how old?

[vwsrcool]

how old should garter be before they are bread?

[Thamnophis]

I personally prefer a female to be at least in her third year (after two hibernations).
A male can be in his second year (after one hibernation).

[vwsrcool]

i need to know how exactly to do the hibernation, i have never done it before, is it difficult?

[Thamnophis]

Hibernation is not difficult.

First you must be sure that your animals are healthy.
Make a plan about the hibernation. About how long you want the hibernation to last and when you want to start with it.
Stop feeding the snakes about ten days before you want to put them in the hibernationbox on a cold place. Leave the lights/heaters on during these ten days. In this period they can digest all the food and empty their intestines completely.

On the tenth day you can put out the lights/heaters, but leave the snakes in their terrarium. You can give them a "warm" bath before you put out the lights/heaters. This to help them get rid of their last faeces.

Put the snakes one or two days later in the hibernationbox and make sure that they cannot get out of it. Also make sure there is some ventilation.
As a substrate you can use ground, leaves, sawdust, woodchips, etc.
This substrate has to be kept a little bit moist.
Personally I have never placed a bowl of drinkingwater in the boxes, buit some people do. I have never lost an animal during hibernation.
Check the box once a week. Is it moist enough? Is there mold in the box? Is it cold enough?
I put an old (but clean) towel on top of the sawdust that I use. This I keep moist.
Temperatures may not get lower that about 4°Celsius to be save. Best temperature is between 4 and 10 °Celsius, but this is also dependant of the species that you want to hibernate.

Hope you understand my limited knowledge of the English language.

[Boots]

Thanks for the information, and don't worry about your English. I had no problem understanding you and I am sure the information will be a big help to others.

Jason

[ssssnakeluvr]

I disagree with the keeping the substrate damp....garters have problems with high humidity. I do put a small water bowl in my garters hibernation boxes. I keep them in my garage and the temp stays around 40-55 degrees fahrenheit. They do stay a little active during hibernation. Just check on them every week to make sure there's no condensation in the cages. I have lost snakes to that in the past (I had a fridge in a room to keep them cool, but the hunidity took out some of the....got the skin blisters and they died). Garters do drink water while in hibernation...have seen mine doing it. Hope this helps!!!!

[vwsrcool]

so if i put the garters in a plastic tub with woodchips and a dish of water. and place it in the cellar they should be fine? what months should i start and finish hibernation?

[Thamnophis]

I agree with you, Ssssnakeluvr, that the substrate must not be all damp.
I do it like this.
MY hibernationboxes are rather big. One half I keep a bit most and the other half dry. So they can choose where they want to be.
Personally I start end oktober/begin november and finish end februar/begin March.
But this is also depending on the species you keep.