Personality wise, what's your favorite breed?

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

before I really thought about it, I was going to pick the concinnus as my best bunch. They are just so darned curious!

[charles parenteau]

I Don't have enough experience with other species ,I only have lot experience with Eastern sirtalis s.
When i was young I had a huge vivarium with lot of eastern garter snake in it
and I learn a lot from their social activity how they interact with each other and with me especially and I don't think I will have the chance to do it with other garter snake.I have difficulty to open my mind on other garter snake species .

Im limited with garter snake ,I mean I can't breed them and have babies I will be stuck with them so ,I m just working with eastern and since few months with atratus ,but i still wonder If its a good idea for me to bred them ,I don't want get stuck with babies?

Eastern are my favorite only because this is the only garter species im use to!!!

[ConcinusMan]

@ aSnakeLovinBabe: Yup. That's one of the things I absolutely adore about garters, and it's what got me hooked on concinnus.

@ charles: I mainly bred my concinnus for the experience. I had no intention of selling them at the time. Still, when I ended up with so many yearlings, I searched for interested parties. I could find NONE at the time. I had never found anyone who had the slightest interest in concinnus, and I couldn't find anyone who owned them until I joined this forum recently.

Just as well. All healthy yearlings were released in the same area where I got the mother. All 170 of them! (from 6 or 8 broods over 2 decades) Knowing they were bound for release, I didn't go easy on them, and lost some during their first brumation, but I wanted any that remained, to be fit for the wild. I'd like to think that some survived to adults and offset the loss from the wild, the pair that I took and kept for all those years.

[ambertastic]

Do people ever breed snakes for personality traits?

[mb90078]

Interesting question. I don't think it's quite as much of an inheritable trait in snakes as other species of animals, but there may be something to it...

[ambertastic]

Seems like garters would be a prime snake to try it with. Maybe that can be my contribution one day

[jere000]

Thamophis sirtalis sirtalis is my vote, although I only chose them because of the silver morph.

[guidofatherof5]

Do people ever breed snakes for personality traits?

I breed T.radix. The great personality traits just come with the package.

[Selkielass]

Do people ever breed snakes for personality traits?

This paper suggests it might be worth pursuing.

http://compphys.bio.uci.edu/bennett/pubs/60.pdf

[ambertastic]

Thanks for providing the article! That is interesting. I know next to nothing about snakes but from my week's worth of casual research, garters seem to be some of the more active and human-oriented snakes. It also seems that they tend to have large litters and are relatively easy to breed. And that study proves that behavior is very variable (well you guys already knew that, huh?) and suggests heritability. Interesting that behavior studies in wild populations of vertebrates hadn't been conducted earlier.. and that they would choose to do it with reptiles. I think it's a testament to how much potential lies in future garter experimentation! I wonder if there is anything more recent out there? I'm starting to feel a little inspired!
Though - I'm not sure how excited the snake community would be about a predictably docile and active line compared to a beautiful one