didn't have "Who's Online" open all the time.

[ConcinusMan]

I lake the term gravid... I'll use it instead of with eggs haha. So would pregnant be strictly mammalian, as in a "pregnant shark" would probably be a misuse of the term?

"pregnant" as I understand it, is reserved for animals that have a direct connection to the mother, and for young that get their nutrients directly from the mother, like with mammals which are directly connected to the mothers blood stream instead of a yolk. So, yeah, a whale gets pregnant, a shark does not.