At the recommendation of ASnakeLovinBabe(Shannon), I checked out the site and decided to join up! I've only got one Thamnophis at the moment, a juvie Eastern Garter that the janitor found this past spring, right before the school year ended, crawling along the school's outer wall. I'm a Middle School teacher, you see-Science and Art(whichever one they put me in), and hardly a year goes by without me having to "rescue" the whole school from some "monster" snake. This year it just happened to be a six-inch-long checkered-phase Eastern Garter; last year it was a pencil-sized hatchling "greenish" Rat Snake(who has since grown to nearly three feet in my care). My real passion, insofar as snakes, is the genus Nerodia, though. I love 'em! My goal is to change the widely-held and inaccurate perception of Water Snakes as mean, nasty, untamable, stinky and ugly-a view held even by many long-term herpers. There are no real forums for us Water Snake aficionados, however, but this is close. These are, after all, close cousins to the Garters and Ribbons, and require a lot of the same in terms of care. I've currently got 1.1 adult N.erythrogasters(Red-Bellies; female is very gravid), 0.3 adult N. fasciatas (Bandeds),including a hypomelanistic gravid female(one of these might be an intergrade between N. erythrogastger & N. fasciata, though), 0.1 N. sipedon pleuralis(Midland, also hypomelanistic adult), and 1.0 N. taxispilota sub-adult. All are handleable, some very much so. I just got two of the Bandeds in, straight from the swamp, and can easily handle both without being musked or bitten. I've taken the hypo Banded girl to school presentations, where she's been held by many students, most of whom were afraid of snakes before meeting her; she is so calm and docile, and so beautifully-colored, that she makes converts with nearly everyone who sees her! I trust her not to bite or musk more than I trust any of my Corns, Kings or other snakes that are most-often recommended as a pet.

pitbulllady