Expo Houten, Netherlands

[Thamnophis]

The black garters are indeed T. sirtalis sirtalis. They (their ancestors) come from the surroundings of Lake Erie. They are kind of common there.

[Cazador]

Many people call that red one the most beautiful garter snake in the world. It's a San Francisco garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia). It's on both California's endangered species list and the Federal endangered species list. You can't even pick one up in the wild for a picture without committing a felony (literally). They are, however, legal to own and sell outside of the U.S. You just can't transport one out of the U.S. without special permits that only legitimate zoos, etc. can acquire. Many years back a few foreign zoos thinned out their inventory of tetrataenias, which gave rise to their appearance in the pet trade industry.

[Thamnophis]

You can't even pick one up in the wild for a picture without committing a felony (literally).

This is also the case for every reptile and amphibian in the Netherlands.

And yeah, strangely enough you need no permit in Europe to keep thes San Francisco's...

[jakob lejbølle]

hi everybody

my english is a littel bad i hope you understand

There is a few of people i denmark who is breeding Thamnophis sirtalis
tetrataenia, i know of at lest 4 breeders.
there are so many babies on the market that the price i falling fast, last
year a pair of babies cost about 2500kr thats about 350 US dollar, this
year you can get them for adout 500kr/70US dollar each, so there a
getting cheapper and cheapper every year

here is a link to one of the breeders Reptilia-Denmark

i dont have tetrataenia's myself, not yet at least, but i think that in a
cuple of years, i could find a little room for them

now i only have
2,3 Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis "florida blue"
2,3,2 Elaphe dione
1,0 Corallus hortulanus.

[Thamnophis]

Hi JAkob,

Elaphe dione is also a very fine species.
I agree with you that prices are getting lower and lower.

[Cazador]

Hey Jakob,
I love that picture on your avatar. I'm sure it's going to be fun with you around. Also, thanks for the link. It's neat to see what breeders from other countries offer. Regards,
Rick