Rescued snake

[Salvation101]

Hi all, I bought a chequered garter off of a rather rough bunch today that has been passed around several owners in only a couple of months. I knew the snake from a previous owner before it was sold on so I know it's a well tempered snake , very easy to handle. It's been years since I owned any reptile and with saving this snake from being tossed around like an unwanted pest I'm now giving it a loving home. My problem however is, no one knows how old this snake is yet it has been fed pinks/fluffs for as long as anyone can remember. It's roughly 2ft long but looks like it should be on smalls at least. I'm hoping to gut out its old in closure to liven it up a bit and meet its needs a bit better however I'm not sure on what temperature to set the heat mat to for it to be comfortable ? The mat I bought tonight will take up about a quarter of the enclosure. I hope it isn't too big! Any tips as to what the ideal temperatures and decor for her will be greatly appreciated ! Thanks in advance

[guidofatherof5]

Thanks for giving the snake a better chance at a good life. Here's a link to the forum care sheet which should answer many of your questions. There are many different ways to set up its living space. As far as temps go, I would say something in the high 80's for a hot spot. I offer my snake a cold and hot hide so they can thermoregulate themselves. Be sure to give a good size water dish. What size enclosure are you using?
As far as knowing its age, well that's probably going to be a mystery without a birth date.
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[chris-uk]

Welcome aboard.

If you want the temps in metric, I aim for a 32C on the warm side and ambient room temperature on the cool (usually around 20C), and I turn heat off overnight. A quarter of the viv sounds about right for the mat, but as Steve asked above it would be useful to know the size of the viv.
Checkereds are great, coincidentally I have a couple of rescued checkereds from Scotland. Mine have some classic signs of inbreeding :-(... Bug eyes and kinked spines.

It's impossible to know how old it is without a date of birth. I have a checkered girl and a friend keeps her sister, the sister is three times the size of my girl.

If you're into garters and in that neck of the woods Greg is your local garter evangelist, I'm sure he'll swing by and introduce himself soon.

[gregmonsta]

Greetings , aye ... what the others said. As far as decor goes - lots of it. Vines to climb and multiple hiding opportunities are always a positive.

[Salvation101]

Hey guys! Thanks for the replies she seems a lot happier now , bought a thermostat yesterday that rigs up to the heat mat , it monitors the air temperature and activates accordingly ,I have a separate thermometer on the other side of the tank , both essentially reading 25degrees Celsius , I assume this isn't much good but as long as the bottom of the tank is cooler on one side I'll be happy but obviously any other tips are welcome.either way it's better than what she had previously , I took her out of the viv today to renovate the place and she was stone cold but moving around a lot more now can't find a measuring tape anywhere in my house so can't tell the size haha! As I say it's a home made thing but I've seen worse haha. Sorry if I sound like a noob! image.jpgimage.jpg

[chris-uk]

Oh and the water bowl. I'd swap it for a plastic food container (my missus gets fed up with me diverting ready meal tubs from the recycling bin and piling them up in case I need another water bowl, they also make good hides if you cut holes in them).
You want something that is difficult to tip over because wet substrate isn't a good thing. That also means the water bowl should be on the bottom of the viv with the substrate piled around the sides. I can't tell from your photo but it looks like the water bowl is on top of the substrate and has sloping sides that could give leverage to push it over.

[chris-uk]

Bring the thermostat probe and thermometer probe on the hot side down into contact with the heatmat. Garters absorb heat through their bellies, so the air temp isn't what you want to be monitoring (not on the warm side anyway). Also, by putting the stat probe on/under (depending what is easier to secure - and don't use tape to secure it) the stat will cut the mat if it's temp gets high.
On my warm side I generally have a thin layer of substrate which is around the depth of the thickness of the probe, so my stat probes are mostly buried. What I find is that if they want a bit more warmth in their warm hide they will clear a patch of substrate and lay directly on the glass (my mats are all under the glass bottom of the viv, or in my wooden vivs I have a glass shelf that the mat is under).

Cold side of the viv will be around your room's ambient temp, so there is little you can do to adjust that unless you alter the heating for the room. Generally this isn't a big deal because our room temp is fine for an active garter snake.