I guess he just wanted a friend...

[d_virginiana]

A couple months ago, I moved my two year old albino-erythristic male in with my three year old albino male. Before I did this, the ery/albino was impossible for anyone but me to get out of his tank without being bitten (very food aggressive, and he thought everything was food) and was constantly hiding. The albino, which I'd had for about two years, was completely impossible to handle. Absolutely flipped out whenever anything touched him, and had to be completely restrained/would musk on everything the time or two I had to get a retained eyecap or tail tip off him.

After two months of living together, both of their behavioral issues have completely disappeared. Completely. I'm especially surprised by the albino, who will suddenly just let me pick him up and handle him. I expected them to maybe calm down a little bit, but definitely nothing this drastic.

Has anyone else ever seen behavior change that dramatically when you move two snakes into the same tank? It's been so drastic I've actually started checking on them more regularly to make sure they aren't sick (they don't appear to be and I can't think of any reason they would be).

[Didymus20X6]

My guess: garters feel less threatened when in the presence of other garters. It lowers the chance that a predator will attack me if I have a buddy that can act as a decoy.

[d_virginiana]

Yeah, I figured that mentality might change their behavior a little bit, but never thought it'd be as drastic as it is! Actually ended up calling my husband to come see when I was able to pick up the older one.

[RedSidedSPR]

definitely

the two babies I housed alone were flighty and didn't eat much until I put them together, then they were perfectly calm and fearless and ate relentlessly for the rest of their days.

my WC adult (red sided) was housed alone for years and was always flighty, hid most of the time, and didn't tolerate being held.. within months of putting my concinnus, who is ridiculously calm and friendly (that may or may not have anything to do with it) with him he became almost as calm and bold as the concinnus, although he still doesn't like being held. He also started eating more than all my snakes. Immediate change.

I hear it from others all the time too. I'll always house garters with another of the same sex if I can. I think they're programmed to be communal.

[d_virginiana]

I wonder if it's a bigger deal with males than females. The times I've had females in with either males or females they don't seem to care one way or another, but the males act like they really like having a buddy.

[slipknot711]

my two WC big girls were like that (wild so you can understand why). they would bolt when i opened the cages (housed seperately in quarantine) once they started living together, Penny comes out the second she hears me unlock the door, mostly looking for food but she eats it right out of my hand as does chex.

[EKS56]

Big Momma and Little Man obviously enjoy their company.