Your Gartering "Technique"

[Zephyr]

I've always wondered how everyone here catches their garters. Does any one get really technical with a snake hook and etc? I just kinda swoop down and grab them by the middle of the body. :P

[count dewclaw]

I just kinda swoop down and grab them by the middle of the body. :P

That sounds like my technique!

[Zephyr]

My friends and family think I'm a nut... I listen for the snake first and as soon as I'm sure there's a snake, I'll stop dead in my tracks and either say "Upp" or "Ssh," then I'll just dive down. :P

[Snake lover 3-25]

I just kinda swoop down and grab them by the middle of the body. :P
Ditto!!!! the few times i find them...:(

[anji1971]

Kyle, your technique sounds pretty much like mine, except that over-dramatic me likes to yell "Oh! Oh! There's one right there!!" before diving down into the grass!

[adamanteus]

I move quickly and quietly into the breeders house, cleverly lure him with cash, then at the appropriate moment I whip out the correct money, thrust it towards the breeder and seize the snake of my choice.:)

[Zephyr]

Well, yesterday I had an interesting experience. At the garden plots, there's a steep hill that leads down to one of the campus roads. Of course, this is where the garters like to hang. So, I spotted a fat female and dived head-first downhill after it. I swear it looked liked the snake was slithering on air down hill. XD
So, after this traumatic experience, I had burs in places where burs shouldn't be. XD

[Zephyr]

I move quickly and quietly into the breeders house, cleverly lure him with cash, then at the appropriate moment I whip out the correct money, thrust it towards the breeder and seize the snake of my choice.:)lol
I always though you needed a snake hook for that. Those breeders tend to bite you know!

[enigma200316]

James to funny, you gonna try that when u come here.........:p

[ssssnakeluvr]

I move quickly and quietly into the breeders house, cleverly lure him with cash, then at the appropriate moment I whip out the correct money, thrust it towards the breeder and seize the snake of my choice.:)
that's one method I use (yes, you are quite the comedian tonite! LOL) the other method is just diving at the ground grabbing what ever part of the snake i can get ahold of....sometimes at the cost of some skin.....

[Stefan-A]

lol
I always though you needed a snake hook for that. Those breeders tend to bite you know!
A left hook does the job just as well.

[Loren]

My method- see snake, grab snake. Any way I can.

Without hurting the snake of coarse. If the snake bites you thats good, because that means you have a better chance of getting a hold of him.

[Zephyr]

I've yet to see any one go all "Steve Irwin" on a snake yet. For some odd reason, I can see James doing that to his first garter...

[anji1971]

From the sound of some of Loren's stories about snake catching, I'd say he's probably done the Steve Irwin thing!:)

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

By steve irwin.. do you mean diving into a lake at a moment's notice to grab one?

If so.... I've done that twice!

I usually am very aggressive when it coms to caching snakes. Luckily I have great eyesight and I'm able to identify any snake even in motion instantly... then before I even know what is happening I am on the ground with my hand on any part of the snake I can be on... I have cut/scratched myself up pretty good for snakes. I chipped my kneecap in the effort to catch the hypo female!

[adamanteus]

I've yet to see any one go all "Steve Irwin" on a snake yet. For some odd reason, I can see James doing that to his first garter...


Maybe....:rolleyes:
http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/garter-snake-lounge/707-grass-snakes.html?highlight=grass+snakes

[Stefan-A]

Dammit, James. You beat me to it. :D

[reptileparadise]

I move quickly and quietly into the breeders house, cleverly lure him with cash, then at the appropriate moment I whip out the correct money, thrust it towards the breeder and seize the snake of my choice.:)

Thats an real interesting technique!
But whats the approprate moment...If you move to soon, the breeder will flee! If you wait to long, the breeder will have lost interest and disappeard into the bushes...

[Loren]

By steve irwin.. do you mean diving into a lake at a moment's notice to grab one?



Yeah, I've done that sort of thing a few times.

Scrapes, cuts, bruises- no big deal. Just keep me away from poison oak.
I'll herp around it, but not in it.

[ssssnakeluvr]

I've been doing the Steve Irwin style since I was a kid!!!! always diving after critters. I was out with my brother and caught a leopard frog jumping across a streem. I dove over the small stream and caught him in mid-air. I hit the ground and rolled. I was a lot younger then..not so sure it would end up as nice and neat as that time.....

[anji1971]

The only time I've ever really rushed headlong into catching anything was when I was a kid up north. We had a family of loons that came to sun themselves on the dock every afternoon -- parents and about 15-20 little ones. Well, after a really bad storm one night, I went out in the morning and discovered one baby loon that had been separated from the family.
I had to catch him--HAD to!! Ended up running through the lake with socks shoes, pants and all, and diving down to catch it while it dove underwater to get away.
And after hiking back up to the house, dripping wet, loon in hand, my grandmother gave me a 'talking to' I won't ever forget and marched me back down to the lake to return him.
But it was so worth it to actually hold a baby loon for a few moments!

[jeanette]

lol sounds like you guys have lots of fun catching them, ive never tried catching a wild snake but have read an interesting technique on catching escaped ones though, involving a large plastic drinks bottle and some plastic tubing...havent a clue if it would work lol.

[Zephyr]

My friend Johnny has to loosen his grip. He grabs the leetle dekays as if they were boas. lol

[adamanteus]

Put Johnny in charge of the camera... then we'd get the pictures we all want!:D

[GartersRock]

The thought of catching a garter with a hook is funny to me. lol!!

[Lori P]

The only time I've ever really rushed headlong into catching anything was when I was a kid up north.

Anji? You're in Canada. How much further north did you go?? LOLOL:D

[Zephyr]

Anji? You're in Canada. How much further north did you go?? LOLOL:D
LOL
Nice one! XD

[anji1971]

Anji? You're in Canada. How much further north did you go?? LOLOL:D

I'll have you know, I'm as far south in Canada as you can get -- a good portion of the States is further north than I am. So there Smartypants!!:D:p:D
I was just outside of Sault Ste Marie, in a little town called Echo Bay, Ontario.

[Zephyr]

Heh, yesterday I ended up grabbing the snakes casually in a ball. XD

[Sid]

My Garter "Technique" is simply pick them up bare handed. They get far less stressed that way. I do carry a snake hook everywhere I herp. Safest way to turn logs or rocks and to lift boards or tin. Never know what you might be sticking your fingers in front of:rolleyes:

[person365]

Kyle your grip is a lot worse than mine and you roughen the snake up pretty good

[infernalis]

Since I have acreage, I place sheets of plywood along the edge of the meadow and woods.

every day I look under them.

Caught a wild flame that way :-)

And I use the money technique with breeders too, very effective.

regards,
Wayne A. Harvey

http://www.reformedsniper.net/snake/garter.jpg

[dashnu]

I usually find a stick in the woods for "roughing" up the grass / rocks / trees and reach down and grab them! I get bit often.. I found foot and a half eastern the other day and my three year old daughter grabed right a hold of it before I could say a thing!! Crazy how you can mold them at that age. Luckly she did not get bit. We had yet another quick chat after that :eek:

[Zephyr]

Kyle your grip is a lot worse than mine and you roughen the snake up pretty goodI use the fingertip technique. You, however, use the fist one. D<

[KITKAT]

I move quickly and quietly into the breeders house, cleverly lure him with cash, then at the appropriate moment I whip out the correct money, thrust it towards the breeder and seize the snake of my choice.:)

HA HA! That is me too, most of the time, now that state natives require a license.

But when herping, if it is a garter and I know it is a garter, I just grab. I try to grab near the head when I can, but if I can't, I don't worry about it!:eek: