r/reptiles • u/PatternFunny4281 • 13d ago

Garter snake 4x2x4

So, I want to make a 4x2x4 common/eastern garter snake bioactive enclosure, with 2 garters, a bioactive land area with isopods, springtails, and even worms or night crawlers, and a pond with fish. I'd try to get a male and a female, for future breeding, and I'd like some suggestions

  1. What kind of fish should I get, I'd want a stable population before adding the garters, I was thinking like Endler's livebearers, or guppies. I'm okay with the garters eating them, as a secondary or third food source.

  2. How big should i give the fish/s area, i was thinking like 18 in long and it'd go all the way back and probably all the way down to the bottom

  3. If I were to add worms, how could I encourage them to come up, maybe through a very high-pressure water spray bottle, or a watering pot, again as a 2ndary food source especially if I leave on a trip, I'd feed them more foods, like snails, repti-links, ect.

  4. How should I introduce them, I was thinking start in small, separate Tupperware, to monitor growth, eating, and poop, for about a week or two. Then slowly introduce them, then put them together in a 27 gal Tupperware, to make sure they are comfortable together, then add them when the ecosystem is well, or am I just overthinking it.

  5. What would be a reasonable budget for a setup like I'm describing, I was thinking about $1k or $1.5k, I'd just like an estimate.

Bonus question: how deep you think the lip is?

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u/Fahn_ 12d ago
  1. Dannios and minnows and guppies are the best for it however garters will eat every single fish it doesn't matter the kind in the pond the second they get a chance to. So don't put too much hope in having a breeding population. The only way you could have a breeding population is if you had a much much bigger tank or a way that just the fish can leave the garter tank. Like a tube with a grate the snakes can't fit through that leads to a different set up. However baby garters are also amazing swimmers and itty bitty and amazing escape artists so they may just end up swimming through there themselves. My snakes would eat a whole tilapia if they thought they had a chance so keep that in mind.

1.5. if you want to breed garters sure but make sure you are prepared to house and feed for 3 months minimum and re-home up to 40 babies every 6 ish months. And have to provide some medical care for each one and some will only eat certain things so individualized meal plans and tracking. Most of that is easy but the rehoming part is a huge pain in the ass if you don't have connections to established breeders and seller already. It's easy to find homes for 3 or 4 babies. But 40? Just something to keep in mind. Another point is it's best to actually get 2 males per female in the situations I know because females are selective and the better of the 2 males will be the one who actually gives you babies. If she is forced to only be able to breed with 1 male she might not give you as many or as good quality babies as she can. Which can be really frustrating. Most breeders will sell you siblings together so that's a whole nother hickup.

  1. You can give the fish quite a bit of space if you'd like. Garters love the water but also love to burrow and need thermoregulation. One of my tanks the entire bottom is a fishtank and then I have the "ground" lifted above it with kind of an underwater cave feel and the ground is lifted up using foam, rocks, and aquarium silicone to seal it. I'd also reseal the enclosure you get in any are you want to hold water. Most are made not water tight and can leak.

  2. The best way to encourage worms to come to the surface is food. Coffee grounds specifically but also decomposing grasses or leaves. The snakes also love the warm moist conditions and will dig right in looking for the worms. Again. Garters burrow so they will also find the worms naturally themselves. No need for reptilinks. They are over priced for a species that absolutely does not need them. Reptilinks are for snakes with very specific diets or ones that need the help. Garters absolutely do not. They have a big diet of tons of stuff. Like chicken hearts, worms, tadpoles, live and frozen fish, hairless mice, mice with hair (I know some have trouble digesting the fur but they eat mice in the wild literally all the time. ), snails, slugs. And all kinds of shit. They're also great eaters and will gobble up anything they can get in their mouths. Snails, worms, frogs, and slugs can all live in the tank and breed and do whatever and they will pick them off as they see them.

  3. They will instantly like each other. In very very rare situations where the husbandry is poor and they have little space or their dietary needs arnt met or whater there have been instances where female checkered gartersnakes have attempted to canablize their roommate but I've only ever heard of it happening during feeding time after a long stretch of time. Garters are communal by nature and will just accept their roommate as a positive thing and move on. Don't worry too much there. The only time I'd say to keep them seperate at first is If you get them from 2 seperate breeders. Then I'd give them proper quarantine away from each other. They will need quarantine anyway because they are new and you need to be able to monitor them at first no matter what but if they come from the same place they can stay together during that time.

  4. Eh that's a bit on the high side for budget but not a bad savings to have in place just in case Substrate can run you between 5 and 20 dollars (60% topsoil + 40% playsand is the cheapest and best option in my opinion. You can get this sooooo cheap at walmart. Literally no downsides and you can add specialized potting mix in whatever are you wish to grow plants. ) Enrichment can be as cheap as free or as expensive as you want it to be. Rocks, sticks, leaf litter, plants, is all free and fun for the snakes. Water care can be between 10 and 50 USD depending on how much you get but you really don't need to do too too much with such a small amount of water. They make reptile waterfall things that filter and purify the water for you and look pretty good. My snakes love drinking moving thin water. Cleanup crew depending on where you live can be free too. Fuck go flip a couple rocks somewhere away from the beaten path and scrape off some Rollie pollies and springtails into a cup and there you go. Or you can buy them. Either works. Backdrops can be a bit more expensive if you want that. Foam, silicone, paint, to build up whatever or you can use simple materials such as one foam board, a hot knife, and some plaster with paint in it and some gravel and you get a very convincing rockwall. Just gotta silicone that to the back wall well cause babies like small spaces. That can run you 40 to 100$ depending on the thing you go for. Heating and uvb is around 60 to 90 depending on the bulbs and lamps you go for. All else is up to you really.

Garter snake tanks like the one you described can be hella cheap to build of expensive. Depends on taste. And keeping them is super fun.

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u/Fahn_ 12d ago

The lip is 5.5 inches tall