Forum Newbie

[Cucuteni]

Hello All,

I'd like to make a home in my gardens for these creatures and enjoy their beauty and industry. Living in NW Washington, I can likely offer them a lifetime of slugs and other critters to feast on. I'm an animal/plant person by nature. Looking forward to interacting and learning with you all.

[GarterGuy]

Howdy and welcome to the forum. I've got all kinds of ideas and such for "garter snake gardening" if you're interested. It's something that I've been working on for a while......hopefully this spring I'll be getting 5.5 acres to turn into snake paradise.

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard!

[Cucuteni]

Thanks GarterGuy & Stefan.

I'd be very happy to get ideas on gardening with garters. Also interested in toads. I asked about being able to purchase them, but was told at a pet store that in WA, as elsewhere perhaps, natives can't be sold. Perhaps ordered from out of state.

Would be good to raise a set of both indoors each year to repopulate the neighborhood and the trade among friends.

[Snaky]

A welcome aboard from Belgium .

I don't have the answers to your questions, but I think that certainly some will be able to help you with it.

[Sid]

Welcome to the forum.

My best advise for fixing a garden that will attract snakes would be to set it up with plenty of hiding places. Some dense ground cover, plenty of mulch to burrow in and a water feature, etc. I have gardens here at the house and often find one kind of snke or the other. Somethong else that helps are rocks for accent or borders.

Sid

[abcat1993]

You'd think that our yard would be perfect for garters (we live in their range, have a pond full of frogs/toads, have plenty of places for it to hide), but we've never seen any snakes in our yard (or in our town for that matter)

[Cazador]

Hi Gary,
Thanks for the intro, and welcome to the forum. First, you've got to let us know what "Cucuteni" means. Second, You might consider starting with a low outdoor enclosure, perhaps 6' x 8' with walls that are partially buried. I understand that a lot of the early garter snake breeders could only achieve mating success with similar outdoor setups. Once you get a colony ready, you could remove the walls, but you'd have to bring them indoors for the winter if they're still in your enclosure. More later,
Rick

[Cucuteni]

Cucuteni is the name given to a culture living in the Romania/Ukraine area about 6000 yrs ago. They made some exquisite pottery and designs the artistic equal of say, Hopi or other SW tribes. And very similar in motif and naturalism.

Catching and relocating garters would be a good thing to learn about. I'll get some rocky areas built up for them here shortly after the snow melts again. Had been thinking of a small pond area, too.

Thanks for the ideas.

Gary

[Elliot]

Sounds good, let us know what happens!