Behavior change

[Maleko]

My Puget Sound Garter once extremely friendly and willing to be picked up has now become very skittish around me. She's started to slither away very quickly when I put my hand in her enclosure to have some "bonding time", and she's lunged at my hand a couple of times. Today has been the worst. I was able to pick her up at first and she started thrashing. She slithered out of my hand and onto the floor (i was kneeling down, so she didn't fall) and I ended up having to chase her around the garage. She also musked all over my hand for the first time.

What happened? She was fine a few weeks ago.

[RedSidedSPR]

Weird. I don't know.. Is she getting ready to shed?

[Maleko]

Her eyes aren't cloudy. She's about five months old and I don't believe she's shed yet. Not to my knowledge anyway, I got her in mid August.
Do garter snakes go through an estrus period or do they have a time of the year where they're "in heat"?

[RedSidedSPR]

Not that I know of...

[katach]

Our Pugets go through "cranky phases". Mostly when they are too warm.

[d_virginiana]

How does her vision seem like when you're feeding her? When my snake's vision went he started getting really nervous whenever anyone other than me went into his cage, tail rattling and musking and everything.

[Maleko]

Vision is great. She eyeballs her food when i hold it in front of her and strikes accurately.

I have a heat lamp and she tends to curl up right smack in front of it (it shines through the side of my aquarium from front to back, not side to side), so there is a temp. gradient for her if she needs to cool down.

[Maleko]

She stays in the garage generally devoid on human life, but I do go in there regularly to check on her and change her water and stuff. Might lack of socialization be a factor?

[katach]

Yes. She needs to be socialized if you are wanting a cuddly, hold-able pet. Our Pugets get held daily, and they are still more difficult to hold than our NW.

[RedSidedSPR]

Since when do you shine the lamp through the glass? Nevermind.

Yes lack of socializing could be it, but this is new right?

[kibakiba]

They can be going into shed and get cranky before their eyes go cloudy. Snap gets like that, too. She starts getting cranky before her belly goes pale. You can also check her belly, if it's paler than normal, she'll be shedding soon.

[RedSidedSPR]

Yup. If the belly is blueish or lighter blue, yeah. My flames red belly gets pink, my anerys gray belly tens blue, my concinnus dark blue belly gets light blue.

[kibakiba]

Snakey's turns a pale pastel green when he's about to shed, everyone else turns blue.

[RedSidedSPR]

My checkereds turns green too.

I think a Puget would turn blue though, right?

[katach]

Our pugets turn a milky white. We don't have blue ones though ours are more neon green and midnight black.

[RedSidedSPR]

Yeah you have weird pugets.:p

[katach]

But in a good way. :D

[RedSidedSPR]

Of course. I actually LOVE yours... Those black ones are SWEET!

[katach]

I'm getting a juvenile male soon. I want to breed them. See if the missing stripes will pass on to the offspring.

[RedSidedSPR]

I need rooooooooooooooooooooooooom!!!

[katach]

Well by the time the male is ready to breed, you will have moved and have lots of space!

[kibakiba]

Most pugets are green, yellow or whitish. Blue pugets are around a certain area.

[RedSidedSPR]

Maybe. Heck I might breed my anery to an albino and get some snows, make some money and work on breeding my concinnus, with his blue gene, try and get something out of that... Who knows.

But yes, I will have room. When I move all my snakes together I'll have a 20gal and 10gal leftover too.

[Maleko]

She still seems pretty upest with me, just chilling underneath a rock ledge all curled up in front of the heat lamp (yeah, I shine my light through the side. I currently lack a suitable aquarium canopy) I think I'm going to start reguarly handling her every day now and see where that gets me.

BTW will garter snakes draw blood if they bite? My Puget's only about a foot long if this makes any difference.

[guidofatherof5]

They have small little needle teeth and can draw blood.

[katach]

If she does bite you, just don't jerk away as you could injure her teeth.

[guidofatherof5]

Very good point to bring up Kat.
Best to let them release. Their teeth are re-curved back toward the throat.
Pulling against the teeth only sinks them in deeper.

[RedSidedSPR]

And can rip 'em out!

If she bites, it won't hurt too much, maybe a little stinging, but really it just feels like pressing the rough side of Velcro to you.

Like said, DO NOT jerk away, pull he off, or anything. That will just hurt her.

[Mommy2many]

Garters are very curious snakes. Perhaps she is not getting "enough" stimulation from you to trust you. I suggest (if you can) moving her into an area that is accesible daily and where she can watch you and interact. They love to see what's going on all the time. My guys all have their heads up when we open the front door! They also seem to lik em y vaccuum cleaner. :)

[RedSidedSPR]

Mine are the same way. Good suggestion.

The vacuum probably bugs them, or gets their attention with intense vibrations. I keep my Bass Booster off, or use head phones for that reason.

[Maleko]

I'll try this out. I'll rearrange my room this weekend and see where I can put her in my room. I'll spend a lot more time watching her for sure, and I know she'll spend a lot of time watching me.

OH! And a friend of mine got several Oregon Red Spotted Garters and bought an extra one for me in case I was interested. They're all less than a foot long. Will my Puget and the Oregon Spotted cohabit? Or will the Puget agress since she's older and the dominant one?

[RedSidedSPR]

They aren't aggressive to each other. I have an aggressive (to me) baby living with 2 others. Snuggled up with 'em all day.

Same sex, same general size and you should be fine.

I think.

[katach]

Don't forget a good quarantine period for a new snake before you put them together.

[Maleko]

What do I look for during the quarantine period? (I'M NEW PLEASE DON'T HIT ME)

[guidofatherof5]

What do I look for during the quarantine period? (I'M NEW PLEASE DON'T HIT ME)


Unusual behavior(odd movements, seizures, twitching)
Unusual feces(strange color and/or odor, blood, parasites)
Checking the body for injuries, swollen areas, mites, ticks, retained shed.
Basically you are watching for a normal looking and acting snake.
This is also a great time to have a fecal float done checking for internal parasite.
I'm sure I've missed something that will be filled in by others.

[kibakiba]

Keep the snake on paper towels, it'll help you see if there's any aabnormal poop, check it's attitude and overall how it acts.
Doing this also helps you get to know the snake and work with it a lot easier.

[katach]

(I'M NEW PLEASE DON'T HIT ME)

That is the beauty of this forum, it's a learning place filled with wonderful, knowledgeable, helpful people!

[RedSidedSPR]

Like someone said, the only stupid question is the one not asked.;)

[Maleko]

Okay, I got to pick her up and put her in her critter cage, but she didn't like it. She's in my room right now on my bed. She's out and about and I'm trying to get her used to my movement and such. She's a little jumpy but she seems to enjoy watching me. I'll try picking her up again once she's digested all her food.

[katach]

Don't rush it. She'll get there on her own schedule, but that is a food start. :)

[Maleko]

Okay day one. Had to clean her paper towels. She slithered away and I held her for a brief period of time to put her in her bucket. She began to struggle once I put her in. Cleaned her cage, and reached in to pick her up and she lunged at my hand twice. I tipped the bucket and let her crawl onto my hand. I picked her up, she squirmed a little, and I put her into her cage. I think she's getting better, but time will tell. She's all curled up watching me through the her cage. Like I said, I'll do more handling one she's digested all her food.

EDIT:
Okay, for further notice, my snake's name is Shleby. Like the car, Shelby COBRA. Since a cobras a snake and Shelby's a female name.. See what I did there? So yeah, her name is Shelby.

ANYWAY. I'M PISSED. My mom came in my room and was all "Hey Shelby wassup?" And I'm sitting here all "She's a little cranky still" and mom's all like "I bet you she'll let me hold her" and I'm all like "lol if she won't let me hold her then I doubt she'll let you hold her"....

So mom opened the critter cage, stroked Shelby, and picked her up with little effort. Shelby then proceed to crawl all over her hands and wrap her tail around her fingers. My mom then put her pack into her cage, closed the lid, and winked at me as she walked out of my room....

... that's cool, I mean I just feed her and clean her and love her and kiss her and pet her and all that jazz... I kinda feel betrayed. I guess once I finish my homework I'll go see how she feels about me holding her.

[guidofatherof5]

Big giant monster reaching for them usually takes awhile to get used to. :D

[Maleko]

haha I suppose. But did you see the edit I made in the above post? I'm kinda heartbroken righnnow

[RedSidedSPR]

I'm sorry but I have to laugh at that.

But I feel your pain.

[guidofatherof5]

I didn't see the edit.
Shelby is just messing with your mind.
She knows what she's doing.:D

[Maleko]

well that makes one of us ;)

[Maleko]

Picked her up and held her for several minutes! Even got her to give me one of those snake kisses haha. I'm so proud of her. Now for routine socializing and then I gotta move her tank into my room.

[katach]

Good work! She was just lonely in the garage and was telling you the only way she knew how. :)

[d_virginiana]

Sometimes they're just in good and bad moods. Guess your mom picked the right time to pick her up :D
Still kind of funny though.