Steveo's Garters

[Steveo]

A biting radix, interesting. How about a few photos of that green radix, please.

It was late when I posted that and I was mistaken - it's the red female that likes the taste of my hands (I think I mentioned her trying to swallow my finger a few months ago) - but I can get a new picture of the green girl later this week.

[guidofatherof5]

Sounds good.

[Steveo]

2013-07-21 21.07.45.jpg

[Steveo]

It has been quite some time since I've updated here. The female puget sound garter (which was grey, though I ordered a blue one) passed away suddenly. All 3 of the pickeringii I have purchased have died before reaching one year of age; one failed to thrive from the start, one ate itself to death (i think) and this one is a mystery.

This past week the male eastern started showing symptoms of severe neurological problems - he would have episodes where he appeared to cramp up and violently turn to his right for about 2 minutes. The episodes became more and more frequent until he passed away yesterday (I was planning to euthanize him soon but it killed him in just a few days). His former tankmate seems to be fine so I'm hoping it's genetic rather than infectious. Still, I have now lost some or all of 2 of the 3 pairs I was hoping to breed. I am still planning to put the two red radix together in a few months. The female eastern, largest of the bunch at 128g, will be in a holding pattern for now. I'd consider finding a flame stud for her but I don't know how likely that is. The green radix female will also not be bred for the time being... I know she's from red lineage but I want to see if I can find a green male to pair her with, just to see what happens. None of the local wild radix are green.

I feel like I'm at an impasse here because the wife is adamant on not getting any more snakes. State law says I can't sell any native species, so my breeding program is kind of impractical without the pickeringii. My options with the easterns and radix are to keep, give away, or euthanize offspring. I would obviously keep a few but I don't have the resources to keep entire litters every year and I don't know that I can find homes for them all. I might just sit tight with what I have and pursue other ventures... I want to get into falconry and I'm considering starting a brewery within the next year. I'll cool everyone for the winter and think it over, I guess.

[guidofatherof5]

Sorry to hear about your losses. Not breeding will certainly take away any future problems/decisions with offspring.

[ConcinusMan]

A biting radix, interesting. How about a few photos of that green radix, please.

Whenever I have to disturb that little red girl you sent, she does a viper impression and strikes at me repeatedly. But that's about as violent as it gets with any radix I've ever had. It's just a show. Even the most tame garter will try to swallow your finger if it smells like food.