My Garter suddenly started acting wierd! Could he be hurt!?

[Wild&Free]

Hello well I wanted to ask about my garter snake, I'm a first time snake owner and have had him for over a year now. Quite a while back I dropped him in the bathroom when I was re-filling his water and he managed to slip behind the bath. When he was falling I managed to lower him to the ground so I know he did not fall a long distance but I wish it hadn't have happened I knew he'd seemed slightly strange that day I don't know why but I just had a feeling... I managed to persuade him to come out from out of the bath after over an hour by waving a mouse in front of him and luring him into a special snake bag I had so I could trap him since I didn't want to handle him since he was after the mouse and was going to eat it (I didn't want him to sick it back out). After that he became really wierd. At first he started striking at me a lot. Then the hissing came. He never used to hiss before! I was really worried about him and checked him for injuries but I couldn't find anything wrong. He became really defencive around me after a while and every time I picked him up he'd thrash a little and sometimes "shoot poop". I'm worried I'm hurting him and I can't handle him anymore without being bitten at least once/being hissed at or him trying to escape by "thrashing". Also after he stops "thrashing" he'll become deadly still for a long while then he'll suddunly "lunge" at me and hiss. What does this mean? Because of this I am starting to handle him less and less and I really love him and don't want him to become wild completly! I need a solution to get him back to the way he was! Please can anyone help me? Maybe there's something I missed? This behaviour has been going on for months now and it's not letting up. He used to be super calm and now suddenly he's become aggressive I don't know what to do! He was a really nice snake before, is there anyway to get him back to the way he used to be? I wouldn't mind the odd bite, but everytime I try to handle him is just way too bites for a small problem so I'd seriously like to get this sorted or I feel he may become stressed and die from it! :'( He also shys away from me. Sometimes he won't but most of the time he hides all the time and if I get close to the viv he'll draw back. I'm really worried, can anyone help?

[Artic Exotics]

Welcome to the forum :-)

So in short your garter had a sudden persistant and drastic personality change after a short fall behind the bath tub? Correct?

[Ctah_Lu]

Accidents happen, dont worry, Its in some degree "normal" that your snake is stressed because he have an accident and he now associate the accident with you, the best thing would be that you dont push him to act normal again, just dont bother him because if you do he certainly be stressed.

If you really love him then you will do the best thing for him, he will be better the less you have phisical contact with him, try to stay a while near his terrarium and be calm, he will start to get confident again by himself.

Best wishes.

[guidofatherof5]

Not sure what would be going on. As a rule personality changes don't change that severe.
Almost sounds like he's in pain and doesn't want to be handled. I don't think the bath tub incident had anything to do with this.
Any chance we can see a photo?

[Ctah_Lu]

Not sure what would be going on. As a rule personality changes don't change that severe.
Almost sounds like he's in pain and doesn't want to be handled. I don't think the bath tub incident had anything to do with this.
Any chance we can see a photo?

I agree, it would be easier to determine if the snake has an injury if he observes the snake from "outside" and watch carefully the snakes behaviour without contact.

[Invisible Snake]

I think after a traumatic experience like this it is expected that the garter would get defensive. I had to break up a food fight between a couple of albino checkereds and after that for a couple of days 1 of the garters would get defensive and try to bite me if I put my hand to close to her. She became docile again after a week.

[d_virginiana]

Agreed, they might act ticked off for a day or two after an unpleasant experience, but not months. They are pretty friendly snakes. Has he been taking food like normal?
Also, does he freak out when he sees you, or if you put your hand in his cage but don't touch him? If he's hurt he would probably get upset by being held but not by just seeing your hand.

When you say he went behind you tub, do you mean he was between your tub and the wall, or actually in the pipes back behind it? The reason I ask is that there could have been some sort of nasty chemical or oil in the pipe area. Has he acted sick at all?

[Artic Exotics]

Agreed, they might act ticked off for a day or two after an unpleasant experience, but not months. They are pretty friendly snakes.

Agreed. ive had to rip a garter off an earthworm or he would have been swallowed, im pretty sure he lost a tooth over this (yes i did learn my lesson) and he was unhappy with me for almost a week but not months. That seems excessive.

there could have been some sort of nasty chemical or oil in the pipe area. Has he acted sick at all?

Id like to further this thought with is it possible he could have ingested something? You mentioned you lured him out with food, is it possible that in his feed response he could have ingested something not mouse like... My fear here of course is some form of a low grade blockage which could be minor enough to allow him to still pass waste but could still be making him uncomfortable? its likely something else but just throwing out ideas here.

[Greg'sGarters]

What type of garter is it? Because sirtalis are sometimes just naturally like this.