Advice Needed

[Snakeknot]

So I have 2 garters, my wild caught Bogo and my cocinnius Ruby. Both have been eating and growing like weeds. Both are in their own, separate, 10 gallon tanks. I want to put them in together but Ruby is smaller than Bogo. ( I'll have to measure them and get back to you on exact length. ) I don't want Bogo to turn Ruby into a midnight snack! I'm way too attached to both of them. I'd be sick if one ate the other! What is a good, safe, difference in size to risk introducing them???

Devon

P.S. I've also seen another snake I want and I need a spare tank!

[Snakeknot]

Okay I've got the measurements for the two girls. Bogo is 16 1/2 inches and very thick bodied, Ruby is 14 inches and very svelt. In spite of the length, Ruby looks so much smaller than my wild checkered!

Devon

[guidofatherof5]

Ruby is a T.concinnus, what is Bogo?

[Snakeknot]

Bogo is an eastern garter--thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis.

Devon

[ssssnakeluvr]

2 1/2 inches isnt that big of a difference to worry about.... I am wondering if both are females....you say one is very thick bodied and the other thin.... makes me wonder if the thin one is a male? if thats the case, would be careful putting them togetherm don't want hybrids...

[guidofatherof5]

Good advice, Don.

[zooplan]

[QUOTE=ssssnakeluvr;146477]makes me wonder if the thin one is a male? QUOTE]

In my experience both are to small to guess about the gender from their body mass index. Furthermore the weight would increase a lot according to little growth in length.
My erythristic Easterns redoubled the weight twice by growing half of their birth length and there is no significant difference by gender yet.(~14 inch now)

[Snakeknot]

Well, take a look for yourself. The first pic is of Bogo. The second is Ruby. I'm positive that Bogo is female. ( I hope I'm not jinxing myself there! ) I'm 98% sure Ruby is female.

Let me know what you think.

Devon

[ConcinusMan]

OMG! Ruby has grown so much! You must be taking very good care of her. I was 98% sure that Ruby was a female when I sent "her". Now I'm not so sure at all but still leaning toward female.

I think Bogo is a male but some snakes just make me not so sure.

Opinions may differ but I would say it's perfectly safe to keep the two together for now, even if they are opposite sex. Their size differences are fine. No biggie. I've never had any issues with keeping garters together of different sizes (within reason). A 20 inch snake can easily be kept in with babies of only 10 inches in my experience as long as they have plenty of room. Concinnus are hard enough to get them to breed one another,(never had successful matings without full brumation) let alone cross without brumating. Besides that, Ruby is too young to be an unwanted breeding risk IMHO.

Give it a trial run. Watch them closely for any problems and see how it goes. Personally, I wouldn't have any major worries about putting these two together in a 20 gallon. Not so sure about a 10.

[guidofatherof5]

I'd say keeping them together would be fine since they are both females.
Observing feeding time will help to make sure nothing bad happens.