Garter snakes, enclosure, respond if you have experience

All Reptiles Enclosures & Setups
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So, I’m going to be getting california red-sided garter snakes, but obviously I need an enclosure first, (yes, I said AN enclosure cuz keep in mind these are garter snakes they a communal species and I’ve done research on how to do this plus there a going to be a breeding pair.) anyway I’ve been looking into an enclosure for a bit, its 4Lx2Wx4H which is basicly two enclosures the size for one stacked ontop eachother. Its going to have lots of ledges and other things to climb, its going to have lots of hides, and its going to have a ceramic heat emitter plus another basking spot if I can. But thats not the problem, I have found a different enclosure that is cheaper, better quality, and looks better, the only problem is its a foot shorter. Its not a BIG difference but I’m kinda stressing about whether or not its the right choice, becouse ive heard you are supposed to have twice the space you’d have for one snake if you have two in there.

This is the enclosure I’m now looking at,

So I’m hoping for you to respond if you have ANY EXPERIENCE with COHABITATION or breeding/owning GARTER SNAKES.

Thanks,
-Finn

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That was rough.

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I have to agree.

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Agree to going with the original enclosure or the new one?

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I wouldn’t stress out about losing the floor space if you think it’ll be a better environment in all other regards.

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I’m not a big fan of the combative tone of the original post. This community isn’t a facebook group, we expect everyone to be friendly and welcoming.

Garters will use ledges to some degree but I doubt you’re going to miss out on space they’ll use by going with a 3’ enclosure. Mostly you’re going to find them on the ground.

If you plan to breed you’re going to want to go with 2 males and one female at least. Having multiple males encourages them to breed. In the wild males pile all over the females. You can have success with a 1:1 ratio but being new, you’ll get better results at 2:1.

Feeding cohabitated garters is time consuming. I suggest buying herb shears to cut up their food. All food needs to be cut up into chunks the size of the garters heads. This allows them to get a piece and get it down quickly before another garter grabs it. Feeding has to be supervised from start to finish. They will accidentally eat each other or cause injury from fighting over pieces. They like to alligator roll when they’re fighting over the same piece of food.

Pregnant garters should be removed from the large enclosure and kept in a tub on paper towels. The babies are incredibly tiny and you’ll never find them all the first try in a naturalistic enclosure.

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