Hello

[Ogri]

Thanks for the warm welcome folks.

as for the species it is an Oregon red spotted with a blue stripe down its back.

We are still trying to get him to come out of hiding in the Aspen all the time but this may be a slow process. The wife has several questions already regarding what snakes can be housed with him but i'll address these later in the year when the Herp shows are starting to come around.

Regards
Mark

[gregmonsta]

Similar sized thamnophis males other than Thamnophis elegans vagrans (NOT terrestris ) - the wandering garter snake

[Stefan-A]

Similar sized thamnophis males other than Thamnophis elegans terrestris - the wandering garter snake

vagrans, Greg.

[gregmonsta]

Ooops :P ... too much terrestris on the brain. I was reading about them earlier

[Ogri]

ok so any similar sized garter of the same sex but not the wandering one. She will be pretty upset when i tell her she cant have a hognose in there.
I'm guessing she will insist on another viv (again)

[gregmonsta]

have a look through here - Photographic Library - Caresheets and browse our galleries .... Once you show her what's out there in 'garterworld' I'm sure she won't be dissapointed anymore

[Ogri]

Been looking at the various garters around but it'll have to wait until they are for sale in this area (which is few and far between). Might go to some of the reptile shows and see if there are any there but there dont seem to be that many being bred in the uk atm.

[gregmonsta]

Best thing to do is to contact breeders directly. They can be almost impossible to find (apart from checkereds which are bred very regularily in the UK). For better choice/availability mainland Europe is the place to go.

Check the breeder list in the links section of my site. Alan francis is known to shed surplus snakes every so often

[ConcinusMan]

I'd like to see that red spotted garter snake. Their stripe is usually yellow, off-white, or maybe slightly greenish. The only ones I've seen with blue stripes are anerythristic(lacking red) and are blue all over, like my avatar.

maybe it's not an oregon red spotted. Quite often, any garter snake with red spots is misidentified as an oregon red spotted. Red phase puget sound garters are very similar, and sometimes have blue stripes and red spots on their sides.

[Ogri]

I'll try to get some pictures of him and post them. He's still very shy and is nervy when handled. I'm just taking it slow and steady with him until he trusts me more to handle him.

Yes it seems people in U.K. are reluctant to admit to breeding garters for some reason as if theres something to be embarassed about (which is stupid since they are at least as beautiful as corns and live bearing is an added bonus). I'll check your links and possibly look to Europe to supply maybe head to a Euro show next year (hey it's an excuse to go over there)