Hi! (Newbie who rescued a young and injured snake)

[Mairi]

Hi! I'm a newbie, both to this forum and to snakes in general. I have always found them fascinating and wanted one, but hadn't gotten around to actually looking for one yet.

So one found me. I was walking through my basement and nearly stepped on a 10" eastern garter snake. She (at least I think she is a "she," from what I can tell by looking at the tail shape) was cold and had the end of her tail crushed. I think my cat got a hold of her.

So I caught her and put her in a little aquarium I had handy, and did some reading about garters on the Internet. I am hoping that the Neosporin that I am putting on her tail will help it to heal nicely without infection. It's just the tip that is injured - a little blood and maybe a broken vertebrae or two. I am sure that she must be in a considerable amount of pain, though she is active and doesn't seem to mind brushing it up against things.

My son and I made her a little house out of Legos where she could hide, and she absolutely loves it. I lined it with a paper towel, and she snuggles up in there quite readily.

I am getting ready to get her a proper (larger) habitat and some real supplies - I am making do with makeshift stuff for now - a deep plastic lid for a drinking bowl, a Lego hiding spot, etc.

One thing that concerned me is that she drank and then threw up a good bit of water when I put her in the cage (we've only had her for a day now). Is this just because she's scared and stressed? She seems healthy, except for the tail injury, and has been industriously trying to figure out how to escape her cage, lol. I am afraid to try feeding her until she has had a few days to settle down and get used to people, but I also don't want her to starve to death. How do you know when a snake is hungry?

Also, what is a good temperature to keep a young garter at? The only thing that I have to heat her cage right now is a small desk lamp, which keeps her cage at about 80 degrees.

Anyway, thanks for any advice. Looking forward to joining the world of snake-lovers, and learning about my new pet.

[jitami]

Welcome :)

Here's a general care sheet...
http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets/index.php?title=Garter_Snake_Care_Sheet

I wouldn't worry too much about her spitting up water that one time. If she continues to do it then a vet visit may be in order. She may have internal injuries besides the one on her tail that you can see. Being that she's active, though, I really wouldn't worry too much about it for now.

A larger terrarium is always nice, but the "makeshift" items will do fine :) Most of us use some store bought, some household items. As long as her needs are met she won't care if she has a lego hide or a log hide :)

At 10" she's probably a baby from this year, so still very young. Young typically have voracious appetites and can be fed every 2 or 3 days. I'd give her a week and then offer her some chopped up earthworm(not red wigglers or red compost worms), little feeder guppies, or sliced strips of store bought fish fillet(tillapia & trout are both inexpensive and readily available).

Good luck with your little one! The forum software won't let you post pics for a little while, but as soon as you can we'd LOVE to see pics of your baby :D

[Lexa]

Welcome to the forum!!

Well done for taking care of your little girlie! Heat mats are thermostats are Very Good Things for heating, and shouldn't cost too much if you do a bit of searching on the net!

Good luck with her!

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard, Mairi. :)

[gregmonsta]

Greetings :D fingers crossed for the little one :D

[count dewclaw]

Welcome, welcome! :D

[Lori P]

Welcome, and good job on saving your little snake! Hope you enjoy it here. The care sheet covers a lot of info, but if you have more questions, just ask away. We can't wait to see your snake! :-)

[Sid]

Welcome to a great forum. The link on garter care that Tami gave in her reply is an excellent starting point. If you have other questions please feel free to ask.

[anji1971]

Hello, and welcome!
Good job on the rescue. Hope your little one does well for you!:)

[infernalis]

Hello and welcome:D

[Mairi]

Goodness! I really feel welcome here. :)

Well, I am glad to report that my little girl is doing much, much better. My husband and I built her a larger habitat with a screened front to give her plenty of air. We also put in a humidity box and another couple of hides and things to explore and climb on. She is drinking water without spitting it up now (and doing a lot of swimming in her water dish), and seems much more relaxed in her new environment. The cage is a little large for her (since she will grow into it), but she seems to feel really secure (maybe because she has so many places to hide?). She even comes up to the front of the cage when we come into the room, and watches us with great interest. My son and I put one of his toy buildings in there for her, and she seems to have a lot of fun crawling in and out of it, and looping herself through the windows and doors. I could almost swear that she is playing!

That link to the care sheet was really helpful! Thanks so much for sharing it. I think that heating her cage properly (with a pad underneath the cage) is one of the things that has helped make her feel so comfortable. Designing a pretty terrarium for her with plants, logs, and rocks is my next goal and I think that it will be fun, but the Lego hides and toy building are cute for now.

I will give her another day or two to settle in and then try offering her some different foods to see what she likes best. I plan to eventually put her on a mouse diet because I have heard that it is the most nutritionally complete.

Her tail is doing much better, the swelling and bleeding that she had is already gone. I guess the Neosporin (and a clean environment, too) is helping. I didn't expect it to get better so fast, lol. It looks like the tip of it will probably fall off, but she seems quite content.

It's nice to be part of such a wonderful community!

Mairi :p

[Mairi]

One quick question. It said on the care sheet not to brumate a snake under 16" for breeding purposes. Does that mean that I shouldn't brumate my little girl this winter? Does it make a difference if she's so young? Do I brumate her if she goes off of her food around winter time?

Thanks for any help - I know that in most animals, taking care of babies is different than taking care of adults - didn't know if that applies to snakes or not.

[reptile3]

Hello Mairi, Welcome!!! :)

[Seere121]

Hello, and welcome. Just tossing in my two cents about Snakes.
If you decide to feed minnows, guppies, or goldfish, make sure that you have a vitamin powder with vitamin B1 listed because the fish above can cause B1 deficiency which is harmful and ultimately fatal to your new snake. B1 is also called Thiamin. Something I do with my garters as soon as they're big enough is to switch them to pinkies or fuzzies. The mice give the snake a more complete diet than the fish alone will, and you dont have to worry about Thiamin deficiency.

[Snaky]

Welcome and have fun here :)

[drache]

welcome to the forum, Mairi
don't worry about brumation just yet
good job saving the snake

[Mairi]

Update: My little girl won't eat! I have tried earthworms, whole pinkies, pinkie parts, worm-scented pinkie parts, and a guppy. I am very careful not to startle her when I put food into her cage, but she runs into her hide box and won't come out until I remove the food. She has sniffed the worms, but as soon as they twitch she runs away as fast as she can go. I tried wiggling one of the pinkie parts in front of her nose to see if I could get her interested in it, and she ran into her hide box and stayed there for the rest of the day. As long as I'm not trying to feed her, she is happy to crawl around her cage and explore. She plays in her water bowl, watches with great interest when someone is near her cage, and even investigates and climbs all over any new objects that are placed into her cage. But she appears to be absolutely terrified of anything that smells like food. I have made sure that her cage is clean and warm enough, she isn't in shed, and her tail is almost completely healed.

?!?!?

Did I get the world's most timid snake?! Are there some tricks that I can try (besides what I have tried above) that might help her to get interested in food? She appears to be healthy and energetic, but I am worried that she will starve to death. If she doesn't eat soon, my husband and I are thinking about releasing her back into the wild. I don't want her to suffer. There's no point in keeping a snake captive if I can't give her a good life and keep her happy. If it comes down to that, maybe I will see about finding an older snake (that is a proven eater, lol) to adopt. But I'm not ready to give up on my little girl quite yet.

Help!!!

Mairi o.O

[infernalis]

Have you tried placing a live fish or two in the water bowl??

Another option is to place a cut hunk of sod (Lawn) in the bottom of the cage, and release a few live worms in there.

Then the snake can hunt for food (just like in nature)

[Mairi]

Hmm, I will try that. The sod is an especially good idea. I think that she might eat an earthworm if she had some time to think about it (since she seems especially interested in the scent), but the earthworms die too fast when I put them in her cage. I will try both of those things and see what happens. Maybe making catching her food more interesting and natural (and hopefully, therefore, less scary) will spark her interest. I'll let you know what happens!

Mairi :)

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, Mairi :)

[anji1971]

Some snakes are more timid than others, and it can take them as long as two weeks or more to really settle down and relax enough to eat. She may have had a meal right before you found her, too, so don't panic just yet!
The sod idea is a good one, and if she has enough hiding places, she just may decide to venture out and eat when you've walked away from the enclosure.
I find my little ones tend to dart away sometimes if they notice me hovering over their tank too closely.
Best of luck, and keep us posted, Mairi!

[Mairi]

Well, I decided to let my little girl go this morning. We found her a nice sunny spot in my garden where the ground was warm and released her. She scurried off like a little streak of lightning. I hope that she does well. Perhaps I will see her again. There are lots of earthworms, frogs, and other things around our property for her to hunt.

I just didn't have the heart to keep her trapped in her cage - she was born wild, and I am sure that she wanted to stay that way. I felt bad keeping her locked up when she was so frightened. She definitely seemed happy to escape into the freedom of the great outdoors. I will miss her, though - I had gotten quite attached to the little cutie. At least we were able to get her tail healed first - that injury (which was all infected and swollen when we first found her) would have made life miserable for her in the wild.

Well, perhaps I will adopt a tame snake soon, that is used to people. We are already looking around the local pet stores and newspaper for an older one that needs a good home. Now that my interest in snakes has been sparked, I am eager to find a permanent companion that we can enjoy.

Thanks again for all of the support,
Mairi :)

[jitami]

Mairi, good for you for putting the baby's needs first. Thank you for taking such good care of her and getting her tail healed. It's obvious that you're a caring person. She was lucky to have found herself in such loving hands. I have two wild caught garters and two captive bred babies and the difference in personality is night and day. Please come back here and share your new pet with us when you find just the perfect snake. (Notice I said when, not if :) )

[infernalis]

We are already looking around the local pet stores and newspaper for an older one that needs a good home.

Check your local shelters and Herp society, Adopting an unwanted snake is very rewarding:D

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Hello, and welcome. Just tossing in my two cents about Snakes.
If you decide to feed minnows, guppies, or goldfish, make sure that you have a vitamin powder with vitamin B1 listed because the fish above can cause B1 deficiency which is harmful and ultimately fatal to your new snake. B1 is also called Thiamin. Something I do with my garters as soon as they're big enough is to switch them to pinkies or fuzzies. The mice give the snake a more complete diet than the fish alone will, and you dont have to worry about Thiamin deficiency.

I am not sure if anyone else saw this post, but I did, and I need to point out that it contains some bad information.

Guppies do not contain thiaminase, and are 100% safe for the snake.

Goldfish, on no circumstance ever, should ever, ever be fed to your garter snake, because no amount of vitamin powders will help, because Thiaminase blocks the absorption, so nothing gets absorbed even if the supplement is there.

Rosies should only be fed very sparingly at the MOST, but I recommend not using them at all, because they too contain thiaminase, just to a lesser extent.

using mice from the start is a good idea, but only as part of a balanced and thiaminase-free diet. Feeding pinkes one week, and goldfish the next week will still get you a very sick snake in the long run.. because no amount of supplement can cancel out the harmful effects of thiaminase.

Hope this helps some... I am glad you are so taken by your new garter, and welcome to the forum!!!!

[Mairi]

Thanks again everyone! I will be sure to learn all I can about my new pet before I adopt another snake. I really like the idea of adopting an unwanted snake from a shelter or other organization. Those are the snakes that REALLY need loving homes! I have always adopted my pets from rescue shelters (or off the streets), rather than buy them from breeders or pet stores. Not that there's anything wrong with that - I just like to rescue the animals that really need it.

I will be sure to let you all know when I find a new snake to adopt!

Best of luck with all of your scaly friends,
Mairi :)