hello, new to owning snakes

[sketh]

thank you concinnusman. here is the setup i got for the snake i had found. 10 gallon 20.25x12x10 glass tank. Aspen Shavings for substrate. one of those half logs as one hide and another large multi tiered log, has 2 logs, one on top of the other with holes between and around them all in one piece. a water dish, some kind of grey material kinda like the plastic park benches. also a heating lamp, small 60 watt, and temp/hum gauge.the tank its self is secured with 2 claps. i put about 1 and a half inch of substrate in then put the half log off to the cool side of the tank and put the 2 tiered on the other under the heating lamp. the water dish was set in between them. when i get my permanent addition, im thinking of getting rid of the 2 piece log for a few cardboard hides and a fake plant or 2. for food, i stupidly thought "it eats crickets right?", glad i researched. i planned on giving it some night crawlers. gathering from your information, concinnusman, unless i find a specie i want that's not native I'll have to wait tell i get lucky again and find another northwestern.

edit: thank you for the welcome guidofatherof5

[ConcinusMan]

BTW, WA natives are wandering garter (T. elegans vagrans) a puget sound garter, (T. sirtalis pickeringi) Valley garter (T. sirtalis fitchi) Oregon red spotted (T. sirtalis concinnus) and Northwestern (T. ordinoides) If anyone thinks I missed any, speak up.

Around Everett you have the first, second, and last.

If you manage to find the blue pugets in your area (they are there) they are gold. Everyone wants them!

This was Ft. Lewis right next to the military base

[sketh]

WOW that puget sound garter is awesome. i will be on the look out for one. will try get pics if i do find one, if i dont get another snake might keep. thanks for the sites concissusman, looking into the babies on gartersnakemorph dot com. stuck between the erythristic flame easterns, Infernalis, Axanthic radix (blues favorite color!).

[ConcinusMan]

These are pretty nice. Was supposed to get two of them this morning but it looks like Tom Hanks will be making the delivery.

Albino Red Sided Garter Snake (thamnophis sirtalis parietalis)

[sketh]

those color combos wow. are there any albino problems? like the rats and other mammals have?

[ConcinusMan]

Sometimes their eyesight is poor and/or they are sensitive to bright light. Also they can sunburn or be vulnerable to negative effects from UV exposure. None of this is really a problem in captivity. I just don't use UV bulbs or anything but ambient light for them.

it looks like Tom Hanks will be making the delivery.

As in, 4 years late.

No, I should have them bright and early in the morning.

[chris-uk]

Welcome aboard. Great to have someone asking the right questions before getting a snake (a few years ago I was guilty of an impulse buy and then researching... this forum was pure gold).

[sketh]

thank you chris-uk, that was the main reason i let the wild one i caught go.i was quickly finding out that i knew nothing and was getting things setup while he was here. i didn't want the guy to die from me being an idiot, too many hamsters under my belt if you know what i mean. i did figured out what species I'm going to try and get, the Axanthic radix at garter snake morphs, will be contacting them today and seeing whats what. hopefully everything is going smooth 2 weeks from now. is there anything i should know about the differences between the males and females, wondering about life span or behavior differences?

[gibble888]

Welcome...good idea on letting the wild garters be wild....i also let my wild eastern go just in case she had parasites or so on

[sketh]

thank you for the welcome gibble888. on the subject of parasites, I've cleaned the cage,the plastic 2 tier log, and water blow with a 3% solution of bleach/water, scrubbed it down, and then rinsed with harm water. the wood half log hide i ran under some warm water but left out the bleach. i have read to put the log in the oven at 100 for an hour to an hour and a half with constant watching or in the freezer. im looking to preventing mites in the future. i didn't see any mites on the guy i caught but i read their notorious at hiding. for the plastic 2 tier i plan on putting it in the freezer as its a plastic/resin material and i don't want it to melt.