You did what!

[guidofatherof5]

I thought a good thread would be all the crazy things we've done in the name and for the sake of our snakes. Here's mine.

I recently started a thread with regards to one of my snakes having a "crusty vent". I didn't go into detail about the treatment, well.

I wake up to the wonderful task of rubbing cream on the little scrubs butt and then again before I go to bed. Nice!

Just to let you know I use Silver Sulfadiazine 1% cream. I had my Vet. phone in a prescription to our local Sam's Club. The 50 grams of cream is on the $4 list of medications. Great stuff to have around for those injuries or infections these guys can sometimes get.
Now, it's your turn.

YOU DID WHAT?

[Charlet_2007]

Well i made the rabbit dance for izzy not only did i get a look from her that was you got to be kidding me? but also the look of go to h-e-double hockey-sticks as well as her going to far side of her cage lol all the while my husband snorting in laughter at me behind me.. :eek:

Might have not helped that when i saw her not taking the rabbit i then did the robot with the rabbit for her which i think that's why i got the go to **** look from her lmao.. and her going to the far side of the cage..

[infernalis]

Administer oral antibiotics to Sky, Our Puget sound garter snake.

First I would give him a minnow to chomp down on, then squirt the meds into his mouth through the gap created by clamping down on the fish.

He was a real sport about this, and never musked me once:D

[guidofatherof5]

Then there was time time I spent 4.5 hours in my backyard and the neighbors backyards looking for a lost Radix during a thunderstorm and tornado warning. Got wet but found the snake.

[infernalis]

Now that was as close to a "miraculous" recovery of a lost garter ever told.

It's one thing to find them while still confined to the house, another thing altogether to find one under those circumstances.!!:cool:

OK I have told this one before, but here goes again...

When we first found Xena my Dekayi (favourite) queen and goddess, she seemed lonely, so I found her a friend.

As fate would have it, Speedy turned out to be a male, and Xena a female... at the time I didn't know the difference, nor really cared.

Well a few months later Xena delivered a batch of babies right before my eyes! oh I shall never forget that day....

Anyhow one of the babies was trapped in it's birthing membrane, had wrote it off as "stillborn" but wait, this "dead" baby is moving.

I ran to the cupboard and grabbed a toothpick, used it to peel away the membrane, and as soon as the little scrub got his first breath of air he started flicking his tongue as if to say "thank you"

I kept him for two years, until he passed away from the deformity that should have caused his demise that day.

He had a restriction in his neck, and could only eat very tiny portions of food, He damn near choked on me once, but Dorothy saved him that time.

Thankfully with all that effort little "Speedy Junior" got nearly 2 years of life that was never meant to be.

Here is the goodbye thread.

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/garter-snake-lounge/4276-disabled-dekayi-succumbs-today.html

[guidofatherof5]

Wayne, The snake was our girl Lucky. When I found her she was cold and wet. She looked at me like "where have you been, take me inside. This sucks!" That's why we call her "Lucky"

[infernalis]

I was going to ask if it was "Lucky":D

[jitami]

She looked at me like "where have you been, take me inside. This sucks!"

Too cute! I think the weirdest(or at least I thought so at the time) thing I've done was treating Sly for mites. He was a yearling, maybe 12-14 inches, and I didn't want to use poison on him. Mind you I had never had a snake before, hubby never liked snakes, and the kids were too young to handle this.... I'm convinced it's how Sly became "my" snake instead of theirs. So I didn't want to use poison on a young one and decided to do the olive oil thing. Every other day for weeks Sly got a nice long olive oil massage and bath :) Now I'm raising stupid fish... not because my snakes won't eat anything else... just cause I think it's nice to let them fish for their food every once in a while :)

[guidofatherof5]

Here's a look at the cream I was taking about. Great investment for $4. Better yet ask your Vet for a small amount. Probably give you some for free.
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/cream.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

Tami, I'm sure they appreciate it. Love to watch them go fishing! It's a thing of beauty:)

[jitami]

Well, we can't get feeder guppies here commercially and it'll be some time before these few have their babies and the babies get big enough to eat, but eventually they'll have healthy fishies to hunt for in their bowls :)

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Now that was as close to a "miraculous" recovery of a lost garter ever told.

It's one thing to find them while still confined to the house, another thing altogether to find one under those circumstances.!!:cool:

OK I have told this one before, but here goes again...

When we first found Xena my Dekayi (favourite) queen and goddess, she seemed lonely, so I found her a friend.

As fate would have it, Speedy turned out to be a male, and Xena a female... at the time I didn't know the difference, nor really cared.

Well a few months later Xena delivered a batch of babies right before my eyes! oh I shall never forget that day....

Anyhow one of the babies was trapped in it's birthing membrane, had wrote it off as "stillborn" but wait, this "dead" baby is moving.

I ran to the cupboard and grabbed a toothpick, used it to peel away the membrane, and as soon as the little scrub got his first breath of air he started flicking his tongue as if to say "thank you"

I kept him for two years, until he passed away from the deformity that should have caused his demise that day.

He had a restriction in his neck, and could only eat very tiny portions of food, He damn near choked on me once, but Dorothy saved him that time.

Thankfully with all that effort little "Speedy Junior" got nearly 2 years of life that was never meant to be.

Here is the goodbye thread.

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/garter-snake-lounge/4276-disabled-dekayi-succumbs-today.html


I have midwifed MANY a baby garter snake :D

nothing gives me greater pleasure than to hold a tiny snake still in its sac and watch it realize it's alive, break through that sac and take their first breath ith their mouth wide open, and flick their teensy weensy tongue for the first time ever! It's an amazing expierience.

[Sid]

Mine would be when I was treating a male Eastern for mites. I had placed him in a container of water to soak and got busy treating his viv. I looked in on him a few minutes later and he was "belly up". I grabbed him out of the water, started squeezing the water out of him and blowing in his mouth.

That wat 3 or 4 years ago and I still have him.

[drache]

Mine would be when I was treating a male Eastern for mites. I had placed him in a container of water to soak and got busy treating his viv. I looked in on him a few minutes later and he was "belly up". I grabbed him out of the water, started squeezing the water out of him and blowing in his mouth.

That wat 3 or 4 years ago and I still have him.
that's one story I'll never forget, and I do tell people I know someone who did mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on a snake

[guidofatherof5]

Awesome! Sid

[infernalis]

Sid my hero:D

[jitami]

Wow Sid!!!! Very nice save!!!

[reptile3]

amazing Sid, that is great!! Shannon, that was a precious moment!!

* mine doesn't pertain to snakes, but 2 yrs ago, a stray cat I had been feeding, I realized she was pregnant. One night around 11:30pm (it had to be 80 degrees out), started to have her babies on my back porch. Seeing those little beauties was soo sweet. Me, My son & daughter watched as the cat had her babies. 5 black- females.

I had to keep her & the babies for 2 weeks in the basement, I liter trained the momma cat. We got to see the eyes open on 2 of the babies. It was sooo sweet. I gave the mom & babies to a rescue place, that would either keep them or give them a nice loving home. It took alot of calling, emailing & searching. *

[GartersRock]

Well I have gone out to catch a hundred minnows waist deep in the ridiculously cold (for us Texans :D) San Marcos river while it was 30 degrees out for 2 hours....

Hand removed a hundred or so long skinny worm things from under the skin of one of my male checkereds Keiran. ICK!!! I was gagging the whole time.

Hand treated for mites w/non toxic spray. I had dead mites all over me because this mean as heck 6 ft TX rat snake wouldn't hold still. And I always felt like I had them on me for two days after that. LOL I didn't.

I have been musked countless times. But the worst are the Diamondback water snakes. POOLS of it!!! It's crazy!! And they SLING it. All over. Splatters everywhere. Even on my face on a few occasions. Thank God it isn't as long lastingly concentrated as the TX rat snakes.... AHH

Revived newborn babies still in their sacks.

We have all touched untold amounts of gross things I am sure we never thought we would touch. LOL!

And I won't go into anymore specifics. Though there are plenty. To tired to think right now. And I have to go feed all the babies in a few minutes. lol

[Topaz]

My story isn't of a garter, but of a baby fox snake.

He was only a few weeks old, around 12 inches long and sweet for a little baby. One day I was taking out all of his "furniture" - 2 hides, a fake plant, driftwood, and a cute little Snoopy bobble head....and the snake wasn't in there. After losing my garter in the house a couple times I searched in all the "normal" places. Those places were all empty. I pulled out the couch, flipped it over, nothing. Pulled out the water dragon enclosure, nothing! Pulled every single peice of furniture and appliance I could in the entire apartment, and found NOTHING. I let all the decor' sit out of the enclosure while panicking. I continued to search for several hours until the fiance' came home to help me look. An hour after he got home, I found the snake...INSIDE of the Snoopy bobble head (after I had checked it numerous times, I someone over looked the baby!) It took about 45 minutes of running water into the bobble head and pouring it out to "flush out" the snake to make sure he was alright (I had moved the head around while searching, and feared I caused injury.) The snake came out, and was unharmed. We named him Snoopy after that.

Unfortunately, Snoopy died about a month after this incident. He never would eat, and as a last resort, we tried force feeding him...in which he died in my hands the next day. We have no idea what killed him...and after more research we found it could not have been starvation. There was something else wrong with poor Snoopy.

[GartersRock]

So sorry about Snoopy... :( It's so hard loosing these guys...

How long did you wait to force feed him? Did you ever try assist feeding first? In what manner did you force feed him. How large was the prey item fed? I know of NUMEROUS occasions where snakes where force fed and died either within the hour of the next day. Due to damage from being force fed. Even if it was done gently... :(:(

[Topaz]

So sorry about Snoopy... :( It's so hard loosing these guys...

How long did you wait to force feed him? Did you ever try assist feeding first? In what manner did you force feed him. How large was the prey item fed? I know of NUMEROUS occasions where snakes where force fed and died either within the hour of the next day. Due to damage from being force fed. Even if it was done gently... :(:(

I'll have to ask the fiance to answer you questions. He had asked on some other herp forums he's on about how to do it, then did it while I watched. The prey was a f/t pinkie. He had never had a meal (the person we got the 2 fox snakes from couldn't get them to eat either. The other one takes f/t pinkies just fine, but we had him 2 months before he showed interest in eating. They had their first shed 1 week before we got them.) The fiance' also looked up info on how to do it for baby corns before trying. He gently pushed up (I think?) on the top of it's jaw with the pinkie and put the food in, then pulled it back to get it caught in the teeth, then put him down. He just opened his mouth wider and let go of the pinkie and sat there.

Didn't mean to hijack the thread with this, if you wanna talk more about it you can send me a private message so as not to steal the original topic :o

[adamanteus]

Didn't mean to hijack the thread with this, if you wanna talk more about it you can send me a private message so as not to steal the original topic :o

Amanda, Paige..... It's good of you to consider not hijacking this thread..... but you've started another interesting topic here. Don't go private, just start a new thread, then we can all benefit/contribute!:D

[GartersRock]

Oh ok. So that actually wasn't force feeding (where you force the whole prey item down into the stomach) but assist feeding. Which could not have caused death. It must have been something else then. So sorry to hear it. :(

An yeah sorry to hijack the thread. :o

[Snake lover 3-25]

hmmmm.......
well i've picked dozens of mites off of 2 corn snakes with tweezers before...... i had one snake my sister had the other.....

told this one before...... i once had a snake named chance that had cotten clipped by a lawn mower straight through the skin and some of the muscle.... had to put bacitracin on it 3 times a day because it would rub it off.....

gone down to the creek in a thunderstorm after it had been raining for three days and the creek was over flowing to collect baby toads......

cut a hole in my closet wall to get out a stuck snake...... lol the hole was about a 3 inch square:D some duct tape and white paint made it go away:D

spent all my time and money and loads of effort for/with/in them:D

[Loren]

I knew someone would have to have a mouth to mouth story- thanks Sid !

Shanley- you crack me up with the duct tape and white paint. Did your parents know about this "repair" ?

[Snake lover 3-25]

nope :D

[infernalis]

One day when she moves out, they will find it.

[Blue]

While turning up rocks in our yard to find bugs to feed the garden spiders, we came across Zipper, our king snake that had escaped 6 months earlier. We had written him off, and were thrilled to find him. He was no worse for the wear, just dirty. He has since escaped 2 more times, once found behind the piano, and once in the bedroom.

[Snake lover 3-25]

lol nawwww i hid it too well:p

[guidofatherof5]

Pulled my old thread out and dusted it off, tonight.
While the kids and I were watching a movie(Flywheel) the little Radix I was holding had a accident. With 5 kids, my carpet cleaner gets quite a workout. So, I was in no mood to get it out. Instead, when my daughter yelled "she's pooping" I just stuck my hand under the little butt and saved the carpet. Hope you enjoy.
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/radix_poop.jpg

[anji1971]

Nice, Steve.
I'm sure the carpet thanks you!:D

[infernalis]

The makers of soap thank you also Steve......

[guidofatherof5]

Wash my hands? I knew I forgot something.:eek: Thanks for the reminder, Wayne.

[jitami]

LOL... nice catch :D

[infernalis]

Dad these burgurs taste kinda ripe

Ewe:eek::rolleyes:;)

[guidofatherof5]

Bump

[ProXimuS]

Pulled my old thread out and dusted it off, tonight.
While the kids and I were watching a movie(Flywheel) the little Radix I was holding had a accident. With 5 kids, my carpet cleaner gets quite a workout. So, I was in no mood to get it out. Instead, when my daughter yelled "she's pooping" I just stuck my hand under the little butt and saved the carpet. Hope you enjoy.
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/radix_poop.jpg

I've been in this boat a couple times....Not pleasent but easier to clean than carpet!

[-MARWOLAETH-]

In this hobby,you find yourself doing some very odd things...Yesterday,my parents walked in the kitchen to find me staring at an oven full of twigs.(They have frequently questioned my sanity in the past so probably thought they'd find me doing something like this some day) ;)

[guidofatherof5]

There were for the snakes right? Not for eating.:D

[Greg'sGarters]

There was one time, I had opened my Burm's cage and he came darting out and decided to hook his head right near some wires that my rabbit had chewed up (they're fixed now). I didn't want him to get hurt so I tried to pull him out of there with no luck, so I did the only thing I knew would work. I had to quickly grab him as close to his head as possible so he would turn around and bite me and not get electrocuted.

[d_virginiana]

None of my snakes have made me do crazy things yet luckily. I have to do some pretty insane stuff for my frog though. She has a neurological condition that affects her digestive system and requires uh... manual assistance to poo. Every time.


In this hobby,you find yourself doing some very odd things...Yesterday,my parents walked in the kitchen to find me staring at an oven full of twigs.(They have frequently questioned my sanity in the past so probably thought they'd find me doing something like this some day) ;)

I'm working on a degree in plant biology, so my first thought was "So? What's so weird about staring at an oven full of twigs?" :rolleyes: