My intro and new garter

[jwolfe152]

Hello everyone my name is jimmy I am from North Central West Virginia (the state not a part of Virginia)So every year i drive to my mo and dads to mow and trim and i usually see a few garters every year usually they get caught in my mower or trimmer. This year i made a point to be extra careful, well, i found my first one at the end of the trimmer with a chunk of tail missing. So i stopped the trimmer and caught it and brought it home. I am pretty sure its a female from the way the tail from the vent down is tapered and uniform small. but i want to know mostly about the look of her tail its been 2 weeks now and she seems fine the first time i picked her up only slight pulling and trying to get away. i have never been sprayed or striked at. My questions are, how often do they shed? is once a week good for feeding of a nightcrawler? and how do i know if something would be wrong with her tail where it has been

[guidofatherof5]

Shedding depends on age and the amount of food. Most of my adults shed 3-4 times a year. Adults can be fed a couple times a week. Night crawlers are very good garter food. I'll put a link in this thread to the forum care sheet. It will give you some ideas on other foods.
No way to advise on the tail unless we can see a photo. Keep an eye on the injury and look for signs of infection(swelling, redness, discharge, smell) Antibiotic ointment could be used.
How much distance between the vent/cloaca and the injury?

How certain are you that you have a garter snake?
Can you I.D. the snake from this link?
Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet (http://www.thamnophis.com/index.php?page=caresheet)

Snakes of West Virginia (http://muwww-new.marshall.edu/herp/pages/Snakes_Index.htm)

[jwolfe152]

oh i know its a garter i have already looked into it its a common checkered. here are the pics

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[jwolfe152]

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also i still dont have a name for her some suggestions would be good. almost forgot the cut is about 1.5-2 inches from the vent and its scabbed over she actually scraped it a little earlier being stressed from nieces and nephew looking at her all day and there was a few small drops of blood but she is acting fine.

[guidofatherof5]

I don't think that injury looks like anything to worry too much about. T.marcianus - Checkered Garter doesn't range anywhere near West Virginia. Probably a Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis - Eastern Garter.
Do you have any betadine?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betadine

[RedSidedSPR]

Looks just like the Easters I find in West Virginia.

[Selkielass]

Pretty Eastern garter!
They can become very docile quickly, and mine learn to beg at the glass for food.
A dab of antibiotic ointment or a betadine bath may help if you notice swelling or discharge, but it looks like she's recovering nicely.
Congratulations and welcome!

[Natrix]

"Pretty Eastern garter!
They can become very docile quickly, and mine learn to beg at the glass for food." Unless it was an Eastern 'flame', then the jury would be out for ever and a day on temperament :D

[jwolfe152]

"Pretty Eastern garter!
They can become very docile quickly, and mine learn to beg at the glass for food." Unless it was an Eastern 'flame', then the jury would be out for ever and a day on temperament :D

what does the flame refer to? ok i must have misread something somewhere or jumped to the conclusion she was a checkered. but i probably jumped to it because the pattern on the top of her back looks checkered more than most of the ones i have seen in other pics. and does anyone know of a good site for names because last fall me and my girlfriend found a black kitten in a go-mart parking lot that took 3 nights of feeding for her to come to us and it took over a month to come up with the name jynx for her lol

[guidofatherof5]

This is a "flame" eastern.
Here's something to keep in mind, cats and garter don't mix well. The garters always come out on the losing end of the deal. You must make sure the cat/s don't have a way of getting to the snake. There have been plenty of horror stories on this forum about injured or killed garters because of cats.
Just a word to the wise.;)


http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//776/flame_on21.jpg

[jwolfe152]

well i made a lid for her 5 gallon tank (until i get a 20-30 gal one) out of an old cable box case and it sits down in the groove of the tank and i have a piece of twist tie so i can open it so the cat can not open it but she watches her a lot in her tank

7E5B0826-orig_zpsb4e3588c.jpg Photo by jwolfe152 | Photobucket (http://s1314.photobucket.com/user/jwolfe152/media/Snapbucket/7E5B0826-orig_zpsb4e3588c.jpg.html)

[guidofatherof5]

Another word to the wise. Is see some tape in the photo. You must make sure there is no way your snake can possibly come in contact with it.
If you can you should remove it. Once again we get people on the forum all the time asking for help in removing a snake from tape or glue traps or something sticky.
I'm not trying to be a naysayer but both cats and tape are very dangerous to snakes. I hope you understand.;)

[jwolfe152]

well with the tape i found the middle and then put the middle on the edge of the metal and folded it so there was nothing sticky showing (top and bottom of the metal has the shiny silver up) so there is no way for her to get to it. i dont know of any animals that like tape lol but yea i thought it through because the first thing i had her in the cat kept knocking off the table and i didnt want to stress her out with her tail like it is, i wasnt sure how that would affect her

[guidofatherof5]

Keep in mind that tape comes loose and garters explore. Any loose piece becomes a potential hazard. Check the tape often if you are not going to remove it.

[jwolfe152]

i check it every day either before or after i handle her if it does start to come loose i will take it all off and redo the entire top. also that top is only temporary till i get the 20-30g tank i got the 5g from a friend for free and he is the one getting the other tank for me. after i get the big one i am buying a lid for it so i can get a light and some kind of substrate besides paper towels at the moment.

[jwolfe152]

i finally found a better picture of Ekohs tail and how far past the vents the cut is



http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/t579/jwolfe152/DSC02794_zps5270a07a.jpg (http://s1314.photobucket.com/user/jwolfe152/media/DSC02794_zps5270a07a.jpg.html)

[guidofatherof5]

i check it every day either before or after i handle her if it does start to come loose i will take it all off and redo the entire top. also that top is only temporary till i get the 20-30g tank i got the 5g from a friend for free and he is the one getting the other tank for me. after i get the big one i am buying a lid for it so i can get a light and some kind of substrate besides paper towels at the moment.

Temporary or not it is still a threat. It's better to fix a potential problem before it is a problem. Tape can be deadly.
I'm not trying to tell you what to do be I would rather push you on this issue then have a tragedy occur.

[jwolfe152]

oh i already took care of it i made a top from ripped 1x6 boards and some plastic screen door screen. plus i got 2 bigger tanks now and the biggest one, which i just got, i will be making a lid for it as soon as i get more screen and 1x6s. it may not be pretty but its a good snug fit that cant be lifted or escaped from

[Foxrun402]

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/urgent-care/2323-squiggles-mia.html

Sorry to use your thread Greg... But Squiggles escaped in 2008... was just found a week ago... Completely dessicated, of course, discovered in the kitchen, in a pile of vinyl tiles, stuck to cellotape

Anything sticky should not be in a tank... if it needs to be secured somewhere use a hot-glue gun! ;)

[guidofatherof5]

Looks like a male garter. I am concerned with that tail. What are you treating it with?
I would keep a close eye on it for infection, pus, swelling and smells.

[jwolfe152]

neosporin type cream/ointment. i look at at every time i take him/her out to handle. the only real problem is sometimes if it touch it he/she will flintch a little but other than that no puss swelling or smell. i think i will try to get some betadine or should i get iodine solution and soak it when i get him/her out. i will also try and get another shot of the tail straight down it can be hard sometimes for me to touch it or hold it down

[Mommy2many]

I agree about tape. Get it out. They will find a way to get themselves stuck onto it. Good Luck!

[guidofatherof5]

neosporin type cream/ointment. i look at at every time i take him/her out to handle. the only real problem is sometimes if it touch it he/she will flintch a little but other than that no puss swelling or smell. i think i will try to get some betadine or should i get iodine solution and soak it when i get him/her out. i will also try and get another shot of the tail straight down it can be hard sometimes for me to touch it or hold it down

Betadine is Iodine.;)

Betadine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betadine)

[jwolfe152]

oh, well, i cant be confused now lol

[jwolfe152]

ok guys i got some iodine its the povidone-iodine solution of 10%. i got a few questions. do i still need to dilute the solution to about the color of tea? (thats what i remember reading somewhere...or something similar) i just cant remember where. how long do i soak the wound? and last but most important to me, how to keep her still without squeezing and hurting or worst of all paralyzing or killing her. the reason is she is usually kind of spaztastic but the past 2 days its been pretty bad and she wants to try and go backwards rubbing her belly scales on me the wrong way which seems to make her worse. and sometimes she will start to squirm and im not sure how to keep her under control.

then again tomorrow could be a good day where she will sit still most of the time.

btw thank you to everyone for your help, opinions, and friendliness even with someone like me with a gazillion questions.