Hi all~
I am new to the forum here, have been reading it for a few days and found lots of great info and pictures. I live in northern California and have kept various reptiles since the age of 8. I don't have any garters at the moment but a common garter was my very first pet and I had him (Oscar) and his buddy Zelda, a red-sided garter, for several years. Looking back with a little more knowledge now I realize that Zelda must have been a male too, but we didn't know that at the time.... They met an unfortunate end feeding one day latching onto each other in their water bowl and becoming stuck, unable to separate. They suffocated to death. Horribly traumatic to a twelve year old whose mother was at work..... Wish I had known then not to feed them together, but we had for years with no troubles and I didn't realize the risk. Anyway, they were absolutely charming snakes with tons of personality and they started me out in the whole reptile world.
I never got more garters as we didn't realize they could eat anything other than goldfish and toads, so they kind of smelled and my mom wouldn't let me get any more.
Browsing the ads on Kingsnake a few days ago, I ran across an ad for blue garters and saw some stunning pictures of Puget Sound garter snakes. Being that I live on my own now and don't really have to follow my mom's pet rules I couldn't pass one up--stunning animals. So I now have a gravid female on the way to arrive tomorrow. In the days since I have been doing lots of research as I was sure there would be tons more info available on these guys than I knew when I was little, and sure enough I have learned lots. Found this great place so I am pretty excited and feel much more knowledgeable now. I have read some slightly concerning posts about the guy I am getting the snake from, but I had already paid so I will just see how my snake is when she arrives.
Sorry for rambling on a bit. Great forum you all have here and I am glad to have found it.
Angela
Following is a list of my housemates. The two mis-named herps I have had since I was in grade school when I just arbitrarily assigned names and gender....
1.1 Kenyan sand boas, Joyce (the male....) and Isabella
1.0 Anery Kenyan, Kito
1.0 Western hognose, Ruddygore
0.0.1 juvie ball python, Luna
0.3 Russian tortoises, Boris (adult female), Natasha and Betty (babies)
and two little mischevious young fuzzies named Bonnie and Clyde who constantly keep me on my toes....