Hi all,

I have few questions perhaps you can help me answer. I am a new keeper of three months of a Garter (I am still unsure of a lot of things, one of which is what kind of Garter, another is the sex-I think it's a female). I am changing tanks from a 10 gallon to a 30 gallon. I just got the tank this morning, and it seems really tall and thin (see pics). It's not much wider than the ten gallon. I don't know if this is common for fish tanks, but it has challenged me to think vertically and I was looking for ideas that would give her(?) as much room as possible to slither around. The previous owner used it as a fish tank an gave me all the equipment with it.



The last owner left a few things, some plastic plants, a castle for her to hide in (lower left) and some sort of fake coral that really won't serve a purpose:



For some reason, the proportions from my webcam make these objects appear a bit smaller than they really are.

I have it really simply set up in the current tank. I have a paper towel cardboard (which she loves!) a rock to hide in and a piece of wood leaning to the side of the tank. That stuff I will put in the 30 gal. I know it's not much so far, but I have been waiting to do this changeover for a while and I didn't want to overdo it with the ten gallon as it is-she seems cooped up in there and when I take her out and put her back in, she wants to get back out. She's OK after she settles down a bit, but it's really the only time since have owned her that she seems irritated.

For ground cover I use a mix of straw, wood chips (not sawdust, mind you!) and leaves:



So I could surely use some advice, I want to do this right. One thing I am very cautious about is trying not to add too much-as I have discovered, adding too much can be just bad as not having enough-the poor snake can't slither!

In the mean time, I am going clean the tank down now-it's got some lime deposits that I am going to clean up.

I look forward to your responses!