My First Garter!

[Reptiliancousin]

Went to the San Antonio Reptile Expo last Sat. and found a booth with many new born Blue-Striped Garters and HAD to get one! I'm super excited! I chose a male and maybe plan on pairing him with my large female ribbon next year. I love my baby garter! The people I bought Bobbie from said he was three days old. They also said that their store also receives ribbon snakes daily, including the blues that I"ve been searching so long for. Excited about that too! Anyway, here's Bobbie:
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[Invisible Snake]

Congratulations on your new addition, may I ask what do you mean by pairing?

[mb90078]

It is not a good idea to mix both species and gender in the same living quarters. Nor is it a good idea to put a large one with a baby.

That aside, looks like a very nice one you've got there.

[guidofatherof5]

Nice looking little scrub.
I hope he will start eating for you right away.
Best of luck. Keep us posted.

I'm concerned they would sell a 3 day old snake.

[Reptiliancousin]

Why are you concerned? Should I be worried?

Nice looking little scrub.
I hope he will start eating for you right away.
Best of luck. Keep us posted.

I'm concerned they would sell a 3 day old snake.

[guidofatherof5]

All of the breeders I know about never sell snakes unless they've had a few meals and have shown signs of thriving.
I'm by no means saying there is something wrong with your snake. It's just the fact that you will have to get it eating now.
Have you tried feeding Bobbi and if so what?

Why are you concerned? Should I be worried?

[Reptiliancousin]

No mix breeding? Okay, I was under the impression since they're closely related it'd be alright. I won't do that then!

[Invisible Snake]

They can most likely breed but the babies would come out as hybrids and when it comes to garters, noone likes a hybrid.

And the concern I would have about buying a 3 day old snake is getting it to eat, babies can be difficult eaters, also some babies can just die for unknown reasons weeks after their birth.

[kibakiba]

Putting a baby with an adult is asking for trouble, and if you mean breeding... Most people here are completely against it. There are plenty of threads that you can search, if you want to know the reasons why we're against it.

[chris-uk]

Get some food in him (you said it's male, but at that size it could be hard to tell, how did the seller sex the babies?), hopefully he'll take to food straight away.
I'd also share the concern about selling snakes at 3 days old, I had four checkereds last year at about 6 weeks old, and 2 of them didn't make it to 6 months (one FTT, and one with a spinal disorder). To me, someone selling 3 day old snakes at a reptile expo just stinks of trying to make a fast buck and not caring about the snakes or the buyers. Unless they warned every buyer and were selling cheaper to account for the risk that they may not survive (even then I'd be concerned).