For those of you who don't know, I have a male Northwestern Garter named Cuddles. I haven't been on in a while, so I'm not exactly new, but I'm sure there are a lot of people I haven't met yet! Cuddles was born in September of 2011 so he is about to turn six years old. He lives in a little 10 gallon tank as he is still rather small. When I first came here I had no idea what to feed him, and even once I did he would only take live worms, which worked though was a little inconvenient. He is the only survivor from the group of babies that I chose him from, though I believe his mother survived for some time later. I've made a lot of progression with him in the last couple of years, and he now takes frozen pinkies quite readily, so I am able to offer him a more complete diet. He can be a bit of a jerk, but I love him. I did have another garter, also Northwestern, that was a rescue. He could not fully shed because of a nasty injury that happened somewhere on my Uncle's property. He had trouble eating. I had him for a year or two before he finally died.

Here is a recent shot of Cuddles: cuddles.jpg





I also got my hands on two snakes over the summer. One I believe to be a very young northwestern, found in my backyard (we live along a creek so we tend to get garters quite frequently). Possibly male, though I'm not sure. I would love to know what you guys make of the species and gender, though, since I am only able to vaguely guess! baby2.jpgbaby7.jpgbaby6.jpgbaby3.jpg

And since you can only post five images in one message, I will post my other species identification question in a later post, after we've talked a little of this one ^_^
This little guy was caught in Gresham, OR, USA sometime in late June or early July, for those who would like the help of a location.