You're right there, garters are way more easily seen in the wild, which also translates to some people as being less desirable, simply because they see them as a dime a dozen, kind of like comparing marigolds to exotic orchids. The marigolds are beautiful, hearty, and are easy to care for, but still people crave the orchids and pay premium prices for them.

I'm with you on the live mice thing! The first time I went to the store and they were out of frozen mice, but offered me live I went ahead and bought them, but I cried all the way home from the store. I could hear their little cries and their little nails clawing in the paper bag I've gotten more hardened since then I suppose, and have become accustomed to buying live & freezing them myself, but there's really no reason to feed most snakes live mice.