Garter Snake Enrichment: The One I Had to Correct

This guide starts with a correction, because the mistake is common and we made it ourselves before checking.

What the Research Says

Nothing, on Thamnophis.

The paper frequently attached to this species is Environmental Enrichment Alters the Behavioral Profile of Ratsnakes (Elaphe), which found enriched-housed ratsnakes showed different behavioral profiles and performed differently on problem solving, feeding and field tasks. A genus rename is what makes it easy to misfile: Elaphe became Pantherophis, and Pantherophis is the corn snakes and ratsnakes.

The nearest usable evidence is therefore the colubrid work done on corn snakes: given enclosures longer than their body, corn snakes stretched out fully and preferred the larger enclosure, added enrichment affected behavior and welfare measures, and enrichment altered odor discrimination performance.

Build an Enclosure They Can Hunt In

This is where garter snakes differ from most other pet snakes. A ball python needs somewhere to wait. A garter snake needs somewhere to search.

Dense low planting, leaf litter, and varied ground texture give an active forager a landscape to work through. Scatter prey instead of presenting it, and vary where it goes.

Water Big Enough to Swim In

Garter snakes are semi-aquatic, proficient swimmers that hunt fish and amphibians in and around water. A container large enough to swim in rather than merely soak is a genuine enrichment item here in a way it is not for most snakes.

Keep it clean and stable, since a snake that swims in it will also foul it.

Cover Across the Floor

Active does not mean fearless. Cork tubes and flats, leaf litter and planting mean the animal can forage across the whole enclosure without being exposed, which is what makes it actually use the space.

Scent Trails

Chemosensory hunters that follow trails. Dragging prey across the substrate before offering, hiding food in new places, and introducing scent-marked objects all engage the sense this animal leads with, and none of it costs anything.

Company: Usually No

Garter snakes are one of the few pet snakes that can live in groups, and group housing appears to lower stress in juveniles. That does not make a companion an enrichment item for most keepers, because several of the familiar species should not share at all. Common, checkered, wandering and coast garter snakes are prone to cannibalism and are kept alone.

For the other species, cohabiting is a project with conditions attached:

• Space. A pair needs a 55-gallon equivalent at least, and more than two means a substantially larger enclosure again.
• Introductions. Introduce the snakes slowly, on neutral ground and under close watch, and separate them at the first fight.
• Feeding. Always feed apart, each snake in its own container. Two garter snakes grabbing the same worm or fish is how one ends up swallowing the other.
• Quarantine. Each new snake completes its own reptile quarantine before it meets another.

For a first garter snake, one animal in a well-furnished enclosure is the answer. The cover, scattered prey and swimming water above give it everything a tankmate would, without the risk.

Priority Order

1. Floor space and cover, so an active forager can actually forage
2. Scattered and varied prey presentation
3. A container large enough to swim in
4. Dense planting and varied ground texture
5. Scent trails
6. Rearrangement, last

What Not to Do

Do not repeat the ratsnake misattribution, which is the reason this guide leads with it. Do not keep a diurnal active forager in a bare tub. Do not rely on a single prey item type, because dietary variety is unusually important in this species.

Sources & Further Reading