Hello from Nebraska

[Foxrun402]

This is my garter buddy I'm not sure of his age and I just kind of got into this but I have a friend that also has a garter that he has had for the past 3 years and its doing great! He is currently feeding on night-crawler bits like they are candy, and I have only been giving him about 1/4 of the night-crawler at a time. I have also been giving him a calcium supplement with vitamin d3 every 4th meal because he does not get sunlight or uv in this current setup. His tank right now is a wide 10 gal, with a 60w infared inside a 5.5" dome. The warm side reads about 88F and the cool side stays about 78F. He has 2 hide spots and a water dish just big enough to curl up in. ( I'm upgrading that this next weekend )

I want to get him on pinkies soon and have a feeling it wont be a problem. He seems ok with me!

Any tips or pointers just throw them at me, I will take any knowledge I can get. I will be sufing these forums for a while


Thank you!
- Jon

[infernalis]

Please read the care sheet, and then lose the gravel.

[Invisible Snake]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

You can use the slime from nightcrawlers to scent pinkies and after a few feedings like this he will start eating the pinkies unscented.

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you on the forum, neighbor. I'm in Council Bluffs.
If I may suggest you look at the care sheet for a different substrate.
Nice Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis (Red Sided Garter Snake) Can't give you a sex from the photo but you can post a couple underside tail photos and we'll try to let you know the sex. I'll link a thread that will show you the kind of photos to post. The thread will also teach you how to visually sex your own snake.
Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet
http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/bree...xing-pics.html

[ProXimuS]

Hello and welcome You'll find lots of awesome stuff here! And we'll be glad to answer any questions you may have

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

Welcome to the Thamily have a read of the care sheet and if it doesn't give you all the answers you where looking for just ask away or look at some of the old threads

[guidofatherof5]

My suggestion to change substrate is because rock/gravel is hard to clean and will hide/hold feces which is dangerous. I would also be concerned that the sharp edges of the rocks could cause damage to the belly scutes.
Those two concerns together can cause infections like scale rot or abscesses.
Just a thought.

[Foxrun402]

My suggestion to change substrate is because rock/gravel is hard to clean and will hide/hold feces which is dangerous. I would also be concerned that the sharp edges of the rocks could cause damage to the belly scutes.
Those two concerns together can cause infections like scale rot or abscesses.
Just a thought.

That's good to know! My thought is to remove his gravel today and put him on paper towels til this weekend then find him a better substrate. He is pretty active in the morning and does explore around quite a bit so I also will end up getting him a bigger terrarium soon so he can have more furniture.

I have been feeding him about every 3 days... and he is about 14" in length...

[chris-uk]

Welcome to the forum.
Paper towels will do him well until the weekend. I use aspen as substrate, but if you ask a dozen garter people what substrate they prefer you will get half a dozen different answers. There's several good choices, I think the care sheet gives pros and cons of each.