Greetings from Ohio

[rickymar81]

Welcome Cara! You got a good looking guy there

[gordonthegarter]

Thanks for all the replies and advice already! Measured him last night and he's somewhere in the 20 - 24 inch range (he wasn't being very cooperative to be measured, too much to explore!) Will free the crickets tomorrow when it's a little warmer (they should be happy, they've been saved from being eaten by things... Well housed things anyway!)

I love this little guy. He very willingly comes out to hang out with me and just yawned and was by far the cutest thing I've seen a snake do. Here's a few better pictures (one really good one to see his paint job) and a couple vent area pics. Pretty sure he's a male, but you guys are probably better at guessing than me!

gordon 006.jpggordon 007 (2).jpggordon 007.jpg see, it looks like he was painted and it chipped off haha
gordon 009.jpg best picture of the vent area I could get (he doesn't like holding still unless "cuddling" :3)

[Jeff B]

Welcome Cara. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that snake looks like a normally thin post brumation FEMALE. Without having in my hands I could be wrong though. Best of luck with him or her which ever it ends up being. Course if it's female and was bred you might have some babies on your hands in a few months.

[chris-uk]

I'd also suggest that it's female rather than male.

Nice looking snake, the subtle red colours are nice.

[guidofatherof5]

Female. Nice taper from the vent plus the overall body size and head structure say female to me

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Nice looking girl!

[gordonthegarter]

Looks like Gordon might need a more girly name haha. Such a sweet snake! Loves to cuddle, tries to climb back out the second she goes into her cage to stay with me, such a calm snake for being wild! I think I lucked out here.

Won't touch her fish, and I have off today so buying some crawlers and spending the day with some scaley cuddles (along with an iguana bath cause the other scaley friend needs love too )

[StrmChasr]

Hello and welcome. I have an Eastern garter myself that I caught back in September. Walmart is a good place to get nightcrawlers. That's what I feed mine when it's too cold to catch them in the yard. It may take some time for her to get settled in before she starts eating. I think it took about a week for Napolean to settle in and start eating.

[gordonthegarter]

Bought her some nightcralwers. She looked a little interested (stared down the squirming worm bits) but ignored them after that. Also bought some calcium supplement (with D3 added) and a nicer water dish/soaking tub. She isn't a huge fan of the water yet, but it is still cool and 'm sure once it gets warmer in here she'll be loving that dish! The first one I bought for her is going to be cleaned and given to the iguana. I'm sure he'll love the new dish.

I'm sure I was getting weird looks at Walmart too! Buying a thing of worms and some cookies and cereal haha! And after reading a thread about snake belly buttons, I got curious and looked at her belly and sure enough, there's a white line where it used to be!

Oh! And I told my mom that Gordon's most likely a girl, so her name is now Violet! Was between that, Blossom, Gardenia, and I threw Ivy in there but my mom wasn't ready to give up one of her kitten names to a "slimey snake" (we took care of 17 kittens over last summer and own 2 of them, sisters from the same litter too. My house is a zoo!)

[guidofatherof5]

Great caution must be take when cats are around garters. Be sure you have a secure strong lid that the cats can't get into or fall threw if they jump on it.
This forum has had many threads about injured garters at the hands of cats.