I have two ocellatus. They are definitely not as friendly as my easterns. The female will tolerate being handled, but I'd say she's still jumpy for a female, and the male is absolutely insane. You can't handle him without getting bitten and musked (to be fair he is stunted and has neurological issues... so that may be the cause of his behavior). I personally wouldn't feel good putting either of mine in with another snake... It just seems like a fight waiting to happen.

As far as feeding issues, my parents own the parents of my two snakes, and they are constantly going on food strikes that get to the point of being worrisome. My two have never skipped a meal. I have a hunch that they are more sensitive to temp and humidity changes than some other species... I keep tropical species as well, so my reptile room ambient temp never strays out of a certain range, and I really think that has a lot to do with my luck getting mine eating.

They're a really beautiful species to work with, but if you want a nice social garter to be a cagemate for the one you already have they probably aren't what you're looking for... Eastern, radix, red-sided(parietalis), and checkered all seem to have reputations for being pretty calm and sociable. They might be a better fit for what you want.