I need help to know what sex my snake is ...

[Hazeldarc]

my husband and i caught our snake like in march and i think she is a "she" but im not sure, i am going to get another one for my birthday but i dont want to breed them so i need help to find out what sex my garter is so that doesnt happen.:confused:

[kibakiba]

That would be a male. The tail is a little rounded after the cloaca, which means that there are some hemipenes hiding in there..

[Hazeldarc]

ahhhhh are you sure ...crap i guess i should change his name now lol ... Pandora just doesnt quite fit him lol

[kibakiba]

I have a male named Thumbelina. I just couldn't change his name after he had had it for so long.

[Hazeldarc]

well i wish i new exactly when mine was born ... we caught him in mid shed in our back yard. how many do you have

[kibakiba]

I have 12, 10 northwestern garter snakes, and two Oregon red spotteds. My garters are my best buddies.

[Hazeldarc]

ARE you gonna breed your Oregon red spotteds

[kibakiba]

No, mine are sibling. I cant afford to have anymore babies, except for the one I might be getting from my male breeding with a friends female. My adult NW might be gravid again, but we're hoping she's not.

[Starling96]

I have the same type of snake as you... i think lol
It looks like a nice chubby Western Ribbon Snake :D

[Hazeldarc]

lol gotcha i want to get a florida blue and a flame

[kibakiba]

It looks kind of like a radix to me.

[Hazeldarc]

do you have a picture of what a females tail looks like

[kibakiba]

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/breeding/5069-sexing-pics.html (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/breeding/5069-sexing-pics.html?highlight=sexing+pics)
Here you go.

[Hazeldarc]

what so your saying my snake is a ribbon snake

[kibakiba]

I don't think it is a ribbon.

[Hazeldarc]

i researched it and every thing ribbon snakes have white scales on the upper lip under the eyes and a garters have dark lines separating the scales

[Hazeldarc]

i have looked up the common garters from where i live and he is just like them but they have a yellow strip down the spine not orange

[kibakiba]

Well if its commonly yellow, it could come up orange. It doesn't always mean that they're going to be uniformly that one look.

[Hazeldarc]

kk cool ty ty

[Starling96]

me too
i love the flames
whats he feeding on?

[Hazeldarc]

he loves gold fish, mino's, worms, his favorite is little frogs

[kibakiba]

Goldfish and minnows (rosy reds) are really bad for him. Frogs can give him parasites really easily.

[Hazeldarc]

WTF WHAT gold fish are little feeder fish we get from the pet store and minnows we got at a gas station he didnt like them that much but he ate them and how can frogs give them parasites??? we tried pinkies but he is so freakin stubborn he wouldnt even touch em we put them in with the fish and worms he still wouldnt eat em

[Hazeldarc]

he is very picky

[Hazeldarc]

what do you feed yours

[Starling96]

yea goldfish can give him vitamin B1 defiency same with the rosy reds
and try rubbing the frog on the pinkie
also how often do you feed

[Starling96]

and yes i had a brain fart lol
its definetly not a ribbon ut mine looks like that after a big mmeal lol

[Starling96]

i feed mine earthworms, fuzzy mice, frozen silversides and trout fillet

[Hazeldarc]

well i have the B1 powder i put on the food and i was doing every day sometimes one to two gold fish cause their small and when he eats frogs he only was getting one and minnows one to two depending on the size usually its worms tho if there small i do like 2 but i have found some that are like half his size and he gets one of them my husband decided to start feeding every 3 days thats been going on for like 2 weeks but i read a thing that said to feed everyday

[Starling96]

yea me and a few other people feed our babies small meals every day but he's no baby lol
once a week should be good

[d_virginiana]

It's the same way uncooked pork can give people parasites; a lot of wild frogs carry parasites, and they can be transferred to the snakes. But since you caught yours, he's already been exposed to these things, so frogs shouldn't hurt until you can get him on other foods.

With fish, try to stay away from anything with red or yellow coloration. That usually means the fish contains Thiaminase, which can cause neurological problems if they get too much of it. Can you get salmon or tilapia from your grocery store? Also, guppies are safe to feed.

If it won't take scented pinkies, try chopping up the mouse with chopped bits of a food they will eat. Eventually they should start taking just the mouse with nothing else.

[kibakiba]

Mine eat night crawlers and pinkies.

It doesn't really matter if he is picky, gold fish will eventually deplete his b1 and kill him. He'll start having seizures if that happens, and he will suffer. It is a lot better for him if you feed him worms and or pinkies. Frogs, if wild caught, get parasites, easily. And, if your snake eats them, they go into your snakes system. Frogs are known to carry a ton of parasites.

[Hazeldarc]

OMFG ahhhhh i feel horrible stupid sites they all want me to be a bad momma giving me bad advice grrr....we asked for guppies at the pet store but all they carry is feeder fish aka gold fish ...jeezz those losers... lol well i read something that said that just a diet of worms didn't give them the right vitamins and stuff and that it was all ok cause they ate it in the wild

[Hazeldarc]

how big do they get when there not babies anymore?

[kibakiba]

Worms are higher in nutrients than people give them credit for. A light dusting of calcium once a month is all one really needs to survive off worms. Pinkies are also a plus, variety is key in keeping a garter healthy.

[kibakiba]

Male snakes don't get very big, I'd say he couldn't get much bigger than 2 maybe 2.5 feet.

[Hazeldarc]

for real jeezz i really wonder when he was born so how much do i feed him at one time?

[Hazeldarc]

so he is totally all the way a boy tho????? 100 percent or no

[Hazeldarc]

whats wrong with me feeding him once a day and are giant Canadian night crawlers ok

[kibakiba]

Enough to make a bulge in his stomach and nothing more, and then wait until that bulge goes away to feed again. Snakes can get overweight and it can kill them.

He does look like 100% boy to me, I'm not sure if another member would have any objections to that.

[kibakiba]

I'd feed every other day, and Canadian night crawlers are perfect. Feeding every day can cause a weight problem.

[Hazeldarc]

see with him the bulge takes like 1 minute to go away after he eats one but with the Canadian crawlers he only wants one a day so i fed him tonight and he only ate one so i should wait 7 days and feed him again and do i only do two worms or do i feed him till the bulge doesnt go away???

[Hazeldarc]

do you feed every other day with your babies? what about the other post that said once a week?

[ConcinusMan]

I'd feed every other day, and Canadian night crawlers are perfect. Feeding every day can cause a weight problem.

It's a little more complicated than that but you know that chantel. Feeding every day is not necessarily a problem. It all depends on how much they get.

There's no simple formula for feeding. It can be a huge meal every couple of weeks, or it can be the same except bit by bit daily. It doesn't really seem to matter except with babies. For them, I think small meals often is better than one big gorging meal.

[Hazeldarc]

but is my snake a baby still or full grown i have 5 sheds from him since we caught him

[Hazeldarc]

and is Brumation a have to do thing cause winter is just around the corner and i dont understand what do in that case

[Starling96]

Only brumate if your going to breed this year
but i think you should read up some more before you do breed (dont take offense to this)
lol

[Hazeldarc]

lol no offense taken i am getting a new snake for my bday which is in like 2 days not including to day and i want to make sure the sex of my snake so i dont get the opposite cause i dont want to breed at least not any time soon

[Hazeldarc]

how often do garters shed mine sheds like once a month

[Starling96]

Im not sure on the sex but they dont really have a scheduled shed time it depends how often the eat and if they are growing fast

[Hazeldarc]

sweet .... i keep the sheds there cool...lol... well kibakiba (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/members/kibakiba.html) thinks he is a he so im pretty satisfied with that and no one has said she was wrong so works for me lol

[Hazeldarc]

so is it weird that i will look into my snakes tank and call his name then duck down and he come to the front glass and looks at me ??? kinda like peek-a-boo lol...and he follows my finger around the glass, but i think he does that cause he is hungry ???

[RedSidedSPR]

Looks male to me too.

I feed once a day like Richard. It's possible, but you have to do it right...

I feed SMALL meals. Like, 1 (or almost one) nightcrawler cut up into a few peices, and some f/t safe fish. Pinkies wen a available..

If you want to feed everyday, I would wait a few days, (like 3) before feeding again, than start doing it little meals each day..

[ConcinusMan]

but is my snake a baby still or full grown i have 5 sheds from him since we caught him

No, he's a young adult. A good stuffing of night crawlers a couple of times a week should be plenty. He appears to have excellent body mass. He's getting enough to eat.


and is Brumation a have to do thing cause winter is just around the corner and i dont understand what do in that case

Brumating isn't usually necessary. Personally I don't do it unless I plan on breeding them but sometimes your snake becomes aware of shortening days or other cues or after a few years of skipping, will go off of food and want to brumate in order to "reset" their clock. In a case like that, turning off the heat/light and keeping them cool for a couple of months does the trick.



how often do garters shed mine sheds like once a month

How often depends on growth rate. Every 4-6 weeks is a very fast growth rate. Your snake is probably very young. The rate changes eventually as growth slows. My babies usually shed every 4 weeks. Fully grown adults usually shed 2-3 times a year.

[Hazeldarc]

thank you all, you all have helped me alot

[jitami]

Good looking guy you have there. I also agree with it being male and you've been given great advise about feeding. I feed my adults once a week, but they get mainly mice which take longer to digest than worms & fish. Even with worms/fish, though, a couple of times a week should be plenty. Oh, and I let my guys take as much as they want when I do feed them.

Please share pics of your new birthday snake when you get him :)

[d_virginiana]

Yup, definitely looks like a male. It'd be good to see pics of the new snake once you get it.


sweet .... i keep the sheds there cool...lol... well kibakiba (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/members/kibakiba.html) thinks he is a he so im pretty satisfied with that and no one has said she was wrong so works for me lol

I kept my adult's old skins from when he was a baby and used them for scrapbooking :)

[Hazeldarc]

i will totally post a pic of the new snake when i get him,i cant wait im very excited...Pandora is my very first snake and he is the coolest dude ive ever seen he is funny great personality

[ConcinusMan]

Yup, definitely looks like a male. It'd be good to see pics of the new snake once you get it.



I kept my adult's old skins from when he was a baby and used them for scrapbooking :)

I have every skin that came out whole and in tact from most of my snakes. Really shows the progress they made as the skins get bigger.

[Hazeldarc]

i have so far collected 5 whole sheds from Pandora but my kid tore one up ...

[ConcinusMan]

I have so many perfect skins I can't even count them. I have never actually saved most skins until the last couple of years. I just decided that most of them were so perfect, why not make sure they're completely dry and stick them in a bag.

[Hazeldarc]

thats totally cool

[RedSidedSPR]

I have my babies first sheds... but I havent kept any others.

[Hazeldarc]

well when i get my new baby im gonna have his from when he is a baby and up but Pandora is a little bigger then when we first caught him in our back yard