snake hunting, evidently I'm out of practice.

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

I just went on an expeditionary raid at the old train tracts near my house, it used to be absolutely infested with garter snakes, and occasionally a few ribbons. However... that was several years ago, when there were large puddles and marshes. Ever since they put the water resource management center and the associated parking lot the place has been dry and large portions of it are impassable due to thick brush. I flipped half a dozen logs and pieces of trash but no luck yet. the two chunks of plywood I have on my lawn have also failed me as of yet.

I don't remember them being this difficult to find, if any of you could offer some suggestions that would be good.

[kibakiba]

I feel that temperature is a big factor. If it's cold, you probably wont find many, and if it's really hot they'll probably be hiding away from all the heat. I see more snakes when the temperature is above 65 but under 75, and usually more around 4-6 pm.
I'm sure others near your area could have some better tips, as I live in a completely different area than you ;)

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

Well its pretty warm right now, in the mid 80's. If they are hiding they are doing it well away from the places I have immediate access to. I'll probably check again later on, the only thing is I don't want to over do it, if I keep checking the same spots I suspect they will probably avoid them.

The other thing is that there are a lot or birds where I live, so the snakes are probably more skiddish about exposing themselves.

[RedSidedSPR]

Welcome to my world.:D

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

My mom asked me why I don't just buy one... my answer was basically, because all they had at the pet store was a baby boa and you'd have a stroke if I brought a constrictor home. I'm sure they do have them at some places, but I'm going to have to get pretty desperate before I go out and buy one.

[kibakiba]

You can buy them from members on here and have them shipped to you. There are a large variety of garters you can get. Garters at pet stores are often malnourished and unhealthy. It isn't always the case, but many pet stores don't know how to take care of them, or don't care about the health of the snake.

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

Yeah that was one of my concerns regarding buying them, though it would be nice to start off with a tamer snake. Still beggars can't be choosers. I'm inclined to think that I'm more likely to find one before any shipped snaked would arrive though if this takes weeks rather than days I might reassess that opinion.

I mean... it is the state reptile of Massachusetts.

[RedSidedSPR]

You definitely want to get it from a reputable breeder. I caught my first one, and bought my second two from a local breeder. (two babies).

Plus you get to choose which one you get. There are hundreds of morphs.

If there's a local breeder, then you're in luck, but most likely you'll have to have it shipped to you. The problem with that is the price of shipping.


Petsores are clueless. They feed corn snakes crickets, and call rough green snakes, garter snakes, and feed them crickets too. They definitely wouldn't be all that healthy.

[d_virginiana]

Yeah, there's a reason most big chain petstores only sell baby snakes and frogs. I doubt most of them reach adulthood. :p

Good luck; it's hard to find wild garters around where I live too. Keep at it though, you'll eventually find one :) Though if you don't, there are quite a few good breeders around that you can order awesome snakes from!

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

My impatience lead me to go on another raid... I jumped the bridge over the old tracks and checked up and down the length of them... the only thing I found worth remarking on was a rather small brown mouse. Which is somewhat ironic since part of the "I get a snake" deal was that my sister would get a pet rat.

[Sonya610]

It does not take weeks to get a snake from a breeder (assuming you choose an animal that is old enough to go to a new home). They are shipped overnight delivery; with online payment methods you can often have the animal delivered to your door in 2 days.

I have bought two garters from breeders on this forum. One I had the breeder hold, the other one involved me messaging a breeder on a Sunday and receiving the animal at my door on Tuesday from a few states away.

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

hmm, I suppose I could give it a try, I set a few more traps so if I don't have one by next week I'll definitely consider it.

One way or another... I have the tank... I will have a snake to go in it.

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

Well nothing yet, though we just had a pretty bad storm so I'm hopeful that I might find one hiding under my traps tomorrow. There are bound to be plenty of worms and slugs due to the rain... well see what happens. I know they are in there somewhere... this (http://i693.photobucket.com/albums/vv291/giulianotaverna/My%20yard/P6300101.jpg) is actually what my yard looks like.

[ConcinusMan]

Sometimes one can be in the right place at the wrong time. I just got back from camping and the weather was good. A bit cloudy but plenty of sunbreaks and highs around 70. For 4 straight days, the herping sucked. I looked for hours every day and only found 2 plain brown northwesterns during that 4 days.

Then the day before I was supposed to leave, it was a warm night and we woke up to nothing but blue skies, headed for a high of 80. Well, I'm sitting there at my camp sight around 9am and all of the sudden, half a dozen or so T.s. concinnus' slithered right into camp and were basking right in front of me.:eek:

So I went out looking around and found tons of snakes. Northwesterns and concinnus' were everywhere. I was practically tripping over snakes. But by noon, they were all gone. Not a single snake to be found the rest of the day. By far, your best bet is in the morning while it's still cool and the snakes have come out to bask.

Sometimes it's just a matter of timing and luck.:cool:

Sonya has a point though. What made you think buying a garter takes weeks? I have a couple of very pretty young CB concinnus' for sale right now and I'm not asking for much money. When I get the money by mail (2-3 days) I can have the snakes at the buyers doorstep, anywhere in the USA, around 22 hours later.:cool:

[Mommy2many]

Welcome to the forum. Good luck hunting. I have not found any either but I haven't looked. I'm in Connecticut, not too far from you, I suppose.