How to Setup Terrarium for Checkered Garters?

[OregonHerpaholic]

I'm sorry, if I came across as forceful about treating for mites, but from your first post it wasn't entirely clear whether you were treating at all. - I apologize for my assumption

Your replies were nothing compared to a few private messages(most were very helpful). I am always thinking of the next thing to create. I create terrariums but plan years in advance. yes, I am treating for mites, but I want to create a "happier" environment once the problems are gone.

Foot the bill for that stuff and your mites will be gone.

I even had a rubber boa with leaves, sand, moss and wood from outside (until the WA dept of wildlife busted me and took the boa which is on the state threatened species list) .

I can see how people might have misunderstood and scolded you for the mite problem. It likely came with the checkereds.

Strange how different laws are from state to state. Oregon it is legal to own most native snakes(rubber boas and garters are not even controlled) as long as they are not bought, sold, or exchanged. But there are many herps(amphibians mostly) that are illegal to keep but cannot survive here.

The mites came from either a few wildcaught garter babies(all died because of mites) or my gopher snake - I let people borrow her to show difference between Native rattlesnake and gopher snake..GOOD possiblity of getting mites from her being NEXT to the rattlesnake. The checkereds are worse off because they were placed in closet for cooling and I did not check on them daily like the other snakes.

BUT, I STILL WILL BE SETTING UP A MORE NATURAL ENCLOSURE - after the mites are long gone!!!!!

Billie

[drache]

cool hanging cardboard rolls - I've got a number of snakes that will love those

my set-ups are semi . . .
I use cage carpet because it's endlessly reusable - it does shrink a little with repeated washing
I do use a lot of branches, cork bark, broken terra cotta flower pots, and fake plants
I do use found stuff sometimes, as well as stuff from plant nurseries; that stuff either gets baked or soaked in chlorhexidine
when I clean, I soak furnishings in a chlorhexidine solution and rinse hot; the carpet just gets replaced
with the smaller tanks I take the snakes out, and with the bigger ones I just roll up half the carpet, clean, roll down the fresh, and proceed to the other half after moving the snakes to the clean side - they're pretty much used to that

at this time only my kings and hogs get burrowing substrate (currently aspen) and that gets treated with provent-a-mite before it ever gets into the cages

here's a couple of pics of set-ups





even though that second cage looks cluttered, it only has a handful of items in it that are easily removed

[guidofatherof5]

All beautiful set-ups.

[Mommy2many]

I love everybody's setups! gets the imagination going; now if the money was there to back it up

I used to have live plants in my snake homes but I have recently switched to silk plants because I was also dealing with an insect problem. Not sure if they were mites (they were very small and white). I treated all homes and every snake had a bath. Baked all substrate, etc. Still they came back from somewhere. Bought new plants. Only thing I could think of was the live plants, so now they are gone.

Haven't seen a re-occurence as of yet, hope not to! Good luck with what ever you get set up. All of mine seem to love the silk pothos to hang in and bask under the lamp on.

[ConcinusMan]

White flies perhaps? Once they get indoors and on your plants, they get out of control but normally will only be annoying and harm only plants. I learned this back in the 80's while "growing my own". In an outdoor environment, the elements keep them under control so they don't do significant harm to the plants but indoors they are a menace.

All of those setups are the kind of elements I was getting at and there are too many shown to list all the ones I like, but you get the idea. As far as money goes, I suppose it depends on where you live and what's available. Substrate for natural looking viv's is the main cost since I prefer reptibark and/or loose coconut fiber but the rest can be quite inexpensive. Try craigslist. Often you can find tanks, dishes, accessories, etc. for very cheap. Just have to keep searching and checking back.

[Mommy2many]

White flies perhaps? Once they get indoors and on your plants, they get out of control but normally will only be annoying and harm only plants. I learned this back in the 80's while "growing my own". In an outdoor environment, the elements keep them under control so they don't do significant harm to the plants but indoors they are a menace.

They did not look like those white flies that I have seen on my plants before. They were on my snakes heads and bodies but mostly crawling around their faces and chins. I treated them as if they were mites and have done OK so far. I have had to do this process a few times in the last 8 months. Bugs, hate em!!!

[mustang]

i have checker in a 55 gal with a waterfall and a lid lined with insutation on edges so as not to pull another vanishing act...be creative with fillers ill post pics soon...any object upic up from outside let it soak for days to get bugs to die!

[ConcinusMan]

I would place my bet on mites being brought in from another persons collection in that case. Lizards and snakes with rough or highly keeled scales like a rattlesnake are very prone to mites. I've never seen them on WC garters, racers, rubber boas, or gopher snakes from WA, OR, or CA but I've seen them on WC spiny lizards (several species) along with ticks which were easy to get rid of.