Cuddles!

[EasternGirl]

Garters are pretty tough...as long as he doesn't have to stay in temps like that for an extended period of time...or as long as it's not like 95 in the tank...he should be okay. See if you can talk to your family about not moving stuff around in your room..or try to tell them it's important to stay away from his tank and not mess with it. My family knows not to go anywhere near my snake tanks or face my wrath. I'm glad he's okay. My snakes go through periods where they want to spend lots of time on the warm side or lots of time on the cool side. If he is spending all of his time on the warm side though, it may be a sign that it is not warm enough for him in the tank. If I see my snakes spending all of their time on the warm side...I increase temps. If I see them spending all of their time on the cool side or hanging out in the water dish a lot, I lower temps.

[ConcinusMan]

That little scar a little ways up from the vent...has it always been there?

That's the "belly button". All snakes have it but it tends to fade away as they get older. It's where the yolk was attached.

[ConcinusMan]

Sounds like a new morph.
You mean a Northwestern (T.ordiniodes) with red speckles in it, right?

I want a speckled Northwestern now! I always want things that aren't easy to come by....

Actually they're very easy to come by. At least half the northwesterns I find have undersides like that. Especially if the stripe is orange or red. In the snakes that have the "speckles" the stripe is usually not solid colored. It's actually "speckled" with color too. Anyway, rusty or orange colored speckles below and above is very common. Not hard to come by.

Northwesterns don't really need a lot of heat. They function well at room temp to low 80's. In the wild they spend as much as 9 months brumating, sometimes emerging briefly on mild, sunny days even in winter. They can even survive brief freezing.

I've been searching to find a paper that supports the statement "up to 90% of reptiles carry salmonella" with a statistically significant sample.

Well this is true. Snakes a fairly clean though. Their skin usually doesn't carry enough salmonella to make you sick. Their feces on the other hand, are loaded with it. Always wash your hands after you've had them in the tank, and after handling them.

[acovert]

The temp was getting up towards ninety degrees. Our heating system is slightly difficult. If you turn it up an extra notch or two then it gets extremely hot throughout the house. I think the heating system is old. This house was built in the '50s or '60s, so some things are a bit outdated. Right now he's been spending 75% of his time in the warm side of the tank, but the temperature hasn't been down much lately. The gauge has had the same general temperature reading for a month now. It only deviates at night. He was in the cool side this morning when I was finally able to get back to my room. That's where the main hide is.

My family knows not to touch the tank, and typically they're not even allowed in the room without explicit permission. Today, though, my stepfather stayed home from church because the new mattresses were coming. Someone had to be here to show the people bringing them where to put them. I couldn't tell him not to go into the room because they were supposed to lay the new mattress down on my bed frame. Instead, they just blocked my doorway with them.

[ConcinusMan]

90 seems a bit excessive for a northwestern. Be careful. Not much warmer can be fatal. They really only need 78-82 on the warm side to thrive.

[acovert]

I never let it get much above 80 degrees. That's why I brought him out that night - I didn't want him getting too warm. Usually our heat doesn't get turned up that high, but I think my stepfather may have turned it up because he's been sick. Right now the temperature on the warm side is a stable 80 degrees. I keep an eye on it all day.

[katach]

Breeding NWs can be a very long process. Also the babies are very tricky to raise. Be sure you are very ready.

[kibakiba]

Kat and I know the troubles of breeding these little suckers... They are such a pain, with their pickiness and unwillingness to cooperate!
(off topic sort of, but Kat, Snakey ate... so no need to rush into coming here.. He's taking pinkies like they're going out of fashion )

[katach]

That's good. I'll call you soon to figure out when.

[acovert]

I've already raised one picky eater, though. I've had Cuddles since he was a month old and it's been one battle after another with him. Of course, more would be harder, but it'll at least a year before I even have everything I need to try to breed them. By then I should have steady populations of food sources and I might have better luck switching the babies to pinkies than I've had with Cuddles, who won't take anything unless it moves.