The joy of Radix

[Natrix]

I may have to look out for a radix after reading this thread

I'm sorry to sound like a complete noob but what are the main differences between checkereds and radix? Only the female picture looked similar to a checkered in colour and pattern, but with thicker stripes. I'll get there eventually but garters are a new,large and exciting world to me

Here's the link to my ID questions. if you scroll through to page 11 there starts an ID of a recent aquisition. There are clear photos of both T marcianus and T radix. http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/gart...ease-asap.html

[Eight]

Having those photos side by side really helps and I can tell the difference now. The stripe on the radix is rather nice

[Natrix]

Having those photos side by side really helps and I can tell the difference now. The stripe on the radix is rather nice

If you haven't already done so, then read on further down the thread and there is an ID description as well.

[EasternGirl]

I hope poor Adora gets over her reaction to the injections, Chris. Did you mention what happened to the vet?

[Selkielass]

So can then shedding be a response to a skin injury? A case of shedding to get the skin right and help heal the injury?

Cranky went into blue phase just as his incision was healing well. He needed a bit of help with the shed, but the hospital cage was very warm and dry, and that probably made things difficult. He looks great now, and the incision scar is much reduced.

[chris-uk]

Well Adora shed, and made things worse. On Sunday morning (when I was trying to watch the F1) she started to shed. Because I'd been keeping the humidity low to try to help with the skin issue she took a while to get started. Once she got going she was fine up to injuries, but the shed broke at the second injury site. I ended up taking her out to help her remove the lower half of her shed, and she had no more problems.
The main issue was that the skin coming away actually tore away the healing skin, a bit like us knocking the scab off a cut. Since Sunday Adora has been living in a RUB with paper towels as a substrate. I popped her in to our local shop to get some advice (the vet doesn't open on Sundays) and they advised to treat it like a burn. So I've be treating it each day with the antimicrobial barrier ointment, and keeping an eye on it. It's starting to heal over so hopefully she can go back in her viv soon. There not much more a vet could do at the moment, there's no infection and she's not in too much pain (she doesn't pull away when I put the ointment on like she did on Sunday)

I'm convinced that these skin lesions were caused by the anti-inflammatory injections. I'll discuss with the vet when we go next visit.

Adora is a lovely snake, she still hasn't musked or bitten me.

[guidofatherof5]

Your scab removal description sounds about right Chris. Might take a few sheds for the whole healing process to take place.

She sounds like a wonderful snake but then again she is a radix.

[chris-uk]

Your scab removal description sounds about right Chris. Might take a few sheds for the whole healing process to take place.

She sounds like a wonderful snake but then again she is a radix.

That's what they said at the shop, it looks like a burn and burns take several sheds (they reckoned up to 6 months) to heal and get the pattern back. Obviously they have no experience of this in garters, so it may be that the garters higher metabolism helps them heal quicker - anyone got any evidence that my guess about rapid healing might have some basis?
How often do your big radix girls shed Steve?

As far as radix are concerned, Lipwig is worming his way up to my favourite garter.

[guidofatherof5]

3 times a year as a rule.

[chris-uk]

Update on Adora Belle.

Her "wounds" are looking much better, they are heavily scabbed over but I can see that the skin is healing underneath. If they were my scabs I'd be picking them off, but I just never grew out of that... Back to the snake. She goes through active spells and we see her at the front of her viv looking at us every day. Yesterday she had a couple of small pinkies and was actively hunting for more, but as she regurged the last feed I've kept this meal small. Will be keeping an eye on her for the next few days.

Update on Lipwig - he shed last week and his dorsal stripe is a great orange, his sides are yellow too. He's been off his food for the last couple of feeds around his shed, but didn't eat yesterday either. It was a pinky day, and I think he prefers salmon, but I'm not going to panda to him and get him salmon just because he refuses what he's offered. I'll start to worry if he doesn't eat the next fish feed.

I need them both to have a good feed so that I can get a decent sample for a fecal exam...