What's Your Fav' ?

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Hi all! You may have noticed I haven't been around as much. Well, that's due to some technical issues with the computer, as well as some family issues. I largely use my phone to browse the forums at the moment... making it rather tedious to post large amounts of text.

But anyway, this topic has come up before I am sure, but I am genuinely curious as to what our current members think. Having worked with many types of garters both as adults and babies, I have definitely formed opinions on which ones I like the most and which ones I do not recommend regardless of their beauty. *cough, california redsideds are evil, cough*.

Think about the species you have worked with and what you enjoy most about them. Sure, I love all of them but I have developed a clear favorite... and it just might surprise you!

Thamnophis marcianus.

Yep. That's right. What is wrong with me?! The most common snake in the trade? Really?! Yes. definitely. You might be wondering why that is. I do too at times, until I go into my snakeroom and remind myself why. For one, they just plain thrive. Not saying others don't, cause we all know many species do, but you have gotta hand it to the checkereds, you have to try really hard to kill one! They will eat just about anything. Heck, I am pretty sure some of mine would eat pizza if I offered it with tongs.

My favorite thing about a checkered is of course, they way they look. No, I am not talking just about your run of the mill dirt colored snake with some black dots scattered about. But if you get a really good looking checkered, in my opinion, it's impossible to beat. I just love a lime green checkered with thick, black, perfectly square checkers, thick labials, and rich red eyes. But there are other variants that I love equally that are hard to come by (but mark my word I will change that). One of my males is mustard yellow. A female that someone recently caught for me and brought to hamburg is an extremely pale tan/cream color, with very faded checkers and an equally pale head. And of course, if you are into morphs, there are are few exciting variants of checkereds, my favorite of course, being pastel.

Between their stunning looks, their ability to thrive and tolerate beginner's mistakes even as babies, (meaning I am very comfortable selling babies) their willingness to eat even pizza (kidding), and their sweet temperment, for me, it will always be marcianus.

So now it's your turn. What's your favorite garter? And no, I am not talking about just your favorite -looking- snake, I mean, as a species/subspecies, on a whole. So if you haven't kept it before, don't call it a favorite. I used to think cali- redsideds were my favorite until I started keeping them. Now they might be a least favorite...even the prettiest snake can ruin it's reputation with it's personality! and while I went through a phase where I was heavily into morphs, I have come back to my roots and now focus on normals and naturally occurring variants of them. I like morphs, but racing to produce the latest and greatest morph does nothing for me, and to be honest, I really don't like albino's too much. Unless they are T positive. I like my snakes with melanin!

[guidofatherof5]

My favorite would have to be T.s.parietalis(Red Sided garter snake)..........Just kidding. They are a great snake but as for me it's........
T.radix(Plains garter snake),
just like having an old dog. They get comfortable and seem to look forward to constant interaction.
I've seen behavior that borders on intelligence. I love all the garter snakes I keep but mark me down as a radix fanatic

[Mommy2many]

When it comes to garters, of course it is the Thamnophis sirtalis (Our Easterns) My babies are so curious, it never ceases to amaze me!

But one of the cutest snakies I have ever seen are the Dekayi

[ConcinusMan]

This girl pictured, and just about any large female T.s. concinnus is my favorite, of course! For the same reasons Steve mentioned. Well stated. That aberrant one I'll be sending to you Shannon, is the same way. It's going to sting a little to give her up!

My fav has always been a big girl concinnus.

This girl is so smart, tame, and loveable. Big too!

[indigoman]

I only have T. marcianus at the time 27 so i guess i am a little biased. I've only had eastern's before which started my love of the species. The N.Va. reptile expo i went to only had this species available but it's turned into a blessing. It was nice to read your comments Shannon. I'am waiting to see what your breeding will bring this year!

[drache]

oh Shannon - you don't make it easy
I really do love my marcis, my radix are wonderful, both my concinnus are really sweet snakes, that vagrans is a little slithering charmer, and you know how much I love Thing, my parietalis, as well as her beau. The other parietalis I used to have was a bit like a supersize cali with muscle though, so I don't know about parietalis in general.
My absolute favourite has got to be T.s.sirtalis. I love the variety, the size, and their disposition. I've yet to meet one with an unpleasant temperament, and they're certainly easy to feed. My Sammy once tried swallowing a shoe - really true - and there was no reason for her to be unreasonably hungry. No idea whether it was the leather or whether my friend had stepped on some food traces on the side-walk (pizza?)

[Eddie]

My favorites as far as keeping goes has got to be the Florida blues. They eat pinkies at birth! You gotta love that. They also grow fast and huge. I have had a gravid female at 9 months old! They also throw huge litters and you don't really have to do any hibernating. Just cool them down to 60 degrees for 1 month and you are good to go. My favorite as far as looks go would be the melanistic eastern so I am going to breed my male albino Florida blue to my female melanistic and see what happens.
Wish me luck!
Ed

[kibakiba]

My favourites are ordinoides and I really do love my concinnus. My ordinoides are silly and sweet, they also aren't that big. My concinnus are really quirky little snakes, but I love them so much.

[gregmonsta]

It's parietalis for me . Full of confidence from my experience.

[MasSalvaje]

It is a toss up for me. I have always loved T e. vagrans because of their strength, feeding response, variety of colors and patterns, as well as their hardiness; that said I have fallen in love with T. s. similis as well. I think it is because they remind me a lot of a T. e. vagrans with some cool blue and green colors thrown in.

-Thomas