Can they cross breed? plains and checkers

[zirliz]

I've a male plains garter and a female checker garter and my mother has this obsession that they'll mate , is she right?
from what I've read both are prepared differently but wierd things do happen so...
anyway thanks in advance

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

they absolutely can. and most likely will, cross breed. Which can be bad for the fact that a cross between the two would be really hard to distinguish, and could contaminate people's pure collections with impure genetics. Most people have a lot of trouble identifying garter snakes, let alone when the subspecies are crossed. Best to separate them immediately!

[ssssnakeluvr]

what she said!!! do separate them!

[adamanteus]

Ditto.

[Snaky]

And also ditto from me .

I've even heard that checkers males are the "king" in cross breeding. For you it's different, but the risk is still there.

[gregmonsta]

I would definately seperate them, this would not be a natural combination.

[TwistidMutations]

yes they will breed. i would seperate them asap

[zirliz]

What's the best age to breed my female at?
I am trying to find her a nice male I say trying 'cause it's so hard to find a nice albino chequered male for her,

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

it's not really "best age" alone. It's a combination/balance of age and size. Most female garters are mature to breed at two years provided they are fed properly. if you feed the crap out of her, she might get big enough to produce a SMALL litter in her first year. Unless you are trying to produce some new morph or something....don't do that. because it will take additional growth away from her to make the babies and in the long run, may stunt her growth and she may never reach her full size potential. Just because they CAN produce babies, doesn't mean that you should force them to so soon. Steadily feed her until she's coming onto her second year, then brumate her and you can start breeding. That way you've got a BIG, robust female that you KNOW is ready and can handle making babies. The size factor depends on the species/subspecies you are dealing with. Some type of garter snake are just naturally smaller than others.

[zirliz]

ok I am just curious I am in no rush with her she is massive though, the first few months were slow for her so she sort of caught up growing very fast how big are year and half chequers normally ? length wise ?