Greetings from Massachusetts.

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

Hello, I'm a 22 year old bio major for Chelsea MA, I've always loved snakes and reptiles in general and a few days ago I decided it was about time I got myself one for a pet. I opted for a garter snake for a few reasons. One, familiarity, when I was little I used to catch them in my yard and while I could never keep them I loved playing with them. Two, I won't have to buy it, I see them all the time in my yard so all I have to do is keep the next one I find. Three, my mother is deathly afraid of snakes so a smaller variety is less likely to give her a stroke.

Since my past experience with garters was rather tragic, (I tried to keep them in containers outside but they would always die on me.) I wanted to make sure to do my homework before attempting to keep another one as a pet. So that's essentially how I found myself here, I'm looking forward to learning from your experiences and possibly contributing myself in some small way. I have a lot of other interests, as you might guess from my sn and my profile pic I'm very interested in the roman empire and ancient civilizations in general, (I already have an idea what I'm going to name my snake when I catch him or her, Tiamat for a girl, Quetzalcoatl for a boy.) I don't really listen to much music, (shocking I know, given my age) but I do like other stereotypical internet young person things, (anime, southpark, adultswim, ect.)

I'm also a semi political junky, history nut, science nut, and generally interested in obscure or controversial subjects that I'm prudent enough not to bring up without prompting.

Hope that wasn't too long or descriptive of a hello, anyway, nice to be here.

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard.

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you on the forum. The flooding State of Iowa welcomes you.
Garter snakes are awesome.
Here's a link to the care sheet we have.
Garter Snake Care Sheet - Caresheets (http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets/index.php?title=Garter_Snake_Care_Sheet)

[ssssnakeluvr]

welcome to the forum

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

Thanks everyone, and in proper pre register lurking form, I had already read the care sheet, along with several threads in the habitat and husbandry section. I found the information quite useful in demystifying the claims made by the lady at petco. She wanted to sell me all kinds of things... I managed to keep my budget below 50 dollars. I got aspen wood substrate, a new mesh lid for my old 5 gallon aquarium, reptile vitamin supplement spray, and a heating pad for one side of the tank. The rest of it is made up of rocks, fake leaves from old decorations, and a small glass bowl for water, (all things I had lying around the house.)

Now all I need is the snake. I set two pieces of plywood out on my lawn, so with any luck I'll find a few curled up under there tomorrow morning.

[kibakiba]

Welcome to the forum! I hope you enjoy your stay. Garters are an addiction, a good one at that. They are very fun little snakes, and they are the best snake in the world imo.

My mom is also afraid of snakes and other large reptiles (and small but fast ones) She let me keep my oldest snake (he's probably 4-5 years old now, had him for 3 years) when he was a year or two old. He was about 9 inches long, so she wasn't too worried ;). Now, I have 9 snakes, 12 if you count the 3 I'm giving to a close friend.

A tip for a mother who is afraid of snakes... Start small... The younger the snake, the cuter and less harmful it seems. Maybe your mom will grow to love it as it gets larger and larger. That's how it worked with Snakey.

[drache]

welcome to the forum, Gaius

[infernalis]

http://www.thamfriends.com/mat.jpg

[PINJOHN]

hi and welcome from sunny liverpool

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Hello there! "reptile vitamin supplement spray"... what is this? It sounds like one of those useless products that is actually entirely unnecessary. I haven't heard of them coming in sprays.. and I bet it has a rather short shelf life... if I were you I'd take it back and opt for herptivite... it's a powder supplement... good stuff!

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

Four paws natures reptile vitaspray. I read that an earthworm diet is somewhat lacking in certain vitamins and that something like this came highly recommended. It was only 7 dollars.

[kibakiba]

That is a lot of money for a spray. I get my calcium supplement, the thing that is "lacking" in worm diets, for 2 dollars for 3 ounces. Honestly, if you get a species that naturally eats earthworms, it doesn't need too much of a supplement. If you choose to keep your worms and gutload them, use a bit of the ultrafine powder in their food (sprinkling it at the top) and they'll go crazy for it. For every 12-24 worms, I use one eighth of a teaspoon of the calcium. That alone is enough to make up for the lack of calcium in them. If you don't want to gut load, once a week you can dip the behind of the worm into the powder and feed it to the snake. It doesn't need to he a lot, just a slight dusting works great.

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

I'm not entirely certain but I think the ones that live around here are either eastern or common snakes, they are cream colored on the bottom, and brown with greenish/cream checkered and striped patterns on the back... and based on my past experience with them they primarily eat slugs and earth worms, as that's pretty much all there is in my backyard and I saw them regurgitate a few times. They were also quite small, less than a foot in length at the most.

Of course I when I catch one I'll have pictures, It shouldn't take too long, I see them all the time when I weed my garden.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Ahhhh, I was afraid you were going to say it was the four paws product... I hate to tell you this, but that stuff is pretty much worthless. I always suspected it, but it was confirmed when I overheard a four paws representative once say "people will buy anything with a picture of their pet on it" when confronted about the uselessness of their iguana vita-spray. (its a spray that you are supposed to spray onto the lizard itself... but it's pointless since they don't absorb vitamins into the skin). I work in pet supply so I see the kinds of devious things that companies do/say just to get someone to buy their product. I won't buy anything made by four paws to this day because of it. It's not even just their reptile products, half of their dog, cat, and small animal products are overpriced useless things that people 1) don't actually need 2) can buy elsewhere, without the additional markup that is added on because it says on the package it is for a guinea pig specifically. I would say the major concern with a spray vitamin is going to be this... it's a liquid so the vitamins are going to be very temperature sensitive, even more than they already are. How long the product sat in the warehouse, on the store shelf, and what kinds of temps the product was exposed to in transit can cause the delicate molecules that are vitamins to break down or to be altered into forms that are not usable. It's the same reason that using vitamins by their expiration date is important... they don't have a long shelf life, vitamins are delicate molecules. There are probably other liquid vitamin supplements out there that are good, but I am willing to bet they have a very short life and need to be refridgerated. BUT anyways... enough boring rambling about four paws....

congrats on a new pet snake!!!

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

ah... evidently the article I was reading was bogus then... well it wasn't that expensive.

I'm not sure I deserve the congratulations quite yet, I'm still trying to find my pet. For some reason they seemed to be more numerous when I was a kid. Then again my eye sight was better and I had a longer attention span to devote to scanning grass for signs of movement. I was like my neighborhoods answer to the crocodile hunter when I was a kid... now I'd be thrilled if I could just find one.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I love your signature.... same way I was as a kid! I always had a bucket of snakes....

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

Thanks, the funny thing is one of my mother's friends still calls me that. I guess he'll have a new reason to now.

[kibakiba]

I was always carrying some terrified amphibian or snake (I couldn't tell the difference as a kid) and showing it to my dad, who wanted nothing to do with animals... and going "look dad, a snake!" I did this even if I was carrying a frog or salamander... ;)

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

Never had amphibians where I lived, if it wasn't a snake it was a grass hopper or a praying mantis. sometimes large ants.

[Didymus20X6]

Some of the kids I met over the summer call me Snake Man. That's because I like to take Little Dude to do presentations at summer education programs. I teach them basic stuff about snakes in general and garter snakes in particular, but mostly just try to show them that these creatures are harmless, beautiful, and deserving of our respect. (That way, when they see garters in their yards when they grow up, they'll be less inclined to chop their heads off with a hoe, as is the popular treatment of them around here).

[guidofatherof5]

(That way, when they see garters in their yards when they grow up, they'll be less inclined to chop their heads off with a hoe, as is the popular treatment of them around here).

They get the same treatment here. Then get thrown into the middle of the street.
I'm embarrassed to be a human some days.:mad:

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

Me and my sister had this conversation the other day... people like that are probable future serial killers, sick, and disgust me.

I can understand killing rats, or snails if you have a garden and they are tearing it apart, but garter snakes are one of the best things you can have in a yard. They stay out of your way for the most part, they are hygienic, and they eat slugs. the worst thing they can do is musk and I never found that at all repelling... I actually got used to it.

eh, its just mammal bigotry... its not fuzzy so people think they can treat it like crap. Poor little things.

[RicMartin]

Salve, Gaius. Welcome from the West Coast.

[RicMartin]

Humans treat each other like that. It's not surprising that they bully small defenseless
animals, when they can't even respect their own people. Animals can teach us a lot.

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

Thanks, and I'm inclined to agree. I'd say Diogenes was right when he took being referred to as a dog, as a compliment. Certainly I wouldn't complain if someone called me a snake, regardless of the context.

[Sonya610]

Me and my sister had this conversation the other day... people like that are probable future serial killers, sick, and disgust me.

Nahhh....I wouldn't say that. Serial killers take huge risks and know they can lose their life or at least their freedom if caught.

Animal killers/abusers do it because there is virtually NO risk. They can be as mean and sadistic as they please with no consequences whatsoever.

If the law does get involved it is a light little slap on the wrist. It isn't just snakes, it is often dogs/cats/etc...

[kibakiba]

Animal abusers can get jail time. It's completely sick, and anyone who does, well, I hope they get caught. Animals aren't punching bags. I may not like fuzzy animals and such, but to abuse one, for any reason, is wrong. It is said that if one kills or harms animals for fun or just because, they may eventually turn that abuse towards humans. I'd say killing animals is more of a risk than violent video games. But, alas, that is just my opinion.

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

I'd say its much more of a risk than violent video games, I know a lot of people who love halo, silent hill, and grand theft auto and non of them would even think to harm an animal. Then again I wouldn't associate with them if they were the sort of person that would.

[kibakiba]

I play a lot of violent video games... They're fun because they're games, but nothing more than that. I've been playing games like GTA since I was 9, I believe. I couldn't hurt a person, let alone an animal. I'm the kind of person who will want to try to help an animal that's hurt and give it tons of love in hopes of making it live comfortably, even if it's just for a little bit. :p

[Sonya610]

Violent movies and video games have been proven to desensitize people to violence, not make them violent.

I have to say everytime I hear about some horrid animal abuse story and then read comments like "well if they do that to animals they could do it to children!" it makes me angry. The implication is it will be a real problem IF they start doing it to kids/humans, cause abusing/killing humans/kids is serious whereas animal abuse....well...you know...its not a big deal really in and of itself.

[kibakiba]

So over 10 years of violent video games and I'm supposed to be desensitized? That isn't true at all, at least not for all people. I hate violence, every form of it. I don't like hearing about it, I don't like seeing it (video games are fine.. it's a game) and I would never, ever become violent unless it was out of self defense. Even then, I can't hit someone back when I get punched in the face, it's happened. I'd rather be the one who wont face violence. Perhaps it's quite different for you. I have had a lot of real violence in my life, perhaps for some, it would cause them to become violent also, but for me, I run from it.
News reports here always say video games make people violent, kids steal cars and run people over because of the games or kids go and kill school mates because of games. IMO, there is something wrong with the person, mentally if they think that's fun.

Abuse in any form, whether to animals or to children or other people should be a crime that is punished to the highest extent. I don't care if it's a "stupid animal", if it's not doing anything to you, leave it alone.

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

I'm desensitized to all kinds of things... but I don't see violent video games as any sort of culprit. I'd say it has a lot more to do with where I live, my level of awareness of current events, and my ability to face unpleasant conclusions. However, animals are innocent and causing them harm for no reason feels wrong to me. I'm mean I'm not a vegan, my diet by definition implies harm to animals, but that's an evolutionary adaptation we picked up on the savanna, its also what allowed us to grow big brains capable of feeling ashamed for eating it in the first place. besides most of the things we eat would eat us if they could and evolved to do so.

But just abusing animals for no reason is sick, and I frankly don't see a distinction between that and abusing people, after all we are animals too. We just happen to be a particularly self important noisy species of hairless ape with a tendency to do way more harm to ourselves than our nearest relatives. Not that I would trust fire arms and nukes to chimps as we are very closely related and they would be just as likely to use them.

[Spankenstyne]

Welcome aboard!

[Mommy2many]

Nice to have you on the forum. The flooding State of Iowa welcomes you.



the New land of a thousand lakes...

(Couldn't resist!)