ok...so i have, well i should say have had, a male texas garter snake for 4 years now, and where i live which is in the extreme cold for 8 months of the year, i usually do not have a snake for this long, but....i may have found a solution for the longevity of garter snakes in captivity...calorie cutting, i noticed that when i fed him mutliple times a week, or once a week, he would get sick more often then if i fed him every other week, i am not dumb and would never starve any animal, its just that i once read in the garter snake book by rossman that he had success with this as well, i just never thought it really worked, but he is extremly healthy and is doing great the way i am keeping him now hmm its just interesting to me.