Calmest Garters

[Cazador]

Some of the T.s. concinnus that I've had have been a bit jumpy, and some have even been a bit aggressive. Others have been just great. The T. ordinoides that I've recently acquired are extremely personable. I've only owned four of them, but they've all been GREAT little snakes. They are inquisitive, friendly, and love to be held. It'll be great once a reliable source has been established. I've had T.s. sirtalis that were also very friendly, but these ordinoides are really special. Anybody want to comment about the T.s. infernalis or T. cyrtopsis ocellatus?

[Gijs & Sabine]

In my case the Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia are the calmest and the Thamnophis atratus atratus are the most nervous.

That's funny, our tetrataenia and atratus behave just the opposite from yours, Fons

I agree with drache, the plains garters (radix) are in our opinion really quite and easy to handle. We have one huge female that likes to be hold.

I also agree with ssssnakeluvr, our melanistic easterns are also calm and friendly, except when we feed them, then they'll bite for sure.

And to jump in on cazadors reply, our infernalis group (sub-adult) are nice ones also, they're calm and curious.
But the T.cyrtopsis ocellatus is very shy and gets frightened real easy, so that's most certainly not a garter to start with. By the way they're also difficult eaters.

[mikm]

I would say Radix overall as well ... I have owned several variations of this morph and they all had a very nice temperament. I have also found the Red Spots to be quite variable and the nw BLUES to be sweet as Rick mentioned.

marian

[ssssnakeluvr]

I had a wild caught parietalis....big female about 32 inches long....one of the meanest snakes I ever had...she now resides in Scott Felzer's collection. I have one of her babies, a male with orange sides...he's a bit of a nipper until i pick him up, then he's ok. my high red oregon red spots always strike at me when i feed them, were from a wild caught red spot that Brian Eager has. My wild caught red spots are mellow, have never tried to bite.....

[ssssnakeluvr]

there's a pic of the female parietalis on my home page...the big meanie...

[adamanteus]

Just to bring this thread back to Glens' original question....."Which Garter, available in the UK, would make a good starter snakes for his daughters". I got the impression from Glens' earlier threads that his daughters want to handle the snakes, and that he wants to buy babies. With that in mind I would still question the suitability of any Garter. I think baby Garters are just too fragile for small, inexperienced children to handle. Just my opinion.

[drache]

I totally agree - I'd go with adults, or at least year olds.
Babies need a lot of care too and a lot can go wrong very fast.
The first snake I let my daughter handle, was the biggest one I have and it wasn't a Garter.

[Gyre]

My common garter is fairly calm, though I wouldn't say she 'enjoys' being handled. Not unless there's food in it for her.

Still, my friend's ball python is ten times calmer, even with children, and obviously enjoys being held. I feel the size is good too, not scary for most kids.

Hannah

[adamanteus]

I'm with you there Hannah, I think something like a Royal (Ball) Python (Python regius) is more suitable.

[KITKAT]

Why is that? I was either going to get them or a melanistic eastern as my next garter. (According to Scott Felzer, Florida Blues are the biggest of the garters he sells).

I had a number of Florida Blues before Ohio decided they were native to Ohio.

They would rather strike and bite than be handled, without exception. My 42 inch Florida blue bit my right hand when I was sexing her. She left an imprint in bloody tooth marks where she bit me, which was in the web of the thumb-forefinger. She got my hand all the way into her mouth, and bit so hard that the tooth marks made a perfect imprint of the inside of the roof of her mouth... you could even see where her eyes were, the rows of teeth, etc.

A herper who was teaching me to probe said, "Are you allright?!?" and I replied... "Not the first time I've been bitten, and won't be the last...