Age of Garters

[guidofatherof5]

Like Greg said. It's just a guessing game without a DOB. Then you compound the issue if it's a wild caught snake.
The wild is much harder on them than the good life. I used to try and judge age by size but that just doesn't work on wild caught snakes.
They grow so much slower in the wild, in my opinion.

[infernalis]

They grow so much slower in the wild, in my opinion.

Sometimes yes sometimes no Steve, In the wild it's all about survival of the fittest, get as big as you can by winter....

So many wild babies will power feed in an attempt to put on as much size as they possibly can by winter.

Some of us, (myself included) pace the feeding a bit since I never brumate babies.

[guidofatherof5]

Sometimes yes sometimes no Steve, In the wild it's all about survival of the fittest, get as big as you can by winter....

So many wild babies will power feed in an attempt to put on as much size as they possibly can by winter.

Some of us, (myself included) pace the feeding a bit since I never brumate babies.

I should have clarified my statement. What I ment was that a smaller adult in the wild may be much older than a much larger size captive breed snake. A few of my wild caught radixes that have died from what appears to be old age were always smaller than many of the captive bred snakes I have.