Wild Caught Western Terrestrial

[kurtnagel]

Sounds like you're off to a good start and have gotten some excellent advice already, so just wanted to say Welcome! Between the spider shirt and the handful of snake, your daughter is my kind of girl Let her know that she can go back to handling the snake after it settles in and starts eating for you Good luck!

Thanks Tami,

Yes, my daughter, Jessica, has always had a thing for all things creepy crawly. It's funny because she is very girly-girl in other ways. I think she has over 15 baby-dolls that she cares for! She also has a leopard gecko named LuLu and used to have a ball python named Daisy, that is until the ex accidentally killed it with a too-strong betadine bath for a mite problem She told her it escaped. I guess the real story will have to wait until she is a bit older. Oh and also had a Rose tarantula that we donated to the school science teacher!

We are still working on a name for this one. So far they haven't been too creative (in my silly adult opinion) The two so far are "Gardener" and "Snakey". After I explained that it is really "garter", the name "Gardener" seems to be sticking, go figure!


Kurt

[jitami]

It's ok Kurt, my boys were 8 & 10 when we got our snake and he ended up with two names. The boys couldn't decide and I figured it really didn't matter since the snake couldn't hear anyway

[jitami]

btw, there's a pretty good sexing care sheet somewhere... let me see if I can find it. I think it's Melissa Kaplan's(don't even know if I'm spelling that correctly or if it's even the right name!) Lemme look...

[jitami]

Not what I was looking for, but not bad...
Alan's Garter Snakes - Maintenance of Garter Snakes

ok, this is bugging me now...

[kurtnagel]

Not what I was looking for, but not bad...
Alan's Garter Snakes - Maintenance of Garter Snakes

ok, this is bugging me now...

Tami,

No problem!

I guess my initial (and beginner) take looking at the above pictures and description is that with the very gradual and uniform taper on this one, it appears to be female. But, that is without a detailed examination.

I will make a closer examination and post some pictures once she has fed and I am able to handle her. Hopefully then the more experienced of you can make the call!

Kurt

[Loren]

Hi, and welcome. As already said, a 20 long will be easier to give a good temp gradiet,(plus the snake will enjoy the room) but I have gone a few routes with smaller tanks- either an undertank heater on one end (they are better off with a thermostat- some of them get really hot), or flexwatt heat tape (has to be thermostatically controlled) or by pointing a 40 watt heat lamp at the outside of one end of the tank. I do this on 5 gallon tanks for small desert snakes like shovelnose and ground snakes, it gives me a temp gradient of over 100 deg. f. down to room temp in a 16" long tank.
If using a heat lamp over a 10 g, be very careful to check temps.
Ge makes a 30 watt flood bulb in an r20 size that throws a pretty tight heat pattern(walmart has them). You could try one of them over one end of a 10 gal and see what temps you get.
Ultimately, you will be better off with a 20L though.

[Lori P]

Welcome Kurt! You have a beautiful snake there indeed. (And a very sweet daughter, too!!) I hope you enjoy it here! :-)

[reptileparadise]

Welcome to the forum!
It looks like most answers have been given.
Just make sure you're alowed to keep radix in your state!

[adamanteus]

Hi Kurt, and welcome to the forum.

[Brian Hubbs]

No offense Kurt, but the terrestrial looks NOTHING like a Plains. They are drab, with faint back stripes and mostly black heads. You have a Plains. End of story. Kaput. Fini. Enjoy your Plains. They really gobble down nightcrawlers. Easy to maintain without lights or any other garbage. Just give it a hiding box, shavings, a water bowl, and temps between 72 and 82 degrees. Mine does fine at room temperature in a plastic sweater box from Wal-mart that has no light because it's in a shelf unit.