About the Site

In early 2001, I realized that there was a need for a web site that could serve as an information source for people asking questions about garter snakes. It took two and a half years before I could get this project off the ground, and it’s still a long way from finished.

Back then, the main place where questions about garter snakes could be answered was on Internet forums and mailing lists, which are’t very efficient: the same questions get asked repeatedly, and the quality of answers can be inconsistent, as helpful but less-informed respondents gave inaccurate information. Bickering frequently ensued, as is often the case online.

After one particularly nasty battle, I decided that I wanted a site that I could point people to whenever a question got asked, so that arguments over whether garter snakes were rear-fanged (not in the strictest sense) or whether they should be fed goldfish (no) wouldn’t get in the way of providing a helpful answer.

That’s what’s behind Gartersnake.info. With any luck, and a little help, this site will grow into an indispensable resource for garter snake enthusiasts.

The Editor

Jonathan Crowe is a writer, web designer and snake breeder. He grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he began keeping Red-sided Garter Snakes at the age of 8. Here’s a picture of him from that period, mucking around at the snake dens near Narcisse, Manitoba.

An historian by training, Jonathan nevertheless got back into snake keeping with a vengeance in 1999, and picked up where he left off as a child with his first love: garter snakes.

He currently lives in Shawville, Quebec, with his partner, Jennifer Seely. Their menagerie includes two cats, a box turtle, and a whole mess of snakes, including Butler’s, Wandering, Checkered, Plains and Common Garter Snakes.

He is also the author of The Map Room, a blog about maps, and DFL, a blog about last-place finishes at the 2004 Olympics.