Today's addition to the family

[lauwersp]

Hey

Getting ready to make the 4+ hour drive home, but I thought I'd share a pic of the new garter caught whilst he was hunting frogs. No name yet. Will discuss more later.

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Ummm... and so you all know... he is NOT upside down... has no magical powers to float upside down (to my knowledge) and his picture is NOT upside down on my computer. Soooooo... I don't know why he is upside down here.

Fresh, clean, large tank waiting for him at home. :)

[katach]

Pretty!

[chris-uk]

Nice snake.

Your camera probably stores metadata that includes the photo's orientation (I know mine does) which your computer can read and automatically rotate the image. The forum obviously isn't able to read the orientation data. It would have been more interesting to propagate a myth about levitating garters though.

[guidofatherof5]

Good looking snake.

[lauwersp]

So I can tell more of the story now. Found him/her at one of the little ponds at my parents house looking for frog legs for dinner. They have a lot of frogs this year... He was hanging over the edge of the pond on a rock and I walked quietly up behind him. He seemed to pay me no mind but I waited too long. He moved into the pond (very small pond) and frogs began to scatter. He popped onto a Lilly pad which really should be the perfect place to catch him as his head was between leaves and he really couldn't see me. The problem was the evergreen l inviting my movement. Reached out to get him, which I did, and then the inevitable *ploop* as there wasn't a secure place for my other hand to land and into the pond I went. I let him go as I fell so he didn't become a victim of my personal little disaster happening but he didn't have many places to go. He would have had to beeline for the safety of the house to really have a chance at escape and laying next to the rocks wasn't gonna save him from me. Once I picked him up, though, he was the most aggressive garter I've seen and he spent the first 30 seconds of initial captivity trying to bite me. Once that was over, though, he was pretty mello and then went into the travel box you see in the picture.

He's exploring his new tank now and I'll try to upload some better pictures later today.

He's pretty fat and not too long. I think he's been eating well.

[guidofatherof5]

Great story.

[Selkielass]

Great catch!

[Dan72]

Can't wait to see some more pics, enjoy the snake.

[lauwersp]

Ugh... rascally cats... Almost lost the snake this morning... not from being eaten... my guess is he would scare the beejeezus out of the cats as he's quite aggressive, but ONE of them hopped on the homemade lid of the tank ripped the mesh.

They are both spending the day in jail.

At any rate, snake was still there and the lid is repaired. It's actually a custom piece that my girlfriend made (she owns half of a high end blacksmithy (designsiniron.com). She crafted the frame (which is gorgeous) and I cut and siliconed the mesh to it (which is less gorgeous). I'll have to use a LITTLE more mesh and find a sturdier way to affix it.

I'll take some pics of the lid... it's painted with a metallic dark, dark grey with a whiff of metallic bronze applied at the very end.

I'm designing a modular, multi-level tank design that she's willing to craft. It should be SPECTACULAR... I just need to get around to it. So much to do... so little time.

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[EasternGirl]

Great story...was disappointed to hear you didn't have a garter that could somehow hang upside down! :D Make sure you put that tank somewhere that the cats cannot reach until you get the new enclosure made! My cat likes to scratch on the front of one of my tanks!

[lauwersp]

Actually the cats are fairly good... actually they're great cats. I'm not POSITIVE what their role is/was in the screen collapse. I'm redoing the screen today and actually using a bit more screen than I used last time. Lessons learned. It worked great initially, but one the screen got torn away from the silicone, it never really held well again.

He totally engulfed a nightcrawler last night... faster than I've ever seen a snake eat one... course he's also the largest garter I've had.

Everyone have a great day!

[ProXimuS]

Haha nice story! Sounds like the lengths I would go to, to catch an animal:p