General characterization of subspecies attitudes

[kerensa]

What I have noticed of my red-sided (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) is they are pretty much dog tame; not all that excitable and settle down to being held well. I've held the 8 that are from the same litter of them in one hand a number of times, and they twine my fingers and such with out any issue while I clean their enclosure with the other hand- Mind you this also means I was able to pick all 8 of them up at once. The other 6 red sided are also nice, but are not kept together so interaction ia all one on one. The ones kept separate also tend to be a little more excitable.

My Eastern (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) scrubs are fairly excitable, they appear to be thinking "OMG the monster is gonna eat me!!" every time I go into the enclosure- warning strikes and scrambling to get away etc. I don't think any have ever made contact- The adults I've delt with have all been calm, friendly interested snakes. Belle-Fleur is the most eager to be handled snake I've ever had. (I've had some very friendly snakes)

[Stefan-A]

T. elegans vagrans. 40-50 specimens. One individual tried to strike and that was under duress. None have ever so much as put on a threat display, including the one that tried to bite. The females I've handled have been anything but skittish, they've curled up instead of scampering. The males have varied from skittish to almost indifferent. Only 1 has musked me, the same individual that tried to strike.

T. sirtalis parietalis. 2 specimens, male and female, almost polar opposites. The female was somewhat skittish, lunged at me 3 times, under duress. The male appeared indifferent to handling. Neither put on a threat display. Neither musked.

T. sirtalis tetrataenia. 1 specimen, female. Frequent threat displays, frequent musking. 1 strike in 5 years, under duress, on the second day after it was acquired.

[ProXimuS]

I've got a male Gulf Coast Ribbon(Thamnophis proximus orarius), and he's a little skittish. He'll hide if there are any huge sudden movements or anything. A little freaky when you first pick him up but calms down pretty readily. I've only had him for about 5 months, but he has never ever tried to bite or musk me. Even when I first caught him(he's wild caught).

[SilasBannook]

Great feedback. Thanks all.

[Steveo]

I can't really characterize any of mine because they're only a few months old. They're all flighty and still occasionally musk (especially the pickeringii).

Of the T. e. vagrans and T. radix I've found in the wild, the radix always fled and did not strike when captured. vagrans females act very defensively but do not strike unless cornered (one that I brought home for a few months was fairly docile for a big gravid gal but would tire of being held after 4 or 5 minutes and try to flee); males are flighly and musk, some have struck while I took pictures but it was always when I caught them out in the open without cover nearby.

[norcalj]

Out of all of the garters that I've ever kept, Bluestripes are absolutely the nuttiest! As a whole, they just seem to be hyper flighty. Often times, just walking past their tanks will cause them to go go ballistic, and fly up against the terrarium wall. Out in the field, the worst smelling musk that I ever encountered comes from Santa Cruz garters. It's way worse than Terrestris and Infernalis.

[ConcinusMan]

Out in the field, the worst smelling musk that I ever encountered comes from Santa Cruz garters. It's way worse than Terrestris and Infernalis.[/QUOTE]

It is pretty bad. Also, they tend to bite very aggressively and I've had pretty significant reactions to their saliva.

[Invisible Snake]

*I'm new to these 2 species/subspecies of garter snakes and currently working with mostly babies/juveniles, these are my personal observations*

Thamnophis sirtalis infernalis and Thamnophis cyrtopsis ocellatus are very similar in attitudes, both are defensive and don't like to be handled and won't hesitate to strike at something or someone they find threatening. My Ocellatus prefer to sleep under the substrate during the day and are very active when it gets dark. My Infernalis spends most of their time hidden either in a hide or under the substrate, they are very timid and don't like to be handled. Ocellatus are flighty, but will calm down after being held for a couple of minutes. Both prefer to eat live fish (I haven't tried worms yet) and will only eat heavily scented pinkies.

When threatened my infernalis will flatten its head and keep its body relatively low to the ground ready to strike. When my Ocellatus feels threatened/cornered they will rise up (like standing up, but it's body is still curled up) and puff up their bodies to appear bigger than they really are and won't hesitate to strike. I noticed these behaviors while trying to feed them unscented pinkies, they didn't recognize it as food and felt threatened.

[Invisible Snake]

*I'm new to these 2 species/subspecies of garter snakes and currently working with mostly babies/juveniles, these are my personal observations*

Thamnophis sirtalis infernalis and Thamnophis cyrtopsis ocellatus are very similar in attitudes, both are defensive and don't like to be handled and won't hesitate to strike at something or someone they find threatening. My Ocellatus prefer to sleep under the substrate during the day and are very active when it gets dark. My Infernalis spends most of their time hidden either in a hide or under the substrate, they are very timid and don't like to be handled. Ocellatus are flighty, but will calm down after being held for a couple of minutes. Both prefer to eat live fish (I haven't tried worms yet) and will only eat heavily scented pinkies.

When threatened my infernalis will flatten its head and keep its body relatively low to the ground ready to strike. When my Ocellatus feels threatened/cornered they will rise up (like standing up, but it's body is still curled up) and puff up their bodies to appear bigger than they really are and won't hesitate to strike. I noticed these behaviors while trying to feed them unscented pinkies, they didn't recognize it as food and felt threatened.

I forgot to mention that the infernalis babies musk a lot, but grow out of that after regular handling and I've never been musked by the ocellatus.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

What are atratus like?