Garter Snakes anyone?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Experiment397

Experiment397

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Feb 26, 2010
2,815
959
150
Probably the Poly section
Anybody else on here keep garters? I currently have 3 checkereds and love them. I was hoping to maybe get a thread going on tips for keeping them. I know I wish I'd known about getting them on pinkies ASAP because my biggest one, I have one yearling and two hatchlings, only eats fish. But my two babies get pinky pieces. Anybody else have any info on keeping them or experiences with the little spazzes?


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
I love garters!! I did a lot of research on them as an undergraduate many years ago. I am a firm believer that as beautiful as they are and easy to keep, that they would be hugely popular as pets if they were not "just garter snakes."
 
I used to keep then years ago,I did find varied temperments.why pinkies? Just for growth/size? I used worms and feeder fish,cheaper source right? it was fun to watch him catch them in his water bowl

from cel
 
I also like the ontogenetic changes they would experience. Sometimes their adult colors were nothing like their neonate color.
 
Pinkies are a heck of a lot easier to feed than a dozen minnows. My big boy is still a baby at 16" and could eat 2 dozen minnows a week if I let him. I have been looking for a pair of some cool morph. Maybe some red sides or CA's. I almost bought a pair of Santa Cruz ones over the summer but they sold before I could get them. I've been thinking of getting a granite morph checkered to breed with my 3 regulars once I figure out what sex they are.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
They all eat worms. But where the ground is frozen for 1/3 of the year and only wet enough for worms for maybe 2 months the rest of the time it definately isnt easy to catch enough and it isn't worth it to try and buy them to feed to the snakes with as many as they would eat in a week.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
I never had any trouble getting mine to take pinkies or pinkie parts. Heck, they have been documented trying to scrape up and eat road kill toads on the pavement, they are not too finicky.
 
A garter snake my neighbor brought to my attention was attempting to eat a very large toad. It was the biggest garter I've ever seen, but the toad's skull was far more than it could handle. I don't know how long the snake had been trying to swallow it, but I watched it continue for another 5 minutes or so before the snake gave up on it. Oddly, the toad just hopped away afterwards.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom