This web site is intended as a guide (and hopefully to offer encouragement) to those herpetologists with a genuine interest in garter snakes. These most fascinating snakes have unfortunately, and undeservedly, earned themselves a reputation as a "trash" or "beginner's" snake, particularly in the USA.
European herpetologists have long recognised the worth of garter snakes, and indeed the more unusual forms of garter snakes are often easier to locate in Europe, particularly in Germany and Holland.
Garter snakes as a genus have the attractive virtues of being small, hardy, attractive and lively snakes. They are generally diurnal, and unlike many of the more colourful snakes commonly kept (such as milk snakes) are usually visible and active during daylight hours. For the most part they are docile in nature, and will breed easily in captivity, with some species double or even triple-breeding in a year. The young are live-born and easy to rear.
