Hello From The San Francisco East Bay

[Kasturi]

Hi All,
I am new to the garter snake world. As usual, it's one of my kids that is causing me to expand my knowledge base and grow . About a month ago my boys and I were at a retreat site in Petaluma California. My 9 year old spent the whole weekend looking for and catching snakes. He caught 11 total. He was beside himself!!! His friend had a Audubon book, so they were doing their best at identifying. We have two corn snakes that we are all in love with. However, finding and catching snakes in the wild was SO huge for him. He really wanted to keep the first snake he ever caught, a garter of some sort. He was so proud, I couldn't say no. We brought it home and took it straight to The East Bay Vivarium, our closest reptile store. They identified her as a common garter, which looks right after looking at countless photos online. They also said she is a yearling. She is such a pretty girl, such a different look than the corns. She has a scar on her lower body near her vent. You can clearly see an arc shaped indentation. Small mammal? Yuck, I bet she gave them a mouth full of musk! It saved her life I'd imagine. She has been eating well and likes to examine her new home from top to bottom. However, she doesn't seem interested in us. After being musked a few times, I found a thread that recommended not picking her up. Instead I put my hand in and keep it still. She has sniffed me intently and ran over my fingers a few times to get where she wants to go. I am guessing it's just going to take time? Am I silly to assume she will ever want anything to do with us? I'm trying to be patient .

[infernalis]

Some calm down in time, some will never be very tolerant of human interaction.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

Welcome to the forum Could you post some pictures? What are you feeding your new arrival?

[chris-uk]

Welcome aboard. Glad to find out it is common garter and not one of the protected Californian species - I'm not 100% on the laws but I'm pretty certain that there's more than just the San Francisco Garter that is protected in California? Something to check before your son goes out collecting local snakes.

[gregmonsta]

Greetings

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard.

[Light of Dae]

Welcome, pictures would be awesome!

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you with us.
Garters need some time to settle as it's been said.
Here is a link to the forum care sheet which is always a good read. Feel free to ask any questions not answered in the care sheet.
I second the request for a few photos.
Common as in "common" doesn't really identify your snake.
Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet

[Invisible Snake]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

It's great to have someone join from the promise land of the San Frans Bay, plenty of beautiful garters are local to your area.

[Kasturi]

Attachment 7529
here she is. she has been eating pinkies so far.

thanks for all the hospitality everyone!