A UK Snake Guy

[PINJOHN]

Welcome from a cold soggy Liverpool

[katach]

Welcome to the forum family! You will love it here, and I'm sure with that degree you will be a very valuable addition to our many knowledgeable members. I too would love to see some pics when you get a chance. Here is the care sheet for garters. It has tons of helpful information.
Garter Snake Care Sheet - Caresheets

[chris-uk]

Welcome to the forum, it's always good to hear that there are other garter people in the UK. As you already have boas, corns, etc, you will have noticed that the forums and shops in the UK tend to push garters to the periphery.
I can guarantee that if you post some pics you will have a positive ID and lots of appreciative comments within minutes. Do you know what sex it is? If it's 2 years old it should be easy to sex, just post a pic of the underside of its vent and tail. Her I'm glad you're finding it more difficult to photograph than your existing snakes, their activity level is one of the things that makes garters more fascinating to watch.

[boabloketony]

Thank you all for the lovely welcomes

Here is my newest addition ...



Her name is slinky (named by my three year old goddaughter haha)

I am already finding her fascinating to watch, many of my snakes are nocturnal and it's nice to see a diurnal species

Somebody has already said to me that it's weird going from bull snakes and large boas to garter snakes when Garters are usually a starter snake so I have already seen evidence of their 'devaluement'. It's such a shame! Trust me, I'm kicking myself that I waited so long to get one .. I definately see myself getting addicted to this 'slinky' species

I do have a question regarding handling though are they a species that can be handled regularly or one that prefers to be left alone to do their own thing? I have handled her a few times and to be honest, I expected a bite, but she was very tolerant of my giant hands and was a real pleasure. I have fallen in love with her already!

[infernalis]

She's a nice girl Tony. What I am about to say is my personal opinion only and may not be that of the "majority"

Even though she's tolerant of handling, I have a few girls that are just the same, However, I don't handle them a lot.

Probably one of the best excuses for having many snakes is it limits the time one has to constantly play with them.

Some folks insist on mauling their snakes constantly, and I for one do not subscribe to this.

I prefer to observe them behaving naturally through the glass.

[boabloketony]

She's a nice girl Tony. What I am about to say is my personal opinion only and may not be that of the "majority"

Even though she's tolerant of handling, I have a few girls that are just the same, However, I don't handle them a lot.

Probably one of the best excuses for having many snakes is it limits the time one has to constantly play with them.

Some folks insist on mauling their snakes constantly, and I for one do not subscribe to this.

I prefer to observe them behaving naturally through the glass.

Thank you for the information. I understand that with reptile keeping (well, animal keeping in general) that opinions differ but I am more than happy to receive a mixture of opinions plus criticism. Afterall, it's the animal welfare that matters most

Could you confirm that she is an Eastern Garter?

[infernalis]

Could you confirm that she is an Eastern Garter?

She certainly looks like one to me.

On places like RFUK I think they are definitely considered as something less than "big" snakes.

My garter snake thread on RFUK gets some replies. not many... with a member base as large as that forum has, it's sad that only one or two people even bother to look at it.

[chris-uk]

Annoying that anyone would consider that keeping garters is a backwards step, they certainly aren't the "starter snake" that some people seem to regard them as. On places like RFUK I think they are definitely considered as something less than "big" snakes. The number of threads I read about different morphs of pythons disheartens me, it's a personal thing but I don't understand the obsession with breeding snakes so that they have none of their natural colouring (apologies if you have a collection of python morphs).
When you learn just a little about garters you quickly realise that they actually need a lot more care and time than bigger snakes, in return you get a more active, interesting, intelligent and curious snake. The have personalities of their own. And if you get hold of some of the less common species they need and deserve more specific attention.
I'm glad you're enjoying your first garter.

[EasternGirl]

She looks a lot like my easterns...would it be possible to see her from the side and a little bit closer up? Look at one of Cee Cee close up.jpg my easterns and you'll get an idea of the coloring to make a comparison... It really depends on the snake. Some garters enjoy being handled a lot...others do not like to be handled as much. There are members on here that handle their snakes all the time and some that prefer not to so much. My snakes are pretty skiddish at this point and still get a bit stressed when I handle them...so I don't do it as often as I would like, but I do try to take them out and get them used to me more and more.

[chris-uk]

Handling snakes is, as others have said, down to the individuals. Today I've handled six snakes with six different personalities.
Vlad - our male Cuitzeo doesn't mind being handled by my wife, but not so keen on me. We're trying to get him used to me so I try to give him a bit of time every couple of days, how long depends on his mood.
Vimes - our male Western Blackneck took a few minutes to settle, then slowed down and was happy in my hand for 10 minutes or so. I don't have a baseline for him as I only picked him up today.
Sybil - our female Western Blackneck settled more quickly and then liked just sitting still in my hand. Again I do have a baseline as she's new today.
The other three were someone else's snakes, so I'm judging them based on a few minutes with each.
Female San Francisco - musked me almost immediately, was moving quickly through my hands for a minute before coiling her tail round one hand and laying her head on the other. She was happy for a minute then wanted to keep moving again.
Female Dice Snake - not a garter but a cool water snake from southern Europe. She was a couple of years old and coiled almost immediately around my wrist and kept tying herself in knots around my wrist, probably the nicest one I handled today.
European grass snake - didn't musk me but similar to the San Fran, moving constantly and enjoyed winding round my fingers.

Their all different, but on the whole I think that garters are more tolerant of handling than many species.