Don't worry about getting a small garter. I remember when Hermes was first shipped to me and I opened the package...I looked inside and saw him for the first time and thought..."Oh my gosh...I have never seen anything so small before...how am I ever going to care for and feed this little fellow?" His head was literally smaller than my pinky fingernail! He was only about 6 inches long. Garters can actually swallow food items a couple times larger than their head size. Hermes could already swallow half a pinky then. They dislocate their jaws and stretch their heads and mouths around the food. I wasn't comfortable feeding Hermes large pieces..and I still am not...I have watched him swallow large pieces and it makes me uncomfortable watching him try to work the pieces down. I chop everything up into small little pieces and he does just fine. He is ten months now and his head is still just about the size of my pinky nail. If he had to eat a whole small pinky mouse though, he could do it.