Hi I'm a newbie :D

[RoteLowin]

Hi guys! I'm Cristina and I'm from Switzerland... Sorry, but my English is quite bad and often I can't express my self correctly... so forgive me :D
I've owned a garter snake (thamnophis sirtalis) for about 3 years... It's really beautiful and cute, although I don't know if it's a male or a female and usually tries to bite my fingers!
I hope to find some help and pieces of advice to keep it as best as possible! I'm especially interested to learn more about feeding... I read your "Garter Caresheet" but I've got some questions :o Because on Italian websites they say different things so I got a little confused.
Anyway I've got some other pets... 9 rats, 3 mice, a dog and some goldfishes ^^
I hope to learn many things here, it seems to be such an interesting forum! Thank you and see your around! (grammar disaster :confused: )
Ps. What is the life span of a thamnophis sirtalis? They told me 8 years but I'm not sure about that

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard.

[GarterGuy17]

Hello Christina , welcome to the forum. Don't worry your english is fine I can understand you perfectly. According to Scott Felzer , a very well known breeder of garters ( Thamnophis ) says the average life expectancy is 10 year's. As for for the snake we can tell you what species and sex if you don't know them , but we will need pictures of your snake his/her head,body and his/her cloaca ( located between body and tail ). As for feeding ask away there are many things to be aware of when it comes to what not to feed and what can hurt the snake. So again welcome aboard we look forward to seeing you snake. :)

[Mommy2many]

Welcome to our forum! Your English is just fine. Post some pictures of your snake (bottom side) and we should be able to tell you if it is a girl or a boy.

[indigoman]

welcome to the forum!

[EasternGirl]

Welcome to the forum! Your English is fine...your grammar is not bad at all...you should hear my Spanish! I think you write English very well. Like the other members have already said, if you can post an underside picture of your snake...showing us the lower bottom of the tail area...we can tell you the sex. We can also confirm the species. Ask us any questions...we are here to help!

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you on the forum.
Here's a link that will help you sex your snake and also show the kind of photos needed if you would like us to lend a hand.
http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/breeding/5069-sexing-pics.html

[RoteLowin]

Wow thank you so much! ^^ You're really nice!
Oh my God how can I take a photo of my snake's bottom? It hates being touched... It's very difficult to hold it and take a photo at the same time... maybe I could put the snake in a glass box and take a photo from the underneath, later I'll see! That's great, Italian breeders told me it was very difficult or impossible to judge by a photo!
I usually feed him with fish (especially trout), frog legs (I buy them at the grocery store) and earthworms. On the 'dead' food (fish and frog legs) I sometimes put some calcium with vitamins... Some breeders told me that earthworms aren't good because they could carry parassites and that crickets are prefered if I want to introduce insects in its diet, is that true? I read the contrary but they insist :confused: And then they told me that it's better to feed my garten snake only with baby mice and to give fishes just few times... I got a little confused, I'd like to make it clear...
Here some photos of my snake...
In my bath... I put it there in a cloth bag while I was cleaning its terrarium, but it found the way to get out of the bag! It got very angry and hissed like a small cobra :p

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/3353/img7476q.jpg

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/9558/img7115b.jpg

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/3117/img7031s.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

No insects at all. That is a big No No. Garter snakes can not digest the exoskeleton of the insect. This can lead to blockages and death.
Visual sexing is probably one of the most used and accurate way to sex a garter snake.
I also believe the likelihood of night crawlers introducing parasites to be very low. Far lower then frog legs.;)
A good food item for garters is frozen/thawed pinky mice.

[snakehill]

Beautiful snake!!!! :)

[GarterGuy17]

I must say you have a stunning snake , no doubt about it just wow ! :D

[gregmonsta]

Greetings :D

[RoteLowin]

Thank you very much! :D I'll post other photos soon!

[chris-uk]

Welcome to the forum from a chilly Coventry. You have a good looking garter.
I think others have already answered your initial questions, there's not much I can add for now. I would say that it sounds like the Italian breeders you have spoken to are pretty clueless and I wouldn't rely on them for accurate information.

[EasternGirl]

Yes...what a beautiful snake you have! With time...if you put your hands up to the snake in the enclosure and do not try to pick it up just yet...slowly it will get used to you. Let the snake come to you...try putting your hand near it slowly and give it time to get used to you. We sex snakes on here all the time by pictures...if you can try to get a picture of the underside, we will see if we can determine the sex for you. I would stop feeding the frog legs...most of us feed nightcrawlers to our garters...many garters eat them in the wild. Steve is right...pinkies would be good to introduce as well. A varied diet of pinkies, fish, and worms is good. With a varied diet, you shouldn't need additional supplements. Garter snakes eating crickets is a common myth...but very dangerous to feed them.

[mikem]

pretty snake! welcome to the forums! :)

[PINJOHN]

Welcome from a gale force Liverpool

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR4y1dPtN-EVPENg1BYYsLqoHg5jOJOmruRHFC-G6D7nGLBSxPphA http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSaz93quM1Ay0V0d7uMRqvUm3CpZZtMC wWq2SdiSWB_eWH5brgjzg
TODAY'S SCOUSE FACTOID
1847 - World’s first Medical Officer of Health (Dr William Duncan).is appointed in Liverpool and is honored to this day by having a pub named after him in the city center.

[RoteLowin]

Thank you!!! :)
I've tried to take a photo for 2 days... Finally my snake decided to be a little collaborative! :D
I hope they can help... unfortunately it was where the glass was a little dirty :o

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/1956/img8818t.jpg


http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/8298/img8820t.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

Female all the way.
In my opinion.
Starts to taper almost immediately from the cloaca/vent.

[Light of Dae]

Welcome to the best forum ever! Your english n grammar are awesome. I'd agree with Steve on your snake being female. Hope you haven't been feeding her your gold fishies... Guppies are the safer choice with live fish.

[RoteLowin]

Ah wow! thanks! Now I should stick a pink bow on the terrarium to celebrate this discovery :P
I fed her a dying goldfish just once, when I had just bought her because the guy of the shop told me it was the best food for this type of snake, but then I read that goldfishes contain enzymes that aren't good at all ... Now I always feed it with platies or guppies :)

[guidofatherof5]

Ah wow! thanks! Now I should stick a pink bow on the terrarium to celebrate this discovery :P
I fed her a dying goldfish just once, when I had just bought her because the guy of the shop told me it was the best food for this type of snake, but then I read that goldfishes contain enzymes that aren't good at all ... Now I always feed it with platies or guppies :)

Not sure if I read this right but a fish only diet can create health issues.
Are you feeding anything else?

[RoteLowin]

Yes I feed my snake with earthworms, fish (guppies or frozen fish like truta) and frog legs (a snake breeder told me that was good, because frog legs contain bones and the meat is not fat). Sometimes I add some calcium with vitamins to avoid a lack of these substances. My mother doesn't want to keep any frozen or dead mouse in her fridge, then I read that pinkies aren't necessary in a garter's diet... Until now my snake has ever been healthy... Do you think it's ok?

[EasternGirl]

I agree with the others that the snake is female. I would not feed the frog legs. I do not think frog legs are a good idea...but that is my opinion. I don't know anything about frog legs...Anyone else know anything about this? Earthworms are good...as long as you are sure they are earthworms and not red wigglers. Red wigglers are toxic. As long as you are feeding worms and fish, your snake should be fine without the pinkies...I think. Adding the calcium is good.

[Light of Dae]

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/husbandry/9914-note-concerning-pre-packaged-frozen-fish.html
If buying pre-packaged frozen .. anything I am now looking out for this^ I think frog legs are an interesting addition to diet personally but I would be worried about such additives n where they came from. I have heard horror stories about frog leg 'factories' like cutting the legs of living frogs then throwing the rest of the suffering slowly dying frog in a bin with half a million other wiggling half frogs...

Sally's SilverSides are a good choice, they are a full body fish n have bones for calcium...

[kibakiba]

Thy also tend to have parasites.

[Light of Dae]

even if frozen for an extended period of time?

[kibakiba]

I'm sure some parasites can live through that. There was a thread about it a few months ago, I believe.

[RoteLowin]

I asked the butcher and he told me the frogs are killed before having their legs cut... But who knows, I'll get more informed as soon as possible. Silversides? Are those frozen small fishes?

[kibakiba]

People will say anything to make money. Perhaps I'm paranoid, because people have told me a lot of things just to get me to buy something, so I tend not to believe people...

Silversides are a safe minnow, if you get the right brand. Sally's silversides are always good. not sure what the other brand is, though.

[katach]

Welcome to the forum family! Your little one is absolutely beautiful!