this is bad......

[Snake lover 3-25]

so far out of the 7 snakes i have found this year..... one of whick being a new born..... 6 have been thin....... (the baby being the only one of decent weight) REALLY thin..... this really wories me...... idk what to do..... i have one female that is SO thin her skin is folded and i have to keep her over winter just to fatten her up.... and i just caught 2 yesterday that are quite noticeably thin..... i have a small population in my area already...... :( i can't imagine what happened to those that i didn't find soon enough...... i have 23 babies to release..... along with three adults) but with all the others in the area being so thin......(most likely because of the long winter) what do i do?????

[crzy_kevo]

there is nothing for you to do i think its just how things go we humans can only interfere to a certain extent

[snakeman]

Stop catching, keeping them and releasing them back into the wild.I am assuming that is what you are doing.If I am wrong I am sorry.There are so many cb available.

[infernalis]

Shanley - Let nature run her course. As hard as it mey be, there is a reason for this.

Maybe there was a predator in the area that used to consume the sickly snakes, and now for some reason the predator is absent.

Or the food supply for the Garters is dwindling, either way, there is very little that could be done.

or your finding moms that just gave birth, they always look skinny as heck for a few days.

[Snake lover 3-25]

maybe..... but it's been weeks and she's still skinny......

and one of the ones i found yesterday is a male.....

idk..... should i just try to catch as many as i can give them all a good meal and let them go???? is that a good idea???

[crzy_kevo]

i wuldn't doing so would cause them unneeded stress for that week or so that you would be keeping them

[Stefan-A]

should i just try to catch as many as i can give them all a good meal and let them go???? is that a good idea???
It is not.

[Snake lover 3-25]

:( darn....... just want to help them.... but i'll leave them be if it'll cause them harm:(

[GartersRock]

Do you still have them?

[jitami]

Yeah, I'd leave them be Shanley.... sometimes you just have to let mother nature do her thing...

[Snake lover 3-25]

yes.... i have to keep them at least until the field is mown.... that tractor has already killed 2 snakes in the past few hours..... and it almost had a third....... and possibly a fith as well.... thankfully..... i caught them just seconds b4 they slithered under the wheel...... one of the 5 caught in the last 2 days was injured by the tractor.... when i caught it it appeared to have been paralized about halfway down it's body..... but now it seems fine..... moving normally.... and i think it may have just been an over reaction from him twards his own injury..... but out of the 4 adults caught ALL of them are very thin..... but i will take your advise and release all of them once the field is cleared...... (only happens every 2 years) unf..... i came too late to save a baby..... and the little guy seems to have been VERY blue..... almost puget colored.....:( may have been a morph:( but i will be back from the 31 i have now down to 4 soon...... i also rescued 12 mantids..... that tractor moves so fast..... too many are just not fast enough to escape...... :(

[Zephyr]

I've seen worse snakes come out of brumation. The population can't adapt to new conditions if you intervene.
Also, as far as the tractor bit; every time I see a dead snake at my favorite spots I get concerned for the population. However, the locales I find snakes in varies greatly with the season; after remembering the literally hundreds of snakes I saw in the spring, my doubts go away.

[Snake lover 3-25]

ok thanks..... that's reassuring.....:) but it looks like only 2 were killed..... vs. more than half a dozen last time it was done..... i made this driver (my brother) drive slow...... even though he didn't care if he hit things (:mad::() and no other creatures were killed either:) at least i saved 2....

but i believe that either the snake that appeared paralyzed was in alot of pain and therefore let it's back end fall limp???? or when i picked up and felt it's twisted/broken/kinked spine i somehow moved it and took the pressure off his spinal cord???? :confused: idk..... but he DEF. had a substantial lump in his back and his back end was DEF. limp when i picked him up.... but after that i had no contact with him.....

he still has an injury and it seems swolen.... but other than that he seems fine...... the other 4 have no injury whatsoever:)

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

i came too late to save a baby..... and the little guy seems to have been VERY blue..... almost puget colored.....:( may have been a morph:( but i will be back from the 31 i have now down to 4 soon...... i also rescued 12 mantids

I found two dead garters in the mountains, both were blue like a puget. They start to turn blue after they have died.

You must release those mantids ASAP.... you actually have not rescued them, but instead, you are interfering with the end of their life cycle. If you want to see more mantids again next year, best to free those guys... they only have at most another month and a half before they die off, and now is the time when they mate and the females lay their egg sacs soon. Even if brought inside, a mantis will die before november is finished.

Shanley,

Snakes have been around for a long time before us, they are putting up with us now, and they will be here for a long time after us. Intervening will not help, if anything, you will doom them because they need to be on their way to their dens and delaying them will surely call for death. Females are always thin this time of year, they have had their babies and so of course they are down on their weight. They will eat what they can this month and some of next before they go into hibernation, and next spring is when they will really be able to bulk back up. What you are trying to justify as a rescue, is actually unbeknownst to you, dooming your local population...

I know for a fact from reading other threads that you tend to overfeed, and actually, I think you are interpereting average weighted garters that you find outside to be skinny when in reality, they are fine and you think they need to be fatter than they really should be. I remmber when you found Sooty, you said she was so thin she looked like she was going to die. I saw pictures of her right after you fed her, and she looked like an average female garter snake with a full tummy... possibly a little too full. I could tell by the picture that that snake was not underweight in the least. Even before being fed. Garters are naturally a long, thin snake, males especially, and females should always retain a slender appearance unless gravid. A female is overweight if she looks gravid all the time. the one with wrinkled skin probably has recently given birth, she will be fine. The best thing to do is to leave them be, this time of year is crucial for both older and young snakes as they scramble to bulk up before winter sets in. By catching them and stressing them out, you are taking time away that they could be spending preparing for winter. I know it's hard and I know you love them, but I think that you may love them too much in this case, just try to let them be on their way. We all love garters and we all hurt when we see one that doesn't make it, but we must remember that mother nature takes away, but she always gives back.

[Snake lover 3-25]

You must release those mantids ASAP.... you actually have not rescued them, but instead, you are interfering with the end of their life cycle. If you want to see more mantids again next year, best to free those guys... they only have at most another month and a half before they die off, and now is the time when they mate and the females lay their egg sacs soon. Even if brought inside, a mantis will die before november is finished.


lol yup.... found that out..... 3 mating pairs:o

all gone VERY soon.... lol don't want eggs!!!!!



Shanley,

Snakes have been around for a long time before us, they are putting up with us now, and they will be here for a long time after us. Intervening will not help, if anything, you will doom them because they need to be on their way to their dens and delaying them will surely call for death. Females are always thin this time of year, they have had their babies and so of course they are down on their weight. They will eat what they can this month and some of next before they go into hibernation, and next spring is when they will really be able to bulk back up. What you are trying to justify as a rescue, is actually unbeknownst to you, dooming your local population...

I know for a fact from reading other threads that you tend to overfeed, and actually, I think you are interpereting average weighted garters that you find outside to be skinny when in reality, they are fine and you think they need to be fatter than they really should be. I remmber when you found Sooty, you said she was so thin she looked like she was going to die. I saw pictures of her right after you fed her, and she looked like an average female garter snake with a full tummy... possibly a little too full. I could tell by the picture that that snake was not underweight in the least. Even before being fed. Garters are naturally a long, thin snake, males especially, and females should always retain a slender appearance unless gravid. A female is overweight if she looks gravid all the time. the one with wrinkled skin probably has recently given birth, she will be fine. The best thing to do is to leave them be, this time of year is crucial for both older and young snakes as they scramble to bulk up before winter sets in. By catching them and stressing them out, you are taking time away that they could be spending preparing for winter. I know it's hard and I know you love them, but I think that you may love them too much in this case, just try to let them be on their way. We all love garters and we all hurt when we see one that doesn't make it, but we must remember that mother nature takes away, but she always gives back.


thank you...... i tend to be one of those people that thinks everything needs help..... even when it doesn't....:o the 4 adults will be released this weekend.... after the tractors gone:mad:

but sooty was thin too.... her skin was wrinkled and she was gravid..... and it's been almost a month since the other one had her babies..... and she's been fed alot.... but hasn't gained very much weight..... but maybe you're right and i shouldn't use mine as a basis for how they should look...... :o

man!!! look at me i'm like one of those old ladies with 15 obeise dogs in denial:o

i'll try harder to change my ways.... i swear:)

thank you.

[infernalis]

Shanley, retain your enthusiasm, study the effects of urban growth on garter populations, and one day you can do something that will really make a difference:D

Lobby to save a marsh, make them build that mall 150 feet to the left:cool:

[Snake lover 3-25]

:D i hope so:D

[Loren]

Shanley, Wayne and the rest hit on a good point. If you catch, feed, release snakes, you may or may not help them, but, Put your energy towards things that will save the populations, like helping keep wild land wild and clean of polution and that sort of thing, you will help thousands of snakes. :)
Educating people on reptiles is another good way, as it helps clear up some of the fears that make people think that the only good snake is a dead one. Thats one reason I like doing the occasional show on native reptiles.

[Snake lover 3-25]

:) thank god our nature preserve next to our house became a preserve because it is on indian lands and would need to be excavated...... costing alot of money:) but i try and educate as many people as i can...... :)