Hello!

[acovert]

I'm new here. I'm also a new snake owner.

I've had my baby garter for about two months now. It's no more than three months old. It's name is Cuddles, and it loves to curl up around my fingers. Sometimes it refuses to go back into it's tank after I've been holding it.

His mother was wild. A friend of the family had a daughter that caught her, and she was obviously very pregnant. She gave birth to nine babies, two of which were stillborn. When they knew that they were going to have some baby snakes they started looking for people to adopt them. Despite the fact that I am in college in Montana (these snakes are from Oregon) I offered to take one because I had always wanted a snake but I was never allowed to have one. I picked Cuddles up over my fall break and took it back to Montana with me.

At first it wouldn't eat. I think part of that had to do with being moved so much and being alone, since it had been living with its siblings since birth. It hid a lot too, never coming out or exploring. The people I got it from had been trying to feed the snakes crickets which, obviously, didn't work. I switched it to fish and, now that I know where to find some that are safe, I am also going to be feeding it nightcrawlers. When it gets bigger I will start introducing mice, but right now it's too small. I also don't want to try mice yet because I am living in a dorm and snakes are not allowed - let alone mice (though, I know someone with a sugar glider). It would be really bad if I were caught with pinky parts in the dorm. Cuddles would be taken away from me.

Now that we're settled, Cuddles has been exploring a lot. It eats about twice a week or so, so I keep a store of available food. Since it's just on fish right now, I am keeping them in a tank along with the Goldfish I adopted about three weeks after I adopted Cuddles. My snake is a bit of a picky eater. There have even been fish that it has rejected completely.

Anyways, Cuddles and I are moving back to Oregon in a few days, as soon as I am done with finals. We will be there permanently, as I am transferring to a college near my home. I hope to own more snakes some day - and even breed them - because I have found out that my mom is okay with garter snakes. The reason she never let me have a snake was because she thought I wanted a boa constrictor.

I have a few questions, though. First of all, I have no idea what subspecies of garter I have. Garters are very common where I live (though less so than they once were) and I know there are several different subspecies that can be found in my area. Can anyone help me with that? I have some pictures of him here:

I also have no idea what gender Cuddles is, mostly because I just can't tell at this point and less because I don't know how. I think Cuddles is just to small to figure that out right now. Generally we refer to it as a he, just because saying it is awkward.

Besides fish, worms, and mice, is there anything else than I can find at a pet store to feed my snake? I'd like to vary his diet as much as possible until I can start with mice (my mom hates mice more than snakes, so that will be interesting).

Cuddles is doing quite well - much better than his siblings back in Portland, so I've been told. He seems happy enough and he explores a lot now. In fact, he loves my textbooks and my keyboard quite a bit!