Garter morphs

[Jack Wheeler]

Hello,
I live in the UK and have 2 albino checkereds garters aswell as many other snakes, but i want to get more into garters and the various species and morphs of garter out there. But sadly in the UK there are hardly any people that sell many different species of garters :( Its a real shame cause to me some of the species and morphs are the best looking snakes out there right now.
So i was just wondering.. How do all you UK guys on here get the species that arent readily avaliable in the UK. Do you just wait and when one
crops up grab it, or do you get them shipped over?
I have emailed a few garter breeders from different places in europe so hopefully will be able to sort something out :) If there is anyone on here that breeds any of the uncommon species found in the UK that either lives in the UK or can ship them in then please comment :) Or if you can help in any way please comment.
Thankyou for any help you can provide
Jack

[infernalis]

Contact this forum member, he can set you in the right direction..

View Profile: zooplan - Garter Snake Forum (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/members/zooplan.html)

[guidofatherof5]

Welcome to the forum.
Here's a link to our care sheet.
Garter Snake Care Sheet - Caresheets (http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets/index.php?title=Garter_Snake_Care_Sheet)

[EasternGirl]

Welcome to the forum!

[chris-uk]

Welcome to the forum Jack.

I can certainly sympathise with your plight, the number of species available to us in the UK is limited. We've been lucky in getting a couple of less common species because we got connected with one of the other UK guys on here (actually my wife first contacted him via RFUK) and JohnC had been to Houten and Hamm this year and decided not tuo keep all 4 cuitzeoensis that he had, and later the person he brought a pair of Western Blacknecks back for decided not to keep them. So we got lucky by getting to know someone 45 minutes drive from us who had brought snakes back from Europe.
Its going to be another year or so before either of us start seeing babies out of out current snakes, but when they do breed it will increase the number of rarer species available. There are a few shops in the UK that occasionally have stock of garters, but generally they dont bring in anything tooo unusual. There are a few other UK owners that breed and post on here, although the only unusual morphs I'm aware of recently available aresome melanistic Easterns (you could try PMing Scorpian to see if he still has them).

[katach]

Welcome to the forum family! Would love to see pictures of the little ones.

[PINJOHN]

Welcome from a drizzly liverpool
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR4y1dPtN-EVPENg1BYYsLqoHg5jOJOmruRHFC-G6D7nGLBSxPphAhttp://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSaz93quM1Ay0V0d7uMRqvUm3CpZZtMC wWq2SdiSWB_eWH5brgjzg

if the snakes are in the mood i might have some baby's in the spring florida's, radix, checkered, redsided , if breeding is successful you would be welcome to take some.

[Jack Wheeler]

Cheers guys. So desperate fro some more amazing gartes :(

[guidofatherof5]

Join the crowd Jack.
Garters are the best kept secret in the snake hobby. I hope it stays that way.;)

[Jack Wheeler]

I will get my hands on some more some how. Dont know how but i will.

[chris-uk]

Wonderful animals. I'm going to end up with a few more, although we don't want to keep more than about 12 (other than babies if they breed). We keep garters as pets and want to make sure that between the two of us we can interact with all of them frequently. I think that means around 12 is the limit, and means that we're going to have to get picky about the next few garters - rare breeds only. Oh, and some radix.

[RedSidedSPR]

Can't stop at just one, that's for sure.

I'm putting two of my babies with my adult soon, and getting another, bigger cage for the other two. Would like to seperate them into three's. Oh no, looks like i'll need another!

Seriously. I'll be getting one soon hopefully, or early 2012 when Scott gets 'em.

[EasternGirl]

I swore I'd stop at two...then I got three...swore that was it...now I'll be getting a radix in the Spring and Cee Cee may have babies...lol...I swear that's it!

[guidofatherof5]

I swore I'd stop at two...then I got three...swore that was it...now I'll be getting a radix in the Spring and Cee Cee may have babies...lol...I swear that's it!

and we all believe you Marnie :rolleyes:

[Jack Wheeler]

just need to find someone that has some breeding over here or something, which is sooooo much easier said than done :(

[EasternGirl]

Wish I could help you with that...but alas I am stuck here in the states...with no Eastenders!!

[chris-uk]

just need to find someone that has some breeding over here or something, which is sooooo much easier said than done :(
It's not the best time of year as most of this year's babies have found new homes. If you were interested in some normal checkereds as a contrast to your albinos, and you're anywhere near Liverpool... Pinjohn could probably still help you out.
Where are you in the UK? There's a shop called Coast to Coast near Middlesbrough that said on RFUK that they were bringing a shipment back from Europe this week. I don't know if they were bringing back garters as stock or just to order. The prices they were charging were a bit steep...

[Jack Wheeler]

Im in somerset in England :)

[chris-uk]

Im in somerset in England :)
And bit of a trek from John in Liverpool then, if he still has checkered babies. There's someone on RFUK asking about prices to sell a T. equis scotti, but he's a long way from you as well. Keep us updated on your search, I'm still trying to build up a better idea as to who has which garters available (now or next year) in the UK.

[reptileparadise]

Lets all keep in touch guys.
Looks like crazyreptiles will be doing at least one UK show next year!

We had our minds set on the Doncaster show in September, but then realised there's also the Kempton show in August.
Currently, we're trying to figure out which one might be the best choice! (all help appreciated :))

We'll be bringing just about everything on our website... With good contacts in the rest of Europe we might even look into courier options??????

[PINJOHN]

Lets all keep in touch guys.
Looks like crazyreptiles will be doing at least one UK show next year!

We had our minds set on the Doncaster show in September, but then realised there's also the Kempton show in August.
Currently, we're trying to figure out which one might be the best choice! (all help appreciated :))

We'll be bringing just about everything on our website... With good contacts in the rest of Europe we might even look into courier options??????
just a thought should you do the kempton show that would be fine for those living in the south [london and surroundings] but it is a long way for the rest of us ,,,,,but doncaster is mid country making it much easier for the majority of us thamnostonians ;) edit and it would be really good to meet you at last :)

[reptileparadise]

Exactly one of the reasons we're not sure yet.....

[PINJOHN]

Exactly one of the reasons we're not sure yet.....
This might help you make up your mind, i attended the first kempton show and in terms of numbers attending it was a spectacular success so much so that when i left at about 2.30 pm they were still queuing to get in, what is not so good from your point as a seller is that it was being used as a family day out to the extent that i have never witnessed before.
i know that all shows have large numbers of of family's just there to look at the "strange animals" but the numbers at that show were off the scale, i am told they made the venue bigger this year, but that would only allow the people who come Merely to stare to get in faster.

[gregmonsta]

Personally, the Doncaster show would suit me better but ... I would rather play host to a snake party in Scotland :P ... All should remember it's an open invite to forum members :D I'm glad to receive visitors at any time.

[chris-uk]

It would be great to see you at one or other UK shows, especially if you could courier some species you don't breed yourself.
If you came to Donnington I'd want to know where you were in the hall before I arrived... this year it was so busy for the first couple of hours that I'd want to fight my way straight to your table. Although having said that, I'd probably be wise enough to have reserved pairs of the species I wanted to be sure of buying.

Both shows are about the same distance from us in Coventry, Donny is better for us because we wouldn't have to do the M25. I guess the benefit of Donny is that you'd get some thamnophiphiles from Scotland as well, Scotland to London is a long, long day's drive.

John - if it turns out to be Kempton and you can't get there I could always pick some up for you. :)

[pauleve]

Coast to coast have got Radix and Infernalis in at 29.95 /69.95 respectively .As they came from Hamm they may well be reptileparadise stock

[chris-uk]

Thanks for the heads-up Paul. If I was working onsite tomorrow rather than dialing into the customer's system I'd be in the neighbourhood to visit Coast to Coast. Need to get some onsite work up north.

[reptileparadise]

Cheers Paul,
Those animals are bred by us indeed. Since we are really trying to get more garters into the UK we made the (very difficult...) decision of selling to a shop...

[pauleve]

No problem guys I would have bought some from Kevin but as the wife was made redundant last Friday and what with Christmas ,other priorities came first .Will be definitely interested if you came over for the November Donny expo :)

[PINJOHN]

Seeing as this has turned into a Euro/Brit thread can i posit the idea of a Euro herping trip some time in the distant future,..... I remember reading in one of my books about a spot in Italy that all three natrix occur ....hows that for a mouth watering prospect ?

[chris-uk]

Not a bad idea John. Get the time of year right and the location and it would be a good European vacation. Definitely one up on the normal lads holiday to a European destination.