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Garter Snake

Family: Colubridae

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Thamnophis sirtalisPhoto © Animal-World: Courtesy David Brough

     The Garter Snake is probably one of the most popular snakes for the beginner.

     Garter Snakes are small, attractive and inexpensive. A very docile even-tempered snake that is quite tolerant of frequent handling. The Garter Snake is very hardy, easy to feed, easy to maintain, and will live up to about 12 years.

For more Information on keeping Snakes see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Herptile

Description:    The Garter Snake will grow up to four feet (60cm). They are slender bodied with a narrow head. Their natural color is brown to olive brown with three yellowish stripes running down the back, and there are squarish blotches running down the body between the stripes. The scales are heavily keeled.

Feeding:    Their diet consists of small fish, earthworms, insects and frogs. Feed every few days as they don't eat much at once and are very active. Fresh water in a shallow dish should always be available.

Environment:      They do not eat other snakes, and so they can be housed alone or in groups with other snakes of similar size and habits.
     You can set up their terrarium as either a woodland terrarium or an aqua terrarium. Although they need high humidity and are often aquatic, you must keep the basking side of their terrarium very dry to avoid skin infections, especially boils. See the terrarium types described under Basic Reptile and Amphibian Care for more information.
     The Garter Snake needs a hiding place, a small water dish, and they like to climb, so a vertical or semi-vertical tree limb with some plant vining is great.

Temperature and Lighting requirements:      They are a cool temperature snake, so do well at 68 - 74 ° F (20 - 25 ° C) in the daytime. Full spectrum lighting is important for your snakes well being and its long-term maintenance. You can use a a low wattage full spectrum incandescent daytime bulb and a blacklight bulb or red incandescent bulb for nighttime heating if necessary. Be sure you use a thermometer so you don't let the terrarium become overheated!

Distribution:      Garter Snakes range from Canada  in the north and  south through the United States, Central America and extreme northern South America.   Garter snakes are found in Alaska and are found farther north than probably any snake species in the world.

Breeding/Reproduction:      These snakes become sexually mature at three years. They are livebearers and have about 24 babies. They breed readily in captivity.

Availability:    The Garter Snake is very common, readily available, and very inexpensive.

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Latest Comments
Yeah, fond memories of these snakes, i started out with them. Of course i get wild ones, don't see why i should pay for one when they are in my backyard. I did get bitten a couple of times while taming them, although i've only gotten bitten about once or twice. They are an extremely docile snakes for being wild. I tamed a common garter that i caught at it's full size. My big brother found a little baby butlers garter snake that was only about 10 inches long if that, and it grew to a big snake almost six feet long. My memory may be exaggeratig a bit, but it was at least 5 feet long. Chance 2007-06-26
I LOVE snakes and my parents are both afraid of snakes so i finally convinced them that it was a small and harmless snake. when i got one i immediately needed 2. this is for two reasons: 1, the terrarium was too large for a single animal. and 2, he was very shy and i wanted to be able to handle him. both of those issues were resolved immediately after i introduced the female. (i would recommend having a male and a female, or two females. this is because males are territorial and they will fight.) brandon 2006-09-11
I do have a LOT OF garter snakes in Brasil. I myself have 2 as pets. Here most people kill snakes for they think they are all harmful. When I was studying in New Jersey, for High School, I had one myself bought in a pet store. Here I get them from the wild. No petshop sells snakes here. Wallace Moura 2006-09-08
Some of the coolest comments:
Garter snakes DO NOT eat insects. It is even published in some books that they do, but they in fact, do not. I own over 70 garter snakes and even if I offered, not one would touch an insect. They cannot even digest insects, people who have tricked their garters into eating them find that the insect comes out in the poop of the snake completely intact. Anonymous 2009-04-12

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