Chris' garters

[guidofatherof5]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words but your description was pretty worthy too.

[chris-uk]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words but your description was pretty worthy too.

So worthy that I appear to have posted it twice.

[RicMartin]

Very Cool!

[chris-uk]

Thought I'd share how I keep my records for growth and shedding for my garters. I've been keeping a spreadsheet in Google Docs (now Google Drive) for some time, but I'd keep written sheets and every few months copy the data over to the spreadsheet. Pretty much all it did was draw a growth chart for me.

As it's now easier for me to update spreadsheets on my phone (Google have improves the app on Android, the Drive app is far better than the old Google Docs app) I thought I'd improve my sheet. It now has a summary sheet which pulls in key information about each snake from the sheets (each snake has it's own sheet). I've also added more calculations to give me information like the gap between sheds, averages for those gaps, the current weight and change in weight from previous weight...

I like data, and I like my garter snakes, so a spreadsheet showing me data about my garter snakes is pretty damn cool.

Here's a couple of screenshots (you should be able to click the image to get a larger picture):


The summary screen, with cells that change colour to highlight possible areas of concern (overdue sheds or snakes that have lost weight).



The details sheet. I just enter the events in the main list and a bunch of functions pull the data into the other parts of the sheet and run calculations on the data. There's another section below the sheds column that runs the calculations around weight changes.

I'll still be keeping week to week feeding records on my whiteboard, the spreadsheet would become quite unwieldy if I noted every feed day for every snake, so I'll just record significant periods of non-feeding in the spreadsheet.

All in all, I think I've now got a slick, geeky way to keep my records and view them quickly from anywhere. If anyone else uses Google Spreadsheets and either wants to suggest improvements or wants any of my formulas let me know (some of the formulas are tied to the way I keep my records, but could be easily adapted).

[EasternGirl]

Great pics, Chris...and thanks for the update on the brood. O...M....G....I want a San Fran so badly!!! Can I come live with you and Char so that I can own one? Anyone who wants to let me know if they have an infernalis for cheap...I wouldn't mind having one of those! I am so happy to know that you are caring for John's garters...it makes me smile and feel sad at the same time. Greg has the others, right?

[chris-uk]

Great pics, Chris...and thanks for the update on the brood. O...M....G....I want a San Fran so badly!!! Can I come live with you and Char so that I can own one? Anyone who wants to let me know if they have an infernalis for cheap...I wouldn't mind having one of those!

You want an infernalis really, they're far more entertaining to watch than the tetrataenia. If you were over here Greg could help you with an infernalis - I'm sure he'd cut you a deal .

I am so happy to know that you are caring for John's garters...it makes me smile and feel sad at the same time. Greg has the others, right?

Greg has most of John's garters (and got a litter of checkereds from the same parents as my Eskerina), although 3 went to another keeper and I've lost track of those ones. I believe that they may have been sold on last year because I saw an advert that could have been them.

[chris-uk]

Feeling a bit bad after a feeding accident yesterday. I feed my infernalis in separate tubs, and managed to trap the tip of Dante's tail between the top of the tub and the lid. She fed with her tail trapped and as the lids are black and the tubs opaque I could see she was eating but it wasn't until I bent took a close look to see why she was thrashing around that I realised. By that point she'd managed to make a clear break in bone and most of the skin was torn about 3mm from the tip.
Unfortunately there was no way that it would heal and it would have dropped off anyway (it was bent at a right angle) so I removed it and treated the tail with some F10 barrier ointment. There was no bleeding and she continued to eat while her tail was trapped and after I'd freed her and amputated at the break.

It's not going to do her any lasting harm and she got extra salmon out of me. What I thought was worth sharing was that having her tail trapped didn't stop her clearing the bowl of salmon in the tub.

[guidofatherof5]

Sounds like you did a good job Doc.

[chris-uk]

Sounds like you did a good job Doc.

Good job of fixing it. Not a good job of putting her in her tub for feeding. I've just checked her over and applied some more F10, she struggled a bit when I was looking at her and bled just a couple of drops. I'll keep her in a small RUB so that she can't move so much and to reduce the risk of infection (clean RUB as opposed to viv that she shares with her siblings that has Repticard substrate and a whole load of places to burrow and hide), and keep applying the F10 a couple of times a day.

I managed to get a bottle of Hibiclens and some triple antibiotic cream brought back from the US recently, so I have those as treatment options. I don't see a topical antibiotic as necessary at this point, as the F10 has good broad spectrum antimicrobial and antifungal actions. I got the Hibiclens in case I ever need to treat mouth infections, but is it much use for other things?

[jwolfe152]

wow i know you said it was a small area but how did you amputate it without exposing bone or hurting her more?