New with this kind of snake

[a.l.e.x]

Hello, first of all I'll introduce myself. I'm Alejandro from Mexico, and I'm here because I got a garter snake the last week and wanted to ask you some questions and I hope to understand everything and find the correct words. I'll also intriduce all my pets, which are one Anolis equestris, one Barisia imbricata, one Pantherophis guttatus, one green tree frog, one chinese hamster, one trachemys scripta elegans, 2 betta fish, one thamnophis and 3 dogs.
Well, my situation is this one: my cousin had the garter snake, but his father didn't wanted it, so he knows how much I love reptiles and he gave it to me, but without any equipment. Well, even if he had given me the equipment, it was sincerly miserable, the terrarium was so small that not even my complete hand fitted in it, it could be transported with a single hand and he had only a stick for the snake to get out of the water. I've read too little of this snakes, but now I have it in an aquaterrarium with 2 inches of water with something that heats it. It also has a surface in which it can go out of th water for a wile, and also branches and artificial plants which are useful for it to hide, and an cave in th zone out of the water. I feed it with guppies, the small fish that are really comun as food. My doubt is what I'm missing and what I'm doing wrong. Also some advices of the caring of the specie would do. Thanks and I hope to enjoy my time in this forum.

[CrazyHedgehog]

Hello and welcome,
first of all don't over do it with the water or your snake will blister!
you need enough water for drinking and the occasional bath...but other than that the tank should be warm and dry!

[a.l.e.x]

ohhh! I'll fix that in this moment...^^U and could someone put a picture of an apropiated terrarium plz? thanks a lot.

[a.l.e.x]

Or any other advice?

[Boots]

All I would suggest is keep it simple. Make sure you have a secure lid for the tank, as well as a place for the snake to hide. I would use a substraight that is easy to clean. I have used astro turf in the past, just make sure it is the soft type.

Jason

[a.l.e.x]

ok, I had a new vivarium and hope it is ok, it has a lid called Jungle bed from T-REX, one place to hide, logs and a water bowl, but I still have one problem, the fish in the bowl jump out of it, an other question, could I give my snake crikets and Zophobas morio (I dont know the name in enlish). And other thing, my snake is about 40 cm (16 inches I think), could I give him/her small frogs?

[http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/9616/thamnophis1rg6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[a.l.e.x]

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/7958/thamnophis3iz1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/994/thamnophis5yb4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Thamnophis]

Is looking good!

Try frozen fish (smelt) that you can buy in most petshops.

[a.l.e.x]

Ok, I'll try that food. Thanks for all the recomendations.