We have a red sided garter snake that we think is male but is there a way to tell for definite? its just he's getting a bit thicker, slight loss of appetite and seems more and more less social. Normally he's out a lot and doesn't tend to hide when I go near him but recently he's been becoming more of a recluse. And I cant help thinking back to the guy we brought him from, one of the first things he told us was that garters are live bearers. just want to know for sure.

Do you know if the snake was kept with other garters?
The only sure way to sex them is to have them probed.
Short of babies suddenly appearing!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

We dont know anything about where he's from or what he was housed with, the shop had only had him for a week when we got him but in that time he was only housed with a baby constrictor. so we've no idea. Was kind of hoping there would be a simpler way of sexing him though. Not sure i'd want to come in one morning to find lots of little ones wriggling about, i'm only just getting used to the one. I was quite happy just to get a goldfish but my partner insisted on a snake and now I look after it and i've no idea what i'm doing. thank god for this web site or i'd be in way over my head.

I've had a look at a few web sites and according to them there are visual clues, so based on that IT'S A GIRL need to think of a new name now