hello, new to owning snakes

[sketh]

just sent off the email to Jeff at garter snake morphs, hoping to hear back soon! By Thursday of next week i should have some pics ready, if money and other things play nice and things go smoothly.

[ConcinusMan]

Nice!

[sketh]

so while I'm waiting to hear back i went a head and took pics of the setup. let me know if anythings wrong about the setup.

tank(minus heating lamp):
P1010730.jpg
area i had the tank in before:
P1010728.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

I'd get some substrate in there even if it's just paper towels.
She's crawl through her own poop and get it everywhere and on herself.

[sketh]

guidofatherof5, i know lol. the pic of the tank is just how i left things drying after i went to town cleaning them. i have substrate in a container ready for when i get the tank up and running again.

[guidofatherof5]

guidofatherof5, i know lol. the pic of the tank is just how i left things drying after i went to town cleaning them. i have substrate in a container ready for when i get the tank up and running again.

Sounds good.

[sketh]

yup aspen wood shavings.

[ConcinusMan]

I would put the heat lamp over the fake log thingy on one end, water on the other. A 40-50 watt reflector type floodlamp or ceramic heat emitter should do the trick. exceeding that to say 60 watt might be too hot. the idea here is to get air temp on cool end to the 70's (no warmer)while allowing the snake to warm up to 80's-90 F under the lamp. setup looks to be just fine. Just don't fail to clamp that screen on securely on all 4 sides or add a very heavy rock on top.

What did you decide to get from Jeff?

[sketh]

on which one i decided on was the "Axanthic radix 66% possible het(p.h.)blizzard(black and blue, very sharp)$85 " (pasted from the currently avalible for sale section). i hope i navigated his side right lol. havent heard from jeff yet but its only been a few hours since i sent the email anyways. the lamp i have is a simple coned one that came with the tank, has a 50 watt incandescent bulb. for the wild garter i had the fake log under the lamp the half log at the far other end and the blow in the middle, i will switch it up next time. on the clamps part of the tank. it has the 2 clamps in the pic are more necessary? if so i can pick more up later today. for temps it would be right at 75ish on that middle of the tank temp gauge, but at 20-40% humitidty. the gauge came with a guide, which everything so far bought at the stores has been a little off, for garters. the hum gauge has desert, moderate, semi-tropical, tropical. guide said to have it at moderate-semi tropical for garters. after reading that keeping the tank moist can hurt the snake by giving it blisters,the word i found it most described as. i only did that day one and then kept the tank at 20%+ humidity with about 3 mistings a day, once at night one morning and another mid day, after day one. i heard people putting plastic wrap over the top of the cool side helps to keep the humidity up, is that recommended?

[ConcinusMan]

"half log at the far other end and the blow in the middle"

I don't think garter snakes do blow. Drugs are bad, mkay. lol but seriously, blow??

You don't have to worry about humidity for garters. it's really only a concern if it gets below 30% or above 75%

You could mist and partially cover the tank but I wouldn't do that unless youre using an undertank heater. heat might build up too much with overhead heat. If low humidity is a constant problem I would would switch to bottom heat. it won't dry the air as much. then you could place damp moss on the warm side and mist it daily. that should correct it.