Can someone help me find....

[count dewclaw]

Garters don't have to eat rodents. They can live on a diet of fish, earthworms, and/or amphibians. Just make sure you choose the right kind of fish (thiaminase-free) and add some reptile vitamin/mineral powder to the worms. You can even use fish fillet (again the safe kind) instead of live fish (vitamin/mineral needed every few feedings). Garters are about the same size as the snakes you're looking at and some are very easy to handle. If you get normal colored garters, you can find relatively inexpensive captive bred snakes. Of course, I may be biased toward garters......

[Justinviper]

We have a winner

[Stefan-A]

Like LeAnn said, garters don't have to eat rodents.

I'd like to point out that rodent-eating snakes are perhaps easier to keep, in that feeding them wrong is a bit more difficult to do and they are because of that a bit more suitable as a first snake. But if rodents are an absolute no-no, then generalists like garter snakes are the second best thing.

[GehyraVorax]

It's illegal to catch anything wild here or bring in anything that is native. I've got a permit for some illegals I keep, but I wouldn't be able to add on for anything native. I know it's limiting, but there's not really much I can do about it. As for whether they're hardy or anything like that, I'm not really worried about it. I'm not trying to be egotistical or anything, but I've had a lot more experience with various species than your average herp keeper. I've got info on how to keep them, and provided it's accurate, I'm fairly certain I can keep them well.

[count dewclaw]

Depending on where you live, there are probably some non-native garter species you could keep.

[GehyraVorax]

Erk, I somehow missed that there was an entire other page when I made my last post. Sorry about that, I wasn't trying to ignore what everyone was saying.

I was wondering about garters, but the things that I had read about them basically said that they weren't as healthy if you didn't feed them rodents. I thought it might've just been an issue about the type of fish, but I wasn't sure. Since this seems to be the case, can someone recommend a fairly inexpensive one and more specific info for caring for it? ^.^

[Serpentine99]

You could get a Ribbon Snake. Basically a garter and my main diet for it is Rosy Reds and supplements. They are very entertaining as they are constantly zooming around their cages, they never bite, and if bought early enough can become accustomed to handling. Oh yeah and very inexpensive plus you can find captive breeders for them pretty easily.

[count dewclaw]

I was wondering about garters, but the things that I had read about them basically said that they weren't as healthy if you didn't feed them rodents. I thought it might've just been an issue about the type of fish, but I wasn't sure. Since this seems to be the case, can someone recommend a fairly inexpensive one and more specific info for caring for it? ^.^

What part of the country do you live in? That will determine what species you could purchase. If you haven't already looked at the care sheet on this site that is a good place to start http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets...ake_Care_Sheet

There is also a thread about a fish-gelatin mixture you can make. My snakes really like the mix (except my ribbon snake). Fish & Gelatin: A Total Success!

Hope those help.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

You could get a Ribbon Snake. Basically a garter and my main diet for it is Rosy Reds and supplements. .

No offense, but that's not a good idea at all. Rosy reds contain thiaminase, just like goldfish. Since thiaminase blocks the absorption of thiamine, you can supplement all you want, but the snake can't absorb it anyway because of the thiaminase. Stick to guppies and trout/tilapia/salmon.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

And as previously stated, rough green snakes and keelbacks are going to come to you WC and in pretty shabby shape. I did see CB rough greens available once not too long ago but they went fast. Whether or not you have expierience with different species of herps is not the issue. The issue is that if you purchase a WC, unhealthy snake, such as these, 95% of the time, the snake will be dead within a few months, even with the most impeccable, immaculate, obsessive care. I personally have a TON of expierience with these typs of snakes in particular, and even for me, someone who can get even the pickiest snakes to eat and turn around into happy healthy snakes, have had to watch my keelbacks die without seemingly anything wrong outwardly with them. It really sucks to and is very discouraging when you are trying so hard to establish healthy individuals and produce quality CB specimens, and your adults which are doing SO well suddenly drop dead on you. It happens all too commonly. I say, go with a garter for a first snake, at least with that you stand a GREAT chance of having a happy healthy long term pet snake, instead of a slim to none chance. There are many many different species and subspecies of garter snakes. Depending on where you live some will be okay for you to keep, some won't. What state are you from?