keepin more than one

[salzar]

hi all
just caught another wct and am wondering if its okay to keep them in the same tank, its a 40 g, tall boy, sal is 11 in. just a baby , and the new wct is twice as big, lmk
thanks so much, will post pix soon.
michelle AKA ,salzar :confused:

[adamanteus]

Hi Michelle:) . Personally I always try to house snakes of equal size together. Just to minimise the risk of the smaller one getting accidentally swallowed during feeding:eek: .
Other people might have different views on this.

[garterchick]

hi michelle
i keep mine paired-up but i'm very careful at feeding time, litterally stand over them and feed one pinky per snake at a time. this works pretty well for me but it does stretch feeding time out quite a bit.
good luck
tina

[Stefan-A]

I had mine split up for a while, but not at the moment. I don't really fear feeding accidents that much, I watch over them while they feed. Cannibalism worries me, though, since the female is already much larger than the male.

[adamanteus]

I've only ever known of deliberate cannibalism in Garters, when adult males eat newborns. I've seen this in both Florida Blues and Checkereds.

[Stefan-A]

Good to know. I hope to have that risk eliminated by mid-august.

[adamanteus]

Mind you, Stefan, just because I've never known it doesn't necessarily mean it couldn't happen!

[Stefan-A]

Then again, people have also reported self-cannibalism and keratophagy in garter snakes. ;)

[adamanteus]

Self cannibalism? Elucidate please....

[Stefan-A]

Didn't somebody here say that some garter had started swallowing its own tail by accident? Or was it on another forum. :D ;)

Just to be clear, my point was that garters do the darndest things. "Things" can ALWAYS happen.

[adamanteus]

Oh right, accidentally. I've seen them chew themselves sometimes, if they've crawled over their food and can smell it on themselves. Man, they're stupid sometimes!

[Stefan-A]

Yeah, my female swallowed a big chunk of peat, that had only come in contact with the snake's own saliva (the mouse it had eaten never even touched the piece), earlier this year. I'm telling you, they'd swallow cans and license plates if they only were big enough. ;)

Anyway, how common is cannibalism, really?

[adamanteus]

I think baby-eating is a constant danger, I don't know if all species do it, but I wouldn't take any risks. As I said, I've never known cannibalism of adult Garters. Maybe someone else can correct me on that?

[Snaky]

I also only know about baby-eating cases. And in those cases it was always the male.

[salzar]

okay that is very interesting,:p just posted pix of the temp set up and the guy we caught 2 days ago, also posted a pix of salzar but it is listed as a wct we caught yesterday, its the pix of the baby snakes head .
as well as a pix of me :o .. usuly I am the one taking the pix,,
ye
and thanks everyone for the replys
michelle:D

[adamanteus]

The pic is a bit fuzzy, but doesn't your snake look like Storeria dekayii?

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/pics_101_013.JPG

Maybe it's just me. My eyes aren't the best in the world!

[Stefan-A]

Looks like a Storeria dekayi to me, too. Or it may just be a garter that looks like one.