General Care
Most garter snakes will do fine at room temperature, but adding a heat source either an overhead heat lamp or belly heat via heat tape, cable or pad; will aid digestion. A temperature gradient from one end of the enclosure to the other of between 70-75F on the cool end to 80-85F on the warm end, with a basking area of 85-90 is ideal for optimal growth and activity. If brumating in the winter; this should be done at 45-60 degrees. These temperatures do not have to be exact as garters can survive in a wide range of temperatures, in fact many keepers house their garters at room temperature without any extra heat. If using an overhead heat lamp it is important to provide adequate humidity, as the lamp will quickly dry out the enclosure. It is important to maintain normal humidity of at least 30%, to promote healthy skin shedding, while still maintaining good air circulation.
The substrate however should remain dry, if the enclosure is kept damp it will encourage fungal and bacterial growth which can cause disease. They like to burrow, so usually a light, thick, absorbent substrate of some type is used. Aspen, potting soil, bark, paper pellets, and paper "crumbles" like Carefresh are some of the popular substrates that are used. Regardless of which substrate is used it will need to be completely changed frequently as garters defecate often due to their high metabolism rate.
Garter can be housed in glass terrariums, wooden cages with glass fronts, or plastic tubs in a rack system. They will eat worms, frogs, guppies, trout, salmon and other fish readily. However goldfish and rosies should be avoided as they contain high amounts of the enzyme thiaminase which can cause a deficiency of vitamin B1 (Thiamine), and can be fatal. Garter snakes can also be conditioned to eat F/T (frozen and then thawed) mice thru the use of scenting, the advantage to feeding whole mice is that they are nutritionally complete. If fed a diet of strictly fish pieces, the pieces will need occational dusting with a vitamin and mineral supplement.
They like to swim in a pan or pond of water and the water should be changed frequently as they sometimes defecate in it. It is also a good idea to provide some type of hide (a place for the snake to hide and feel secure). This can be something natural like a hollow log, or something as simple as a plant pot tray turned over with an entrance hole cut in the side or top.
If these basic needs are met, garters will thrive and can be kept quite easily in captivity. They are inexpensive to feed and house and stay relatively small. They will usually become very tame with regular handling. Due to their diurnal nature (active during the day) it is convenient and fun to observe their behaviors. Garter snakes appear to be very alert and intelligent making them a favorite pet snake.
My Care Practices and Recommendations
When babies are born in my care the entire litter is placed together in a large plastic tub lined on the bottom with damp paper towels. Garter snakes are said to be born "live" as opposed to most snakes that lay eggs which then incubate outside the female. Garters actually have eggs that are fertilized and then incubated inside the female, the scientific term for this is ovoviviparous. Some people prefer to use the term "pregnant" over "gravid" to describe the female since garters do not actually LAY eggs, either term is excepted, but I prefer to use gravid, as pregnant is generally used for mammals and gravid is more commonly used for reptiles. At the time of birth the babies are not enclosed in a white eggshell, but rather a clear amniotic sac, which they break thru just before, right at, or quickly after birth. Usually right after birth or within the first day or so they will all shed. Next they are popped to determine sex. They will be popped several times over the next couple weeks to confirm the sex. This has proven to be a very safe and accurate method of sexing garter snakes. After initial sexing they are placed in individual deli cups with a handful of Carefresh substrate and a 1 ounce measuring cup used as a water dish. From this point on they will be housed individually and only paired up for a day or two at a time during the breeding season.
Snakes do not travel or actually live in pairs or in groups in the wild (this is a scientifically researched fact), to force them to do so in captivity will only add unwanted stress. Garter snakes and some other species of snakes will often den to brumate during winter in large groups sometimes in large deep caves, but that is only because a suitable den site to survive the winter does not exist behind every tree. While the idea of providing a "friend" might sound good, it is not in the best interest of the snake, but rather the owner's desire to believe that snakes are a social animal, but in fact they are solitary creatures by nature. This is a highly debated subject and I am not saying that snakes should "never" be housed togather, that is a personal choice that the keeper must make, but it is not something that I personally practice, nor would recomend. Even so, there are other obvious reasons to keep them in separate housing; preventing accidental eating of one another, preventing hybrids if different species were to be housed together, maintaining integrity of sexual and genotype identity for breeding purposes, keeping good data records, and for maintaining better individual hygiene and sanitation.
After a couple days the newborns are offered their first meal of a guppy, initially the guppy is placed in front of them and then left, but after a few feedings they usually will eagerly take the guppy right from the 10" metal tongs. For the first couple weeks they are offered a guppy every couple days, then they are offered mouse feet or tail (sometimes refered to as pinkie parts or mouse parts) scented with the a guppy. This is done by placing a bunch of guppies in a baggie with a bunch of pinkie parts, then mixed around. After the guppies have rubbed off their scent on to the pinkie parts they are carefully returned to the aquarium safely and unharmed to be used again. This method of scenting can also be used to scent Reptomin sticks, which can be used as a vitamin and mineral rich "head start" supplemental food.
The goal is to get them eating a mouse diet and completely independent from the fish as soon as possible. This greatly reduces their chances of acquiring parasites, and bacterial or fungal pathogens. A feeder fish can be a very stressed out disease infected animal. A 15 gallon fish tank is kept going, just to quarantine the guppies that are brought home from the pet shop for a few weeks, to help "weed out" the sick ones and minimize the risks. I also breed guppies during the off season to have a good stable supply going into the start of the garter birthing season.
After a couple weeks of feeding on the scented pinkie parts they can gradually be weaned from the scenting and just offered strait F/T mouse parts. The next step is to offer them an extra small day old pinkie. Once they are feeding on pinkies they can be fed less frequently, say every 4-5 days, because the whole mouse is nutritionally complete.
Another trick that I use to ensure that they are getting all the vitamins and minerals that they need for their rapid growth phase is to stuff a couple Reptomin sticks in the mouth and down the throat of the pinkie. Once they get to the point where they will eagerly eat 2 pinkies they are bumped up to the next size mouse, ect. ect.
During this peak growth time they are eating frequently and they are also drinking and pooping often, so the water is changed daily, and the deli cups and water cups are thoroughly cleaned and scrubbed out with a sponge and liquid hand soap, then rinsed thoroughly and dried, and re-lined with new Carefresh at least weekly. Once they are eating pinkies and are getting a little bigger they are moved up to a 9"x12" sandwich storage container, with a 2"x3" plastic water pan.
When they are big enough to eat a small mouse they are then moved up to a 15qt. tub in a rack system with a larger and deeper water dish. I like to get all of the babies up to this size by fall, and once they are to this point they are pretty much "bullet proof" and are in good shape to survive the upcoming rigors of winter brumation; slower metabolism, fasting, and challenges to their digestive and immune system.
Most males are kept in the 15 qt. tubs unless they get really big, and the females are kept in 28 qt. tubs, both in rack systems, equipped with 4" 5 watt Flexwatt heat tape, taped down to the top of the shelf underneath the tub for belly heat. In my humble oppinion the 4" 5 watt Flexwatt heat tape is the perfect heat source for garter snakes, due to its lower watts per square inch than the conventionally used 3" 6 watt, or worse yet the 3" 10 watt which is way overkill. As a result the 4" Flexwatt heat tape runs a lot cooler and does not even really need a dimmer or thermostat, although I have added dimmers just to dial it down as we warm up in the summer. I run the tape at about 90-95 degrees and that creates a good heat gradient within the tub of 68-75 on cold end to 80-90 on hot end depending on the season. During the spring when the females are gravid, yet the abient room temp is still on the cool side I run the heat tape full bore which runs about 95-105 since they are basking most of the time and this added basking heat helps the developemental process, and has worked well for me. This may seem on the hot side but if you take a heat gun to a rock in the spring out in the strong spring sun you will find that it gets much hotter than that. The ambient temperature in my basement gets as low as 58-62 in the winter months (though it is much colder than that on the concrete area in the storage room) and then gets up to 80-84 in August, but is in the low to mid 70s for most of the year. I do unplug the heat tape during the month of August if the basement maintains a constant ambient temperature in the low 80's and then also for brumation in the winter months. The 4" Flexwatt is much safer to use, virtually eliminating the risk of overheating due to a thermostat failure, causing a burn on an animal, or worse yet causing a fire. The 4" Flexwatt is absolutely the perfect heat source for garters and other colubrids for that matter. Perhaps the only reason that it has not yet become more popular in the reptile world is that it might not run hot enough for the python and boidae. The tempgun, (which can be purchased at Pro Exotics- see links page) is an invaluable tool to have and will allow you to know exactly what the temps are in your enclosures, and monitor the animal's temps as well, every snake keeper should own one.
In the late fall, usually in Dec. the snakes will gradually stop feeding and will become completely inactive, the trigger of the shortening days from the open view of the outside window in my snake room combined by the steady ambient temperature drop, as well as unplugging the heat tape, cause the snakes to go into brumation. It is important that they have not fed in at least 2-3 weeks before the heat tape is unplugged, otherwise any undigested food will "rot" in their gut, which can lead to a serious internal bacterial infection, and can be fatal.
Then in February when the days start to get longer again, a room space heater that automatically heats the room to about 70 degrees is added, that combined with plugging in the heat tape gets them quickly feeding again and interested in breeding, especially after the first shed. Then a few sheds later (approx. 90 days) we start the whole cycle of life over again. Spring is without a doubt a snake breeder's most exciting time of the year. During the spring they are fed every 4-5 days, with the females eating bigger meals and more consistently with a voracious appetite.
After the breeding season the males will begin to feed well again. After the babies are born and the females are eating well again, the adults will go on a maintenance diet to keep from becoming obese and they will be fed every 7-10 days. The adult females are generally fed large mice and the adult males are fed small mice.
The legs and tails are cut off of all the mice that are fed to the adults as well as the growing juvenile holdbacks throughout the year. The legs and tails are stored in plastic bags in the freezer to be used for the upcoming seasons babies. This way there is always plenty of mouse parts on hand to wean the babies from guppies to eating mice. Generally, I try to get all the babies at least feeding on mouse parts or pinkies before selling them. They are very well head started and much easier to care for at that point. Sometimes it takes a lot of patience to get them switched over to mice, but usually it is quick and easy thru the use of scenting. Some people prefer to feed a variety of fish and mice, which isn't a bad idea and the snakes might actually appreciate it. You can always change them back to a fish based diet if you choose to, but sometimes it is harder to get them back eating mice if you do so, which is one of the reasons I stick with a strictly mouse diet. Using frozen/thawed mice is very convenient, and used in combination with occationally stuffing a reptimin stick in the mouse, ensures that the diet is complete, with no vitamin or mineral deficiencies, and rich in calcium, which is especially important for breeding females and rapidly growing juveniles.
All of the tubs are cleaned once a week, two weeks at the longest if I am really too busy and have to skip a week. The process of cleaning means removing and disposing of all the Carefresh, then scrubbing the tub and water dish and the hide with a sponge and plain old liquid hand soap in the utility sink to remove all traces of fecal material and also to remove any scent on the bottom and sides, good old fashioned elbow grease and scrubbing of all surfaces and every "nook and cranny" with soap followed by thorough rinsing and drying will effectively physically remove most contaminants, bacterial and viral pathogens. Think of it this way, if you physically remove most of the "dirt" and other contaminants, there isn't much need to disinfect. While no method of sanitizing is 100% perfect (we aren't sterilizing our enclosures in an autoclave) the goal is to reduce numbers to close to zero so to reduce or effectively eliminate the threat of infections. It is also important to wash and rinse the sponge well between cages and discard the sponge weekly after its use, trying to clean with a dirty sponge can do more harm than good. This method can be very effective at making the enclosure TRUELY CLEAN AND SAFE if done so on a consistent, routine basis.
Often times soaking in bleach becomes a lazy substitute for scrubbing and physically removing "poop", so a 10-15 minute soak in bleach may not work into the core of the "dirt" to really do its job effectively and you actually end up with a less than clean object with toxic bleach residue left behind. Caution should be exersised if using the sometimes recommended 10% bleach solution as it can be a very dangerous and harmful to a snake if not properly rinsed away, not to mention it can potentially be harmful to people and clothes, carpet, and other pets like cats and dogs that may run loose in the house, and 10% bleach use weekly is simply not necessary.
However as a periodic preventative maintenance routine, I recommend and personally peform a periodic disinfecting(twice a year, during summer after babies are born and winter just before brumation) soak of all tubs and enclosure objects and wipe the undersides of the rack shelves either using a diluted Nolvasan (chlorhexidine) solution or weak dilute bleach solution (1 capful per gallon) for 20-30 minutes, followed by thorough rinsing(wipe under rack shelves with water soaked paper towel) and then thorough drying. If you have any non-plastic objects or objects that cannot be cleaned or sanitized they should be discarded and replaced periodically or as needed when they become "dirty". The important thing is to CONSISTENTLY keep your animals environment clean and healthy, and keep your animals as stress free as possible; this goes a long way to PREVENTING illness problems.
In addition to maintaining good health and hygiene, I also have a theory that stems from my prior experience in fish breeding and using frequent large percentage water changes which promotes more rapid growth rates and overall fish health; that more frequent thorough cleaning of the snake enclosure top to bottom might also increases feeding, pooping (usually first thing they do after putting them back in the clean tub to mark scent), activity, and ULTIMATELY INCREASES GROWTH RATES and overall snake health. A little "breeder theory" tip, take it for what its worth.
Another good practice that is very important in maintaining the health and hygiene of a snake collection is to wash your hands before and after handling an animal as well as in between handling individuals, a practice that I follow religiously. It is a good idea to limit the number of people that enter the snake room and the number of people that handle the snakes to prevent introducing any new "bugs".
All of these practiced are personally followed in my snake room for the sake of the health and safety of all of my animals and as well as for the health and safety of myself and anyone who visits my home.
I have observed that my snakes know and trust me, and are relaxed when I handle them, but they are not with other people, so limiting the number of people around your snakes and limiting the amount of handling within reason, balancing their needs for seclusion and privacy with your needs to "enjoy" them.
Keeping the stress low is one of the most important factors in snakes healthy, or any animal for that matter including people. This is also why it is good to maintain consistent snake keeping practices, and not make drastic changes to the snake's environment which could also cause stress.
The goal with all snake keeping methods is to keep your animals as stress free as possible, while at the same time meeting all of their basic needs. A low stressed animal with all of its needs met is a healthy, problem free animal.
There are many different ways to raise a garter snake with great success. The practices outlined above are taken from the many years of experience by many very seasoned snake keepers, and have proven to be very effective for the breeding set-up and situation. Thru extensive research and personal experience with these proven practices, it gives me great confidence in knowing that I am genuinely offering the most truly healthy, robust, clean, animals that I can possibly produce and my background in genetics, provides the trust and assurance to know that genetically, you will receive as advertised.
