Smallest Garter or Ribbon Snake

[Selkielass]

Are they? Excellent!
The stories that some of you shared about some of yours acting feisty had me thinking that they were occasionally nippy.
I'm pulling together info for an article about keeping garter snakes as class pets with an emphasis on the small species as they require so little space compared to corn snakes and the like. (I hate seeing a full grown corn in a baby sized tank.) Both kids and teachers put gentleness and simple feeding at the top of their wish-lists.

[katach]

I wanted to bring the NWs we have in to do an educational thing at my son's school, but his teacher is ignorant about snakes. The kindergarten teacher was open to it, but never got back to me with a date to bring them in. I think as a class pet would be slightly iffy. With the heat and humidity requirements a lot of schools don't allow any plug-in heating due to fire codes and safety. I think it would be wonderful and very educational!

[kimbosaur]

My host teacher let me bring my girl in for the grade 4 habitats unit at my internship. The kids loved it! I tried to adopt an inquiry-based approach. I can see how having a snake long-term (rather than just one lesson) in the classroom would definitely be beneficial, and would better support the curriculum. If you can incorporate specific unit expectations in your article, more teachers might go for it!

Here's a link to the lesson plan if anybody's interested:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B0p...UyYTA0MDJkZTQ4

[EasternGirl]

My son used to go to a private school where the teachers and students were very open to studying about snakes. They are very into nature and animals there. It's a small community based, co-op school, and they are very into preserving the environment, animal rights, etc. I love that school. I can't afford it anymore though. I took Seeley there to show him to my son's class last year and to talk about garters. They would probably love to have a garter as a pet in one of the classrooms but they use solar power and no air conditioning and the school is often stifling hot, so I wouldn't suggest it.

[Selkielass]

My son attends a Montessori elementary, and animals are used in the classroom as part of the science curriculum- there is a long chart showing the different Phylum of animals and plants, and the animals are kept in small tanks below the chart- a fish (Betta) an amphibian (Tree frog or toad usually.) a reptile (Lizard or snake) a small mammal (Hamster, mouse or other rodent) and finally a bird.

Ideally all the animals would be present in small habitats, with plants in between, but practically space is so tight that it is difficult to have more than 3 or 4 animals at a time and still give them an adequate (By todays pet keeping standards.) habitat.
While individual schools conditions are obviously going to vary, small species of garters fit comfortably in the small habitat space allowed by the 'standard' Montessori science set up.

S.A.N.G (Wild caught T. Butlerii female) is thriving in my sons school with just a lamp for daytime heat. She suns or bathes in her water dish all day and doesn't run or hide when the cage is approached or opened. She is fat, relaxed and doesn't seem to mind being picked up and handled by the children in charge of 'pet care', who spoil her rotten with night crawlers and constantly changing cardboard hides.

She is a welcome change from the previous stream of assorted lizards and over sized snakes that preceded her, none of whom were as healthy, happy and popular with the students. It seems like a win-win situation for all- especially the run-of-the mill pet store reptiles that aren't being placed in a too small, too cool classroom enclosure. Since the Montessori curriculum includes a classroom reptile, I'm hoping to provide them with a few options more suitable for classroom life.

[ConcinusMan]

Are they? Excellent!

Yes, the sweetest tamest individuals I've had were northwesterns. I just loved "Miss Piggy". If you placed my hand in the tank, she would come to me and climb up my arm. She was calm and tame the moment I picked her up from the wild. No fuss, no musk, nothing.





I've had ones that won't calm down and stay nervous but I usually don't keep them long. But I certainly wouldn't describe them as nippy or aggressive in any case. A few will get hostile and bite when first caught but that only lasts about a minute.

[Selkielass]

I remember reading her story!
Love her bold red stripe.
She went to live with Shannon, didn't she. (Or is my memory being unreliable again.)

Is anyone breeding and selling Northwesterns on a regular basis? (U.S. and overseas)
I don't want to send Teachers on a wild goose chase searching for Northwesterns of they are as scarce as Butlers, without giving fair warning. I'm playing with the idea of breeding some Butlers for classrooms, but I don't see myself doing it on more than a very limited basis.

[ConcinusMan]

Yes, Shannon got her. I think there are several reasons they don't have a big presence in the hobby.

Very small litters. Unpredicible color/pattern outcome in the offspring makes them less than desireable to breeders looking to breed specific morphs. Offspring are often more difficult to raise than other species. If you don't have experience with them, offspring mortality rate can be high. And there's the diet issue. Many will only eat slugs and / or worms and most are very difficult, if not impossible, to switch over to other foods. Even with an abundant supply of WC snakes, only a few turn out to be good captives.

[kibakiba]

I don't get why you make it seem like it's so hard getting them to eat something else. All of mine eat pinkies, they don't take other food as readily as they do with pinkies. What, do I just have the godliest of all godly northwestern garter snakes? I know Kats NWs eat pinkies, too.

[ConcinusMan]

What can I say. Just speaking from about 25 years experience keeping wild ones. The majority are very picky. Took me over a year to finally get miss piggy to eat something besides worms and slugs.

If you've only kept a few in your life and they were easy, and ate pinkies, it can seem that they are all like that but I've kept perhaps thousands and the majority have been strictly slug / worm eaters or flat out wouldn't eat at all. I end up releasing perhaps 70 percent of the ones I try to keep. If I get them from wetland habitat I have a little better luck getting them to eat fish and pinkies. It's logical to assume that perhaps it depends on locality. I just think that if someone rounded up tons of them and put them straight to market, the majority of them would probably be dead within a year.