San Francisco Garter Snake
| San Francisco Garter Snake | ||||||||||||
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San Francisco Garter Snake |
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| Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia | ||||||||||||
| ( Cope , 1875) |
The San Francisco garter snake ( Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia ) is a rare subspecies of the common garter snake ( Thamnophis sirtalis ).
Characteristics, way of life and status
As for all garter snakes, the same applies to the San Francisco garter snake: Females usually grow to a meter long, sometimes up to four feet. Males rarely reach a length of more than 70 cm.
They have a wide range of foods and will eat fish , slugs , worms , amphibians , mice , rats , even small birds . A litter usually contains five to twenty-five young animals.
This garter snake , especially popular because of its red-blue color, is threatened with extinction. Their game population was estimated at only 200 to 1,500 animals in the 1990s.
breed
It has been under species protection in the USA since the mid-1970s . Possession, trade and thus also the breeding of the San Francisco garter snake by private terrarium owners are prohibited there. In the past, the offspring that were bred in zoos were even said to have been fed to cobras. In all other countries there are no special requirements for breeding and keeping.
From five imported animals from Memphis, the first European breeding emerged in the 1980s, initially in zoos, especially in the Rotterdam zoo . Offspring of these are called the "Rotterdam bloodline". Later bred animals were also given into private hands. From the mid-1990s onwards these were supplemented by five animals of the so-called “Austrian bloodline”. This line has never been confirmed by genetic tests.
According to reports from individual breeders, the offspring of this subspecies is more difficult than with other garter snake species due to inbreeding effects . These animals are said to be sick more often and sometimes also suffer or die from diseases that do not have such a strong impact on other subspecies.
distribution
The San Francisco garter snake has its natural habitat in only a small area on the California southwest coast of the United States near San Francisco .
literature
- Thomas Bourguignon: Garter Snakes. Origin, care, species , DATZ terrarium books, 2002, ISBN 3-8001-3591-4
- Martin Hallmen, Jürgen Chlebowy: Garter Snakes , Natur und Tier-Verlag, 2001, ISBN 3-931-58749-5
- WP Mara: Garter Snakes in the Terrarium , paperback (63 pages), Bede Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-927-99779-X
- Frank Mutschmann : The garter snakes. Biology, distribution, keeping , paperback (172 pages), Westarp-Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-894-32427-9