I'm just curious. What is it about Garter Snakes that interests everyone so much. I will admit I was one of those "it's only a stupid garter snake for Pete's sake" people a while back. First off, I have to say that I am not non natural morphs at all. I don't even consider albinos to be a natural morph because they probably would not survive without some intervention. There is no morph of ball python that is as pretty to me as a nice looking "normal" All the hypo Honduran milk snakes and the motley corn snakes do absolutely nothing for me. What changed my mind about the Garter Snakes however was when I started seeing pictures of the incredible variety in the animals you can find in the wild. Red phases, blue phases, striped phases, all evolving for whatever reason and existing an self sustaining wild populations. That is what makes them interesting to me. I wouldn't consider owning an albino T.s.sirtalis but the fact that there are wild populations of melanistics out there make them one of my favorite. I do own a pair of albino checkereds but that is only because I got them at a very cheap price. I was actually looking for a pair of Hets so I could have my "normal" looking garters but when they bred for me I would have some albino babies to offer my customers as well as the prettier normals. (does anyone know where I can get a female het checkered?)

Anyway, thats why I like the garters and why I am having such a hard time deciding to part with mine even though keeping them will mean some inconvenience and possibly eviction if found out.

Steve