Breeding

Garters can be just as easy to breed as they are to keep. There are some very important steps involved, but if you pay attention to your animals' needs and make sure they're all met, soon you can be welcoming new little slithering members of the family!

First, a note: The decision to breed your garters is an important one. You need to understand that even if you're not successful, you're risking the health of your female snake. Even if you are successful, you need to be sure that you can take care of the offspring properly. Do not release the babies into the wild unless their species is native to your area! If you know that you cannot keep all or some of the babies, arrange for someone to buy or adopt them from you before you attempt to breed your pets. You are responsible for the little guys! If you are aware of a situation where someone has more babies than they can handle, please visit my Adoption page.

What you need: Well obviously, a male and a female garter of the same species to start with! It can be difficult to sex your garters independently. You may already know the sex from the breeder or store you purchased your pet from. If you do not, there are a few simple (but not always reliable) standards to go by. Male garters are usually thinner than females when they are adults (5+ especially). Their tails are shorter, and a bulge or lack of tapering is present behind the vent area. Females are larger in thier adult body size, and have a long tail that tapers smoothly from the vent area.  For pictures of these differences, as well as important exceptions, please visit Alan Francis's site on the Links page. The two breeders should be at least two years old. There are some instances of 1.5-year-old breeders, but something that stressful on the female at such a young age should be avoided for the health of the animal. You'll also need a habitat tank large enough for the two to live in comfortably for a period of time that can range from a few hours to a week.

Mating: Mating will occur very shortly after garters come out of brumation. This is why brumation is often very important to breeding garters. Please see the Brumation page for more details. Your two breeders should be in excellent health, and show no signs of ill health throughout the brumation period. As soon as you raise the snakes back to a normal level of activity, they should both be introduced to each other in the same tank. You can include ornaments from both enclosures, so that the snakes may feel more comfortable. Courtship behavior consists of the male running his body over the female's. You may see the female twitching as well, as a response. Mating takes place when the male twists his tale under hers, and transfers sperm through one side of the hemipenis. After mating, the male will cease to be interested in the female. The female snake may also show an anal plug, or a yellowish hardened lump of mucus around the vent area. This is to temporarily prevent other males from mating with her. The male should be removed a few hours after a successful mating.

Pregnancy: A female's gestation lasts around 90 days. Signs of pregnancy (known as being 'gravid' in reptile terms) begin to show after about a month. You'll notice the female's body becomes considerably thicker, her appetite increases, and towards the end of gestation you can feel lumps in her body. In order to make sure the little ones inside get the best start, feed your snake as much as she will eat. Make sure the food is the highest quality you can find. The female will load up for about the first two months of gestation, then stop eating around the time when she will drop her litter. You must also monitor her health carefully, but try to avoid handling her especially late in her pregnancy. Above all, reduce stress on the animal as much as you can. A stressed snake may abort her litter, causing the fetuses inside to never develop at all, or to become infertile 'slugs'.

Problems: Complications while your female is gravid revolve mainly around stress. Sometimes, even the best cared-for females develop problems that cause the litter to die inside her body. These slugs can cause serious problems for the mother if they are not birthed, rotting inside of her body cavity and killing her. If your garter has gone significantly past her gestation period and does not drop her litter, take her to the vet. In many cases, a mixed litter is born with some live babies and some dead slugs.

Delivery: Unlike almost all reptiles, garter snakes give birth to live young. You can avoid the complications of incubating the eggs yourself this way, but you also need to  make proper preparations for the female's delivery. The ideal situation would be to set up a birthing tank, either a glass tank or large plastic tub with a secure lid and air holes placed high near the container's rim. The substrate should be a sheet layer of newspaper and torn or crumpled paper towels to give the babies a space to hide and rest. Fresh water should be available in a shallow dish. The female should be allowed to spend time in this tank before her delivery, so she can become familiar with the environment. The stress of being moved to a strange tank can cause her to retain her litter rather than birth it. Delivery of the babies can occur within hours to a span of several days.

The Litter: Based on a number of factors from male fertility to stress and nutrition during gestation, garter litters can range from a few babies to over a dozen. Since the babies are born without an eggshell, they'd be active from the start. They are born inside of a membrane with a little bit of yolk. This is rubbed off by the substrate and quickly dries up. Keep an eye on the babies though, 'runts' can sometimes be too weak to escape the membrane. The babies should not remain in the tank with the mother for any protracted length of time, as she may smother or even eat them. Care for the babies during the first week should involve close monitoring. They should be placed in a tank with newspaper/paper towel substrate and a very shallow dish of water. Feeding will not be a concern for the first one or two days, but when you do feed them, make sure the prey is chopped up to a small enough size. Earthworms, chopped fish, or live small guppies are all good food items. It is important to watch which babies are and are not eating. Although it's hard to tell them apart, babies that are having trouble need to be cordoned off for special care. The babies will shed for the first time anywhere from hours to days after their birth. The water will help them shed, but if more than a week passes, take the unshed babies and give them time in a seperate tank to soak on a washcloth wet with lukewarm water.

With a lot of TLC, you can raise a healthy batch of babies and continue the lines of your pet snakes!