Hello, as far as the heat lamp...just check your temps. Like Sid had said, a basking spot at about 80-85F works well. Might be a good idea to get a thermostat for it as well, then you can just dial in the temp you want and you're good to go. As far as light quality.....garters, and snakes in general don't seem to really need the high quality of light that a lot of lizards use. A good full spectrum fluorescent bulb on the tank should be enough for day/night cycling and some don't even use them. As for feeding, he may be off feed due to the time of year. As long as he's keeping good weight I wouldn't get too upset just yet. He looks good and healthy from your pics. As an alternative for the rosies, you might try giving him trout or salmon fillet pieces. Also on getting him to take pinks, did you try live or frozen/thawed (F/T)? You might want to try F/T and rub some fish on it. This may get him to take them and then eventually you can scent it less and less. As far as what species....as in the other post, was thinking T.s.sirtalis, with a possibility of T.radix, but now that you mentioned T.butleri...it might be. I noticed that the side stripe was looking a bit on the high side, which was making me think T.radix, but it wasn't only on the 3rd and 4th scale rows, but also not just on the 2nd and 3rd....kind of in between. This would mean T.butleri. The pics aren't super detailed, so doing scale counts off of them is a bit tricky. If he's got 21 scale rows, then it's definitely T.radix, but if there are 19, it could be either T.s.siratlis or T.butleri......but with the side stripe where it is, I'd have to say that with 19 scale rows, it'd be T.butleri. If he is, I wouldn't get too upset about it, I really doubt the Fish and Game comission are going to come busting down your doors, because you have one garter. I wouldn't get anymore butleri or breed them, but besides that you should be fine.