# albino checkerboard garter snakes



## catfishrod69 (Apr 2, 2011)

right now i have a male and female...i fed them good two days ago, and have had the male's enclosure next to the females since then....i am planning on breeding them tonight...i have read that over 50 young can be born....and they are the easiest to tame of all garters...you can pluck a checkerboard garter outta the wild, and tame it in a few days....this is my first attempt breeding so i hope it goes well...if so i will hopefully have many babies up for trade....the first pic is the male, and the second is the female


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## kevin91172 (Apr 2, 2011)

50? Wow I hope you are successful AND sell my one


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## catfishrod69 (Apr 2, 2011)

yea i really hope the female doesnt hurt/eat the male...he is sooo much smaller than her...if i am successful, and your interested than they will most likely be up for trade, might sell some also...




kevin91172 said:


> 50? Wow I hope you are successful AND sell my one


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## kevin91172 (Apr 2, 2011)

Very cool I like trades better myself


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## Lolita (Apr 2, 2011)

thats cool they remind me a bit of albino cali kinds only cuter let me know how your breeding goes


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## catfishrod69 (Apr 2, 2011)

yea i just put the male in with her, he was trying to bite me like 5 times...but hes so small his mouth just bounced off....after i got him in there, i was afraid she was going to latch on to him, but she was actually very interested in him...showing no aggression at all...and of course he was petrified of her....but he seemed to calm down, and they have been crawling all over eachother, when hes not hiding under some plastic leaves....i was hoping to witness the whole breeding and then take him out, but i might leave him in over night, and then take him out, unless they are getting along good enough to keep him in there a while...so ill see what happens and keep everyone updated...


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## catfishrod69 (Apr 3, 2011)

well they have been together over night...dont know what all has happened, cause whenever i enter the room they just lay there....and they havent showed any aggression to eachother at all...so i might leave them together until next feeding, and then maybe take the male out and hopefully get to see if the female is pregnant or not...i really hope so...


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## xchondrox (Apr 3, 2011)

50 babies is an extremely large record sized litter dont go getting your hopes up on having anywhere near that many babies from a first year female. 6-15 is more reasonably sized litter to be expecting. I had two last year 5 and 16 babies, was the first year breeding for both. The female that had 16 will eat a f/t jumbo mouse and is 3ft long.... 

Did you place them in burmeation this winter???


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## catfishrod69 (Apr 3, 2011)

yea i was reading how they can have over 50 but normally around 15 or so...well i got both of them off a buddie and he never said if he bred them or not...i dont think so though....my male is around maybe 15-18" and female is about 30" or so...never measured them...i was going to cool them down for a few months, but i never got any info on if i should or not...i kept asking around and researching, but since checkerboards are native of course theres no info....i decided to try and breed them without cooling....should be ok shouldnt it? thanks for your help, cause im kinda wingin it here.



xchondrox said:


> 50 babies is an extremely large record sized litter dont go getting your hopes up on having anywhere near that many babies from a first year female. 6-15 is more reasonably sized litter to be expecting. I had two last year 5 and 16 babies, was the first year breeding for both. The female that had 16 will eat a f/t jumbo mouse and is 3ft long....
> 
> Did you place them in burmeation this winter???


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## ZephAmp (Apr 3, 2011)

Checkereds are one of the garter snakes that will breed without a cooling period. Sometimes in the wild they will have 2 litters per year. 
Up here we have easterns and butler's garters, both of which (generally) need to be cooled to breed but captivity often throws a wrench in things. 

I don't know where you got the idea that they are the easiest to tame out of the garter snakes; I have 3 that do not like the fact that I exist.
I can go out and pick up a wild eastern and have it crawling all over me (in the good way!) in a few minutes.


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## catfishrod69 (Apr 3, 2011)

yeah i read that they can sometimes have a litter in the late summer to fall..wikipedia is the site that says they are the easiest to tame of all garters...mine will bite me if i stick my hand in, but i use a stick then get them in my hand, and then after you hold them for 10 minutes or so, they calm completely down....the male tried to bite me like 10 times as i was catching him to put in with the female.....but his mouth is so tiny it just bounced off my hand...so should i leave him in with her until next feeding? and then if she is pregnant will i know, other than just her getting fat? and should i continue feeding her if she is pregnant? thanks for your help





ZephAmp said:


> Checkereds are one of the garter snakes that will breed without a cooling period. Sometimes in the wild they will have 2 litters per year.
> Up here we have easterns and butler's garters, both of which (generally) need to be cooled to breed but captivity often throws a wrench in things.
> 
> I don't know where you got the idea that they are the easiest to tame out of the garter snakes; I have 3 that do not like the fact that I exist.
> I can go out and pick up a wild eastern and have it crawling all over me (in the good way!) in a few minutes.


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## ZephAmp (Apr 3, 2011)

I doubt she would eat him. Cannibalism in garters (except for wandering garter snakes) is relatively rare. Sometimes it will happen in neonates but this is usually an accident caused by food item odor lingering on the unfortunate victim's head.

If she's preggo she'll start eating like crazy and you will notice the last 2/3s of her body will be noticeably fatter.


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## catfishrod69 (Apr 4, 2011)

ok ill keep that in mind....i will probably still take him out in a week or so....then keep checking on her to see of shes gaining any weight....hopefully ill get lucky...


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## xchondrox (Apr 4, 2011)

I burmeated mine along with my other colubrids at 55deg for 3 months, I think that cycling triggers follice developement and sperm production even been a species that occurs in a more southern region. I think all in all its good for the snake to go thru a seasonal change even if its just shutting off the heat at night if your intentions are on breeding. Im not saying that you wont get a litter out of her with out cooling, she does appear to be adult and they are a very prolific species. Have heard of some people breeding western hognose with out a burmeation period as well and the clutchs tend to be smaller with a higher slug count.

Although I keep Albino Checkered Garters and not the Albino Checkerboard variety so there may be some differences between the two


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## catfishrod69 (Apr 5, 2011)

well if my female doesnt get pregnant, then could i just burmeate them after i realize shes not..even thought itll be the wrong time of year, but they wouldnt know it....and during the cooling period, do you still feed every week? or less often...and from looking them both up, i think the checkered and checkerboard are the same thing...just people call em diff....




xchondrox said:


> I burmeated mine along with my other colubrids at 55deg for 3 months, I think that cycling triggers follice developement and sperm production even been a species that occurs in a more southern region. I think all in all its good for the snake to go thru a seasonal change even if its just shutting off the heat at night if your intentions are on breeding. Im not saying that you wont get a litter out of her with out cooling, she does appear to be adult and they are a very prolific species. Have heard of some people breeding western hognose with out a burmeation period as well and the clutchs tend to be smaller with a higher slug count.
> 
> Although I keep Albino Checkered Garters and not the Albino Checkerboard variety so there may be some differences between the two


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## xchondrox (Apr 6, 2011)

Its best to cool most colubrids in the mid 50's for atleast 2 months 'i do 3', depending where you are its hard to accomplish this with out winters help. Some of the larger breeders purposely cycle there breeders with the help of AC units so they produce young in the 'off' season when the market isn't flooded with babies. With these guys you could possibley get away with a decent night time drop instead of inducing full on burmeation. If you do a night time drop it would be ok to feed as they get warm during the day, however if you burmeate do not attempt feeding as the digestion process is super slow and the food item will more or less rot in there GI tract resulting in death. 

My suggestion is to leave them together and see what happens. Make sure to feed your female very well thru out the entire summer, if she is gravid by early/late fall her lower 1/2 of her body will be very bloated and firm. You will be able to tell easily. If she doesnt take this year at least you will have put another year of growth on her and be able to cycle them during the winter and pretty much garuntee a litter next year, garters are very easy to successfully breed. 

Google 'Scott Feltzer garter snake' find his web site and see if he has a breeding/care sheet there, you should follow the info you find there as closely as you can he is 'the man' when it comes to garters. kingsnake.com also has a garter/ribbon snake forum that will also be great info for you to read up on. 

Good luck,
Corey


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## pouchedrat (Apr 7, 2011)

I've bought most of my garters from Scott, he's good people.


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## catfishrod69 (Apr 7, 2011)

ok man...will do...thanks




xchondrox said:


> Its best to cool most colubrids in the mid 50's for atleast 2 months 'i do 3', depending where you are its hard to accomplish this with out winters help. Some of the larger breeders purposely cycle there breeders with the help of AC units so they produce young in the 'off' season when the market isn't flooded with babies. With these guys you could possibley get away with a decent night time drop instead of inducing full on burmeation. If you do a night time drop it would be ok to feed as they get warm during the day, however if you burmeate do not attempt feeding as the digestion process is super slow and the food item will more or less rot in there GI tract resulting in death.
> 
> My suggestion is to leave them together and see what happens. Make sure to feed your female very well thru out the entire summer, if she is gravid by early/late fall her lower 1/2 of her body will be very bloated and firm. You will be able to tell easily. If she doesnt take this year at least you will have put another year of growth on her and be able to cycle them during the winter and pretty much garuntee a litter next year, garters are very easy to successfully breed.
> 
> ...


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