Hello! A couple questions

[Dragonfiremule]

Hello! I joined this forum a couple days ago, and I've been lurking. I joined mainly to do research about garter snakes, because I'm interested in getting one sometime later this year.

Anyway, first things first, a couple questions. ;P

I heard that slugs are high in calcium and the like. Is this true? And if it is, is there enough calcium and the like to be able to avoid adding vitamin powder and stuff on his food? Or would I still need that? (Since I'm not planning on feeding live fish on a regular basis.)

What, in your opinions, is the best substrate for someone new to snakes? In regards to the easiest to clean/safest/cheapest.

Oh, and how sociable are garters? I know it depends on the snake, but as a whole, would you say they're the more aloof sort, or sociable?

Also, I live in Southern Cali, and I've noticed it's EXTREMELY difficult to find a garter snake because of all our stupid laws (I went to 5 different reptile stores in the area. Nada.) I've been thinking about buying one from either Scott or Dan or Jeff (I've been stalking you guys. :P), but since I'm so far away, shipping is really expensive. More then the actual snakes I'm interested in, actually. Anyone know anyone closer to me?

Oh, I read that a garter snake enclosure shouldn't get above 80. In the summer here, room temp can easily get above that, especially if my parents are trying to save on the electric bill. Should I worry about it, or do you think it'll be fine? I mean, if it gets above 85 or so in the house my parents turn on the AC, but I was wondering if even that was too hot. (Summer last year got up to 115 degrees F outside.... see what I mean about room temp easily getting above 80? D: )

So, now that my main questions are out of the way, a little about me;
I'm a 15 year old girl who is just ending my Freshman year in highschool. This will be my first snake ever, and my second pet. (My first being a hamster.... when I was 7.) I've been kinda hesitant in getting one, since I know they live a long time, and I'm not sure how responsible I'll end up being, so I decided to research my heart out (When in doubt, do research. A motto I live by.). Yeah, so I live in a suburb in extremely Southern Cali (Around an hour north of San Diego). Anyway, nice to meet you!

[guidofatherof5]

Welcome to the forum. All good questions.
I'm impressed with your responsibility to the snakes future.
You've come to the right place.

[Charis]

Hello & welcome! Kudos for doing your research first!
I'm not sure about the temps, so I'll let someone else answer that one. Generally, garters are very sociable. Though it can vary from individuals, females are usually more calm & easier to handle. In comparison to lots of other snakes, garters are way more active & seem to have a lot more curiosity than most other snakes. I like to compare garters to hamsters, boids & pythons are usually content to sit in their owners lap & not move for hours. Where as garters like to explore when you are holding them. So unlike with the boids you have to pay attention to them the whole time you are holding them. Some people don't like them because of that, but others love them for it, since they are a more interactive snake.
Don't know about the slugs. But most garters will take Frozen/Thawed fish just fine if you don't want to feed live. Petco carries frozen whole silversides in with the frozen fish food supplies. They are a safe fish to feed & aren't real expensive.
The cheapest substrate is newspaper, it's pretty good in most respects, you just need to change it quite often. Aspen is good too, you can spot clean it once or twice a week & then only change the whole thing every month or two. Those are the two substrates I use & what I like best of all I've tried. Hope that helped you some!

[Mommy2many]

Welcome to the forum! Glad to see you are researching before adopting. There is a lot of info here from many people. Please don't hesitate to ask about anything. We are all here to learn from each other.

Many people here (myself included) adore having the garter snake as our companions because they are very social and interactive. They come in many colors and varieties and are easy to care for overall.

Good luck!

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, Dragonfiremule

[Dragonfiremule]

Thanks for all the warm welcomes!

@ Charis - Thanks for answering quite a few of my questions!
I didn't know that they sell frozen silversides, although I did know that was a good option for live fish. Thanks!
I'll probably go with Aspen for the bedding; it sounds the easiest since I don't want to constantly have to clean out the entire cage. Thanks for telling me about it.

@Mommy - Yeah. I had to get a snake that wouldn't eat mice (since my mom strictly forbade it), and Garter snakes topped the list because of how pretty they are. I was just making sure they were sociable; I don't want a snake I can never touch!

[guidofatherof5]

They are down right gregarious. They also have mind control powers.
You will find yourself drawn to them by some unseen force.
These are all good things.

[ConcinusMan]

Or, they could downright brainwash you and make you their slave, like this guy for example ^^^.

Aspen is OK, but newspaper pellets or carefresh is good. Really, if nothing else is available, you could just line the bottom with newspaper, and shred some newspaper by hand, making a pile for them to hide in. Newspaper needs to be completely changed frequently.

For natural looking substrate I prefer a mixture of fir bark and coconut fiber. If your enclosure is large enough and not too crowded, you can just sift it through a screen once a week(remove feces and clumps) and keep using what's left as long as it doesn't stink. It lasts a while.

Whatever you use, it needs to be absorbent and kept as dry as possible.

For my snakes I make sure one end is around 70-75 in the daytime, and the other end can be 80-86. It's better to error on the cool side, than to overheat them. A 10-15 degree drop in temperature at night is important, or simply turn off heat sources so the whole tank drops to room temperature at night. Also important is a regular day/night cycle (use a timer) otherwise, they could get confused and refuse to eat.

[Dragonfiremule]

Thanks for the info, Con.

Do you have an idea for how I could make the one side cool? Obviously in the summer I won't be using a heating pad at all. Do they make cooling pads? Something to keep the cooler side at 70 ish? Nighttime gets to around 60-70, so I'm not worrying about the day/night cycle in summer, at least.

[ConcinusMan]

I don't know how big your snake is, but if the room is about 70 degrees you can accomplish the temperature gradient in a 10 gallon screen top enclosure by placing a 40 or 60 watt ceramic heat emitter above(12 inches above, on top of the screen) one end of the tank. Just my opinion, but I think heat from above is better for garters. Heat pads can cause problems. IF you do use one, I recommend putting it on the side of the glass, not below.

When using heat emitters or basking bulbs, don't forget to monitor humidity. They can dry the air. 50-70% humidity is good. If it gets too dry, you can mist the area under the heat bulb and that will increase humidity.

Don't forget most garters cannot tolerate dry air below 40 percent and they are very tolerant to cold, but not heat. Too cold and they'll live. Too hot and dry and they'll die quickly.

At the same time, if kept constantly too damp and cold and they are vulnerable to skin and respiratory infections.

I don't mean for it to sound overly complicated. Garters are very easy to care for, and tolerant of short term "less-than-ideal" conditions. I'm sure you'll do fine.