Red Sided: Questions

[05brandon50]

Hey guys its me again, and i have some questions


First, i have a WC red sided garter that i believe is a juvenile female and i have her eating pinks, salmon and nightcrawlers but i was wondering how often i should feed her? The meals uve fed her have been: a few chunks of salmon and a pink; two pinks and a few pieces of salmon; and a nightcrawler here and there and ive waited about 3-5 days between each feeding but she is very aggressive and i was wondering if im feeding her enough or too frequently or not frequent enough? After i feed her she always looks around her viv and everytime i make a movement she gets all hyped up like she thinking im feeding her some more. What are your thoughts?

Secondly, i was wondering if garters can be tamed through lots of handling? My garter eats SUPER aggressively and during the day doesnt come out much but sticks some of her body out of her hides but thats about it. Everytime i try to handle her she start slithering really fast and "crazy-like" like shes trying to escape. Can she be calmed down through lots of handling and determination or is that how she always will be? i have her near the kitchen where there's lots of traffic btw.

And lastly, i was wondering on how big red-sided garters grow? Mine is somewhere between 1-2 feet im guessing(hasnt sheded yet) and is about 3/4-1in thick. And im not completely sure its a female but i just guessed based on its voratous appitite.




I really appreciate any and all replys and advice and thank you very much for your help!

[Stefan-A]

Hard to say when the size of the snake and the meals are unknown, but you are feeding it often enough. Try giving it as much as it will eat.

Garters can probably be "tamed" to some extent, but I've never had a garter change its behavior significantly with handling.

How big it'll get depends on the gender. Around 60-70 cm if it's a male and twice as long if it's a female.

[guidofatherof5]

Red-sided garters can get big. I just lost a female that was 37 inches.
Most of my experience is with T.radix(Plains garter snake) and about a year with T.s.parietalis(Red-sided garter snake) I have found both to tame(tolerate) me and accept me. For a few this has taken a year of patient work. 90% of the time they show no startle response and seem to like the time I spend with them. I have a group of large females that will come out and climbing onto my shoulders and hangout while I'm visiting the others.
Have I tamed them? No. They simply accept me and don't see me as a threat. I'm also a source of food for them which makes me even more interesting. I also believe there is more to it then just this but will let you find that out on your own

[mustang]

well (this is my opinion for almost all reptiles) if u handle them they usually get used to you (decrease the frantic-ness when you pic them up, but theyle still try to get away when you try to pic them up) also it greatly reduces the chance of you getting bit when they get bigger! another opinion if you get them to associate your hand with food sooner or later it might bight you.....i always cover my hand with a sock or somthin when feedn my snake. again just opinions.this info i have gathered from reaserch and my own little w/c garter. but i have a checkered not a red sided, so theyre maybe some differences

[ConcinusMan]

Good idea to get the snake to recognize your hand as a source of food. In order to do that, food must be presented ONLY when your hand is there, (for goodness sake, make sure your hand is clean. no food smell on it) not in a dish left in the tank. Not to say you must feed them from your hand, but that food only comes when the hand is there. Amy, when poking her head out, will readily and eagerly come to my hand if I approach slowly in a non-threatening manner. It took less than a month for her to start doing that. She's CB but I have come expect the same response if I had just plucked her out of the wild.

Still, individual snakes have their own "personalities". I honestly don't think that handling helps them become more tame. I can say that with confidence. They either like it, hate it, or tolerate it reluctantly. That never seems to change beyond a week in captivity for WC snakes in my experience.

Amy still gets freaked out if I cast a shadow on her and practically smashes her head into the glass or other objects. She get's freaked out about certain things. I don't expect that to change ever. She is what she is and her response to flee is just a reflex. Other behaviors such as associating the hand with food are learned.

I can't say for sure without observing your snake but it sounds like it's adapting just fine and I'd say the feeding schedule and amount is fine but as your snake gets larger and is definitely an adult it might be a good idea to let her fast for 7-10 days once in a while after a large, rich meal of pinkies. Don't be afraid to give her a few days with no heat, and don't be afraid to cool her down 10 or 20 degrees overnight.

She may come out more with less traffic but as soon as there is traffic, she may dive for cover. I don't think there's much you can do about that. Reflexes can't be unlearned.

Best thing I can say to do is to approach slowly with fish. Let her get a whiff of it from a distance. When you can see that she smells it, put your hand in the tank in a non-threatening manner and perhaps touch her. Let her smell fish again. Repeat, then feed. Do that again and again over the course of a month or so. Pretty soon she'll see your hand and come out to greet it. In time, if she was in a room with no traffic, and a person comes in, (almost always with food) she might even learn to come out and greet you, not just your hand.

Get another snake of the same species, or even a different garter or sex, and it may have it's own quirks. That's part of being a keeper. You must be observant, and let the individual snake teach you it's personality while you're at it. It's no different than owning a dog and a cat, or two dogs. Each one is different and it's your job to get to know them as individuals. You can train, but in the end, you must take on some training from them.

[05brandon50]

Wow, thank you very much guys for all the help. I'll definitely try some of those techniques but my garter seems to be like your Amy, she hits her head on the glass and other objects when i mess with her lid or she just sits there and freezes(its weird cuz she freezes and it seems like shes breathing really hard and her body kind of flucktuates). Sounding from some of the info above, i doubt my garter will ever like being handled but i wont give up. *sigh* Why cant it be more like my corn snake when handling? haha
Oh and one more quick question, if i feed a worm or some salmon fillet while i feed pinks, do i still need to lightly calcium dust the food? If so, how many times do i do it?

[mustang]

Wow, thank you very much guys for all the help. I'll definitely try some of those techniques but my garter seems to be like your Amy, she hits her head on the glass and other objects when i mess with her lid or she just sits there and freezes(its weird cuz she freezes and it seems like shes breathing really hard and her body kind of flucktuates). Sounding from some of the info above, i doubt my garter will ever like being handled but i wont give up. *sigh* Why cant it be more like my corn snake when handling? haha
Oh and one more quick question, if i feed a worm or some salmon fillet while i feed pinks, do i still need to lightly calcium dust the food? If so, how many times do i do it?

it wont be like your cornsnake since your corn was probably a cb and was used to human interaction since it was little...now uv got a challenge! with w/cs youll never know what theyre gonna do next!

[jitami]

Sounding from some of the info above, i doubt my garter will ever like being handled but i wont give up. *sigh* Why cant it be more like my corn snake when handling? haha

Hehe... I know you were joking, but as a new owner of a corn snake I have to say I really like having both. The garters are waaaaay more fun to watch interact with each other and their environment and the corn is more fun to hold and hang out with

[05brandon50]

Yeah totally. I like my garter a lot because its out when i leave and come home from school and my corn just sorta sleeps all day and i never see her but i love both my snakes and im just trying to give them both the best lives posdible

[ConcinusMan]

Yup. Garters got great personality that's for sure. Radix, concinnus, awesome personality. Females are nicer though, generally.

Anyway, CB or WC doesn't seem to make any difference. I've had wonderfully tame WC kings, garters, gophers, milks, and I've seen nasty mean CB snakes of the same species.

Most CB milks I've seen, especially females, were pretty docile and tolerated handling well. My Jewels is pretty darn big and is CB, and has been handled throughout her life. She still hates it, and fights it. She's a grouch. More handling only irritates her more so for the most part, I leave her alone. Now she's starting to trust me and comes out more and doesn't dive for cover when I'm near the tank. She's fine now as long as I'm outside the glass.