Pugets or Checkered?

[lokai99]

So... I have spent the last few months trying to decided what species I'll get for my first garter and I am stuck between Pugets and Checkered. I'm leaning toward marcianus though, because I'm somewhat afraid I would get a Pugets that would simply refuse to ever switch to pinkies. I also want a garter I can actually find... those blue guys seem to be a little hard to find. Can anyone give me an idea of what I should expect to pay for a checkered? I'd also appreciate knowing if someone is expecting Checkereds this season.
one corn, one milk, and one king, one rat.... I def. think it's time for a garter to join the family

[guidofatherof5]

Yes, yes, yes. It is time, indeed.
I can't help you find one but I'm sure others can.

[mustang]

what state are you in? i caught mine

[jitami]

Generally you will have an easier time finding captive bred checkereds than pugets, but you never know. Hopefully some of the breeders that frequent the forum will get back to you with what they may have available this year, but really it's all about your preference. Good luck finding your first fascinating garter

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I should have checkereds this year, considering I just peeked in on one of the tubs I have an exceptionally nice pair in and she has just shed and he was line up next to her and tail wrapping! I've got a lot of checkereds. I have 2 female albinos, 1 yellow male, 2 green females, 1 hypo male, and 1.1 double het granite albino that are breedable. Then I have a granite female and a possible new line of hypo that's not quite there yet!

Checkereds are rather easy to find, but believe it or not I actually had a really hard time finding a good looking, adult pair that was totally unrelated to the albino lines. The albinos are everywhere now!!! I would sell normal checkered babies for between $20-$30 each. Even that is high, but my checkereds are really nice looking specimens.

Pugets are a bit harder but are not impossible to find. Provided Wayne's male Sky gets the job done on both of my females, we should have two very nice clutches of pugets from extremely blue parents! I am sure others on here will be producing these species as well...

I am a bit confused that you're worried your pugets won't eat pinkies... Every puget I've worked with loves them!!!

[ConcinusMan]

I am a bit confused that you're worried your pugets won't eat pinkies... Every puget I've worked with loves them!!!

I hear the same thing about CB concinnus. They love their pinkies. However, you must understand that pinkies are not on the menu for WC pugets or concinnus. That's NOT what they eat in the wild! No, No, noperoo! uh-uh!

They eat worms, amphibians and larvae, and fish. That is why they are good swimmers and are almost never found far from water or seasonal wetlands. They couldn't care less about the water. That's where the food is.

I imagine that you could get WC concinnus to eat pinkies but it better smell like fish! They will attempt to swallow a football as long as it smells like fish.

Believe it or not, Amy is the same way. (iowa strain albino radix) Can't get her to eat anything unless it smells like fish. When she's really hungry she lunges into the air with mouth open just because she smells fish.

This is no problem for me. I chop up pinkies, rub a silverside head on the parts and she devours them. No fish smell and she checks it out and moves on as if to say "where's the real food?" She's even started to look up at my face as if to say "you expect me to eat that?"

Throw in some fish or fish smell and she's like.. "umm numm numm.. thanks dad!"

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I hear the same thing about CB concinnus. They love their pinkies. However, you must understand that pinkies are not on the menu for WC pugets or concinnus. That's NOT what they eat in the wild! No, No, noperoo! uh-uh!

They eat worms, amphibians and larvae, and fish. That is why they are good swimmers and are almost never found far from water or seasonal wetlands. They couldn't care less about the water. That's where the food is.

I imagine that you could get WC concinnus to eat pinkies but it better smell like fish! They will attempt to swallow a football as long as it smells like fish.

Believe it or not, Amy is the same way. (iowa strain albino radix) Can't get her to eat anything unless it smells like fish. When she's really hungry she lunges into the air with mouth open just because she smells fish.

This is no problem for me. I chop up pinkies, rub a silverside head on the parts and she devours them. No fish smell and she checks it out and moves on as if to say "where's the real food?" She's even started to look up at my face as if to say "you expect me to eat that?"

Throw in some fish or fish smell and she's like.. "umm numm numm.. thanks dad!"

Haha, my snakes get fish a the majority of their food. But I will say this, all of my concinnus adults aside from one are originally from the wild and every one has accepted unscented, f/t pinkies right off the bat! When I bought Blueblie about 4 years ago from that Bob guy and didn't know any better, she was fresh out of the wild and also ate them like they are candy! In fact the concinnus and pugets I've worked with have never turned anything away!

[lokai99]

Well, I'm thinking the Checkered is the way to go probably unless that puget girl is gravid. The blue is pretty amazing. Idea....one of each...now that really would be the way to go.
Ok...now to the pinkie concerns. I was concerned that Pugets preferred a more fish based diet, but if in your experience they don't that's even better news.
I checked out the green checkereds, and the albino both of those were beautiful colors...
What colors do you expect out of your Gravid girls?

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Well, I'm thinking the Checkered is the way to go probably unless that puget girl is gravid. The blue is pretty amazing. Idea....one of each...now that really would be the way to go.
Ok...now to the pinkie concerns. I was concerned that Pugets preferred a more fish based diet, but if in your experience they don't that's even better news.
I checked out the green checkereds, and the albino both of those were beautiful colors...
What colors do you expect out of your Gravid girls?

it really depends on what they breed to... I am breeding my prettiest green female to my hypo male checkered. That is going to produce both normals and hypos, but since both animals are very bright and vivid, with good solid checkers and pretty greens I would expect nice green offspring. One of my albino females has much smaller checkers and increased areas of yellow and she is packed with color... I'm breeding her to my yellow male. I find him to be extremely attractive and I'd really like to reproduce the brilliant yellow from tha pairing I am hoping for bright yellows. I'm breeding the other albino female to the hypo male. From that pairing I would expect pretty average looking checkereds. My smaller green female... I'm not sure if I'll breed her this year, she's not really as attractive as the larger one and she might need a rest after last year's babies! The double hets for albino and granite are small and it's their first breeding season, so if they DO produce I'd expect to see normals, a few albinos, a few granites and possibly an albino granite.

As for pugets, I generally start babies on rodent pieces mixed in with worms and fish early on to get them used to the taste and smell. Personally, before I sell baby garters I get them eating a varied diet and wait until they are accepting pinkies/pinky pieces before I sell them. I do that so that whoever buys them can choose what they want to feed them instead of the snake being hooked on one thing!

[ConcinusMan]

That's very interesting to know. In 25 years or so, I've never gotten a wild concinnus to eat any kind of rodent. The current ones also turned their noses up at pinkies. Then I introduced a silversides fish and it was a no-holds-barred feeding frenzy!

It would probably be very easy to throw in a fish head when thawing the pinkies then I'm sure they would eat them.

EDIT: All three of my concinnus (actually some of them are yours soon shannon) just ate fish scented pinkies. For two of them, it was their first meal in months (just came out of brumation)

Good news. All are feeding well. breeding can't be far away now!