how friendly are they?

[krystalirelan@southslope.]

Ok so I've had my Garters since Feburuay. We handle them bidaily (is that a word?) Oink, the male, will flaten out and try to bite(and suceed alot) every time. Tia the female just tries to get away. We have a red tail and 5 corns, they are down right cuddley, will my garters ever get that way?? We have had the corns since infant and the boa less than a year, he was VERY aggressive to start and within 1 month he is like a big kitty cat. I thought the garter would be the same...am i insane?

[GarterGuy]

Only time will really tell with your garters. Remember that garters are very active snakes, so they're not as apt to just kind of "hang out" like boas and cornsnakes. This sometimes means that they can be a bit more flighty and possibly nippy. My little Petra (female T.s.concinnus) is really great once you get her out of the tank. Doing that usually involves a lot of biting and a little blood (she's only about a foot long now). She's just an aggressive feeder and bites anything that moves in her tank. Once she knows it's not feeding time, she really mellows out and just kind of cruises around. Some garters can be really mellow and are a lot like your other snakes, then there are others that make mambas look down right cuddly! Just differs a lot from individual to individual and especially between captive bred and wild caught. Best thing, just enjoy your garters for their uniqueness and maybe with time they'll mellow out..............some.
Roy

[greyhawk]

How warm do you keep them? My baby water snakes activity is almost directly correlated with how warm they are. At about 70 degrees they are calm and slither slowly through your hand when you hold them, and you put the temp up to 80 or so and they are quite spaztic sometimes. So maybe try handling the snake when its a bit cooler. This might not be the problem, its just a possibility.

[drache]

A couple of my garters are much more skittish than the others
but they have mellowed a lot over time
They're all more lively than my other snakes, though.
I can leave a king snake on the couch while I get something in another room - the garter I better take along

[GarterGuy]

I keep my garters (only garter right now), at the mid 70's with a basking site at around the mid 80's. Yeh, snakes will be slower at lower temps. They pretty much run off of solar power, if you will, so the colder they are the slower they'll be. I wouldn't recomend keeping them cooler, just to make them easier to handle.....better to have a spastic healthy snake then a calm sick one.
Roy

PS....Too warm a temps. could lead to hyperactive behavior.....make sure your snakes are able to regulate what temp. they are. The whole tank shouldn't be heated. The snake should be able to go to warm or cool sections of the tank at will, and also should be able to cool off at night.

[adamanteus]

I wouldn't recomend keeping them cooler, just to make them easier to handle......

Absolutely! The snake's well-being must come first. Maybe handle your snakes in the morning, before they are fully warmed up (presuming you allow the temperature in the viv to fall overnight).

[RedSided]

My garter had always been like that until about two years ago she just mellowed out, shes still very head shy though, no raising hands near her head or ya get nipped.