I have never kept a CB garter, I've kept WC all my life and had great success. They tame down with relative ease and I have yet to have parasite problems or dieoffs, except one when I was a kid because of rough handleing by a bunch of kids (she was also gravid). The 2 I currently have are doing GREAT, the female is 3ft and I've had her for 3 years now, and the male is ~2ft and I've had him nearly a month or so no issues. Readily accepting fish scented mice!