T. ordinoides on the Ranch

[guidofatherof5]

I thought it was time to dedicate a thread and sing the praises of this wonderful little garter snake.
I have had a number of these on the Ranch for almost a year now.
I find them to be ever curious and docile.
They are smaller than most garters and definitely smaller than I'm used to dealing with.
They are little begging machines and hard to ignore.
I have had very little trouble with them as they have adapted very well to ranch life.
Today one of them even started eating unscented pinky parts.
I also think one of the females I received from Richard is gravid so I hopefully will be getting some babies soon.
Looking forward to the experience.
I'm glad I have these snake on the Ranch.

[ConcinusMan]

It's funny, I seem to get that same sort of response from everyone else who has tried them for the first time. They just love 'em. I know Shannon just loves the little baby one I sent to her (Miss piggy's baby). I think I'll have a few CB babies this year. It's hard to tell sometimes with these guys, if they're gravid or not (very small litters of 2-4 especially) but I have my suspicions with two of my girls here at home.

They really are the tamest garter species I've ever kept. Very, very docile and easy to handle. Heck, miss piggy didn't musk or fuss one bit when I found her. She was tame right from the wild. She eats right out of my hand and will even come out of her enclosure and climb my hand looking to be fed.

I have noticed that they have a tendency to get overweight more easily than most other garters. It's hard to resist the urge to feed them when they're being so cute.

[kibakiba]

They are one of the coolest garters in the world imo The only downside is they are smaller, and have the appetite of a larger garter... So they do get chubby a lot easier.

Steve, you know how many times I thought Mama was gravid.... It is really hard to tell this last time I thought I was overreacting thinking she may just be fat instead of having babies in there. She surprised me

[ConcinusMan]

Miss Piggy says... "who you callin' chubby? Can't you see I'm starved?!"

[kibakiba]

Hey, I like girls with meat on their bones I don't need a twiggy snake that will break in half if I touch it. None of my snakes are skinny, but none are too big, either. Well, Snakey's skinny but he's missing Mama's love

[guidofatherof5]

Tried some salmon with my Northwesterns. Some of them slammed it down.
So that gives me a good range of food for them worms, slugs, pinkies, salmon.

[ConcinusMan]

They change their tastes in a split second. Miss piggy ate nothing but worms and slugs for a year, then all the sudden decided she will take fish and pinkies too. That lasted a few months. Now all the sudden, she doesn't want that. She's back to worms only again. Same goes for my stripeless male. Always ate anything. Now all the sudden, will only take worms. And this is after not feeding them for a week. Just when you think you got them figured out, they'll go and change on you.

[kibakiba]

Mama will only take pinkies, she rejects worms and fish pretty often if I offer it to her, but sometimes she'll take it. I gave her a deshelled snail as a little treat a while ago, she ate that like if was her last meal ever. Of course, snails are just a treat to be eaten very rarely.

[ConcinusMan]

Oh yeah, all my snakes go absolutely nuts for snails when I find them in my yard. (European brown garden snail, Helix aspersa)

On the occasion when I can't get my northwestern's (and radixes) to eat anything at all, they go nuts for those snails.

[kibakiba]

Snap goes crazy for frogs, I originally got them for Mama, but Snap sneaked up on it and took it... Haha. Silly little snakes.