Isis' diary.

[EasternGirl]

Well, I thought Seeley was female for a year until he started trying to mate with Cee Cee...lol. Then I posted another pic of him and members confirmed he was in fact a male. I was pretty suspicious given his size in comparison with Cee Cee...he has always stayed so small and then he started the sexual behavior with Cee Cee and I knew.

[Bart]

Frankly, I KNEW something was "wrong" for months. I just kept myself away from checking it, because I was "afraid" of the truth (I saw with eyes of my soul Izy eating big mice, lol!). There's still a possibility that Izy is a female though, but very slim at this point. Oh well - there's a good side of it - It seems Izy doesn't need a bigger cage in the future anymore. And I'll consider buying "her" a buddy (I wouldn't buy another female, because of lack of the room), possibly other species (or subspecies of T. sirtalis) to make it even more interesting.

[EasternGirl]

If you can ever figure out a way to get a picture of the cloaca...post it and we'll have a look!

[Bart]

I've tried, but I have only my cell phone to make photos and Izy is freaking out too much. Can't do it properly. But, srsly, I'm pretty sure Izy's a male. I know how female's tail looks (I've been here for a while and I've kept Kleo), and Izy's doesn't look like that. Plus - Izy's very active, doesn't eat like a vacuum eater, he's (?) timid and shy and so on. And pretty small for a yearling. Typical garter boy. It would be a miracle if Izy turns out to be of a female afterall.

[Stefan-A]

Stefan: are we talking about T. sirtalis parietalis?

In this case, T. elegans vagrans.

[Bart]

But I believe red-sided garters are smaller than wandering garters, males especially. Izy's between 45-50 cm now (when I use a program it pops different sizes, but when Izy's wandering around his cage, I clearly see he's around 50 cm).

[Stefan-A]

But I believe red-sided garters are smaller than wandering garters, males especially. Izy's between 45-50 cm now (when I use a program it pops different sizes, but when Izy's wandering around his cage, I clearly see he's around 50 cm).

Red-sided garters hold the length record among the common garters, which makes them second in size only to T. gigas. As for the vagrans males growing larger and perhaps faster, that may be the case, but if one male vagrans reaches 45 cm in half a year, surely a red-sided can reach it in a full year.

[EasternGirl]

Hmmm...I thought I read somewhere that easterns were the biggest of garters...I know our females average 3 feet or more. Guess I was wrong though.

[Bart]

So I was holding Vita and decided to show her to Izy. Izy, very curious at first, approched and then, suddenly, backed off, frightened. Afer I took Vita away, Izy went crazy. He just cruised around his tank with his tongue out of his mouth, showing it's red colour, like: beware, milk snake! I haz venom and you better not mess with me, cuz I'll use it if I haz to!

Vita, in the other hand, was suspiciously interested. She was flicking her tongue just like when she smells pinky!

It was quite funny to watch, but, srsly, Izy was really scared (not like when he's freaking out at my sight). I have to add that Izy never reacted like this at Amon (Izy was very curious and not scared; I was holding Amon of course, there wasn't any danger for Izy). So much for an idea that garters do not recognise milk snakes as their enemies. Smart little beasties. Let's mention that Izy's twice as big as Vita.

[EasternGirl]

That's funny. Sometimes I take little Hermes and hold him up to Cee Cee's tank so they can see each other. Cee Cee looks at him like he is a big tasty worm and licks her chops...Hermes isn't actually much bigger than the worms that Cee Cee eats .