This is a 1st for me... never a reptile.

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, Lynn

[ConcinusMan]

"They don't eat insects"

Not true. The insect eating has been proven in wandering garters. Wild wanderings found on road dead, have been found with their guts full of grasshoppers, consistently! Same goes for baby gopher snakes and this is in colorado too. Not saying it's good for them due to indigestible exoskeletons, but crickets are much softer. I don't recommend feeding them insects, I'm just saying that the fact is, many wild wandering garters eat them. I imagine this is in very late summer when it's hot and dry and other food is scarce.

[Stefan-A]

Not true. The insect eating has been proven in wandering garters. Wild wanderings found on road dead, have been found with their guts full of grasshoppers, consistently! Same goes for baby gopher snakes and this is in colorado too. Not saying it's good for them due to indigestible exoskeletons, but crickets are much softer. I don't recommend feeding them insects, I'm just saying that the fact is, many wild wandering garters eat them. I imagine this is in very late summer when it's hot and dry and other food is scarce.

Like I hinted at when I first heard about this, I would like to see it documented and independently verified. One person's word doesn't weigh much in this situation.

[ConcinusMan]

I've heard it several times before that one person I pointed out. It's really not that outrageous of a claim anyway. Heck, I've seen baby corn snakes eat crickets. Ribbons too. Terrible nutrition source, but they do eat them.

[nomoreposs]

Wait.. aren't these all the same?:
Wandering = Western Terrestrial = Thamnophis elegans :-P

..But she's an eater Now, that's for sure! Haven't fed her fish since the week of 13, just 5 pinkies since. RedSidedSPR: I can't let her eat till she stops cuz she doesn't know how-- after 13 she was still ready for more lol. And I'm not going to mess with many minnows/gfish/guppies as they all carry their own prob's, maybe just on occasion. Have yet to try silver sides or grub worms, so we'll see.. just didn't want too many pinkies to make Sergeant "grow too fast with a week heart," so the 10-20% rule sounds like a good place to start **so how often do you feed it a %age of its body weight?- just when the visual percentage in the belly goes down?

...Where're you at exactly, Reptile65?

[nomoreposs]

..Random: Sgt. would crawl up the glass, into the inner cage lip and sit there all day, everyday for 2.5 or 3 weeks (like the last pic). Now it's been another 3 weeks and she only sits around or under this one, tiny piece of wood... frickin weird OCD species I tell ya!.. ha

[guidofatherof5]

.. frickin weird OCD species I tell ya!.. ha

Love it

[ConcinusMan]

Wait.. aren't these all the same?:
Wandering = Western Terrestrial = Thamnophis elegans :-P

No. As with Thamnophis sirtalis, there are several subspecies. T. sirtalis sirtalis (eastern garter) T. sirtalis concinnus (oregon red spotted) T. sirtalis pickeringii (puget sound garter) and the list goes on. They are not the same, and shouldn't be allowed to breed across subspecies and therefore you should keep them the same sex, or don't put the subspecies in the same tank. T. elegans vagrans (wandering garter) are known to eat each other, or other garters.

A wandering garter is a Thamnophis elegans vagrans. There are also others. T. elegans zaxanthus (Diablo range garter) T. elegans terrestris (coast garter) etc. etc.

These are several subspecies of T. elegans: elegans

[Stefan-A]

These are several subspecies of T. elegans: elegans

Two, to be exact.

[ConcinusMan]

I disagree, but then again, so do the biologist that are doing the classifying.

T. elegans terrestris - coast garter.... T. elegans vagrans - wandering garter... T. elegans elegans - Mountain garter. There's three right there.

Here in the Northwest, in hills east of the Willamette Valley, we have a very interesting looking T. elegans that is classified as a T. elegans elegans but I think it's a separate subspecies altogether. It's only in a fairly small range and looks nothing like a typical mountain garter and looks nothing like the rest. there's a picture of it in "reptiles of the northwest" a very different T. elegans. It has a sort of zig-zagged dorsal stripe and is nearly black and white but has a weird powdery steel-blue/grey color on a black background. Not unlike some of my anery concinnus'.

Now, granted, the diablo range garter has been reclassified and isn't considered an elegans anymore but there are still at least 3 subspecies of the Western Terrestrial Garter Snake.

Oops. sorry Stefan. I just caught what you were saying. The link I provided only mentions two subspecies in the Northwest. I still think there's a third though.