Another new Thamnophis enthousiast

[Lowland Reptiles]

Hello all,

quick introduction, so you guys know who is talking.

The name is Tom, 36 years old and living in Belgium, Europe.
Have been working with all kinds of reptiles since I was 8. Mostly green tree pythons, amazon tree boa's, fiji iguana's and tree monitors. Also had a trio of San Francisco garters back in the days, but with a move to another country, had to sell my entire collection.
When moving back a couple years ago, I couldn't resist starting again with the hobby. Always really liked the garters, so started with them again.

At the moment, I have
1.1 Thamnophis radix
2.2 Thamnophis eques cuitzeoensis
1.3 Thamnophis eques scotti (and a bunch of offspring)

The scotti are my favorites by far. So much variation on them. Wide stripe, small stripe, black dots, no black dots... Also have one where the lateral stripes are lacking and the usual double row of dark spots seem to be fragmented into tiny spots. Been talking to Steven Bol about this, and he thinks it's something similar like in the granite checkered garter. Haven't decided yet if I gonna breed her and see what that gives, are if she is just gonna be a pet snake in my collection.
As far off the rest of my scotti breeding program, I'm now making a breeding group of really dark animals and a group of 'blond', as Conant described them, snakes. Will be interesting to see if those traits will be passed on with a bit of selective breeding.


Best regards,
Tom

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you with use. scottis are awesome. Looking forward to seeing some photos of your group.
Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet

[gartergabe]

Welcome back I'd love to see photos of your colection as well more so the radix

[indigoman]

Welcome to the forum Tom,would love to see pics. Almost got some Scotti's a while back.

[Albert Clark]

Welcome to the club. It's always nice to have another experienced voice around. Grats on your return to the hobby/industry.

[Jeff B]

Welcome, good luck with your granite scotti project, hope that will prove out for you.

[Lowland Reptiles]

Thanks for the welcome!

Will post some pictures later this week.

Don't know yet if I will be breeding the granite scotti. Don't think there really is a market for that. While it's a nice snake, it's nothing special (apart from being an aberrant pattern) and basically just a brown snake with a dorsal stripe and some black speckles. The 'normal' pattern is more interesting, so don't really see the value in producing more of the granites. But she is still young, won't be breeding her this year anyway, so I have the time to see how she will mature and if there would be an interest in that project or not.

[Tommytradix]

there is always a interest in aberrant garters especially if there are no known morphs for that species.

[guidofatherof5]

Thanks for the welcome!

Will post some pictures later this week.

Don't know yet if I will be breeding the granite scotti. Don't think there really is a market for that. While it's a nice snake, it's nothing special (apart from being an aberrant pattern) and basically just a brown snake with a dorsal stripe and some black speckles. The 'normal' pattern is more interesting, so don't really see the value in producing more of the granites. But she is still young, won't be breeding her this year anyway, so I have the time to see how she will mature and if there would be an interest in that project or not.

There may not be a big interest in his part of the world.