Ruth's obscurus UK

[ProXimuS]

Very beautiful girl This is a type of garter I'd love to own someday.

[Eight]

That's a good looking garter you have there. And I agree that you don't find too many garter keepers out there but that may be for the best. As Will said earlier they aren't as easy to feed as corns or royals, and people that are just in the hobby to make money overlook them thank god.

I have noticed more and more people breeding royal morphs and you can tell with a lot that its all about money to them. Personally I would have a happy little marcianus over any royal morph.

Again as Chris said its nice to see another uk keeper

[Ruth]

My obscurus should be getting a friend today. My poor hubby has a 7hr round trip to collect her and he doesn't even like snakes. I'm told she's a Florida Blue female and I'm hoping all being well she will be sharing a home with my current girl. I do wish I'd bought more than one and love seeing all your photo's of your garters hanging out together.

Obviously there will be a quarantine period and the snake will need sexing before they can live happily ever after but I'm still excited. I would like a couple of groups of Garters and am now very much leaning towards the natural sets ups people have discussed and have a little experimental terrarium going on to see if I can keep the plants alive.

[Natrix]

Be patient and you'll start to find other garters. We are a tiny minority amongst reptile keepers, but when you've put in the time and effort to acquire a snake you're more likely to treat it as it deserves - I'd wager that of the neglected snakes in the UK there's a significant difference between garters and corns/royals.

How often do you read online about some nobber looking for the biggest snake available, then you see them post photos of themselves wearing a gym vest to show their physique as much as the big snake they are holding. So many snakes are owned by the sort of person that wants to boast about the size or danger of their animal rather than being genuinely interested in keeping them well. RFUK is rife with examples.

Well said Chris

[Darlo]

Glad she arrived safely! Hope the little one does well for you ;-)

[Ruth]

Glad she arrived safely! Hope the little one does well for you ;-)

Thank you and I'm sure she'll be fine. We'll see if she likes to musk on me as much as my other and it will be interesting to see the different personalities.

[Ruth]

I took out the new arrival (florida blue) for the third time today in the hope of getting a few pictures. She is VERY lively and in my opinion quite cheeky. If she isn't in her bath then she's up on the log looking for a way out and when I open it up I have to be quick. She thrashed around the first two times she came out and even tried to bite me twice, she has spunk. Today although not calm she was a little more restrained and I'm sure she will get used to me. She doesn't musk as badly as my obscurus did so that's a plus.

Here are some of the pictures they aren't great but I didn't have anyone to take the photo's as I held her.

DSCN6400.jpgDSCN6403.jpgDSCN6405.jpgDSCN6411.jpgDSCN6412.jpg

[Selkielass]

Pretty thing!
I've got heard Florida blues are spunky, but I haven't worked with any myself.

[Ruth]

Pretty thing!
I've got heard Florida blues are spunky, but I haven't worked with any myself.

Oh I have a little lavender corn that hates me lol He's hated me since I met him in the pet shop and will go to bite nearly every time. He's ok when he's been held a while and is fine in all other behaviour and I actually rather like him. It's amazed me how much personality a snake can have and the differences among them. I have another corn that is super friendly and will look to come out, prop itself up and work his way onto my arm and just snuggle up. When I pop him back he's reluctant to go back and will look at you as if to ask to come back out.

[Ruth]

Well I now have another two Obscurus a male and another female and they are doing wonderfully.

I thought I would do an update as I just received my first ever Garter bite, not from my obscurus but from this girl.DSCN6407.jpg

I don't know why but she really doesn't like me. Feeding her tonight she escaped me while thrashing around my boys came hurtling upstairs and distracted me. Primrose (the snake) took her chance and went for it, she was off. I called hubby to come help me catch her which we managed quite easily as she decided to go behind some draws. As I had a good hold of her, or what I thought was a good hold she managed to just swing her head round enough to latch onto my thumb with half her mouth. I wish I had got hubby to take a photo but he had gone white and was panicking. I thought never mind she'll let go in a sec, I was wrong she held her ground. Ok so maybe a couple of minutes, nope. So I'm now wondering how I get her off. I remember being told to slowly push their head forward so as to disengage them but this didn't work. Again I had heard about submerging their heads in water this too did nothing. Running tap, nothing. I'm sat on the bed with a panicked hubby looking at her as she looks at me. I had no choice but to pull her off. I did it gently and she was free and placed in her feeding tub. I saw to my thumb and went back a few minutes later concerned she would be too stressed to eat. Again I was wrong she had a nice full belly and was looking to get out. She's now in her home hopefully tired from her little adventure.

So what is the best way to release a Garters bite ? She will get me again