Being in my 50’s now I’m out of the fast lane and kind of an Old School guy. I’ve been wearing glasses for the last 25 years and said I would never wear contacts. That all change last night. Bare with me, there is a reason for this innocuous information
After arriving home wearing my contacts I went into the big snake room. I notice a couple of sheds in one of the enclosures and knew that my Big Girl had finally shed. A number of the radixes were out cruising around when I opened it up. Instead of the usual greetings I get from these guys, they headed for cover. I then saw a number of faces staring at me. One was my Big Girl, who usually greets me first. She started out to me but stopped and pulled back when I reached towards her. She was very tentative as she approached and was sampling the air more than usual. I’m not sure how to describe it but she seemed confused or puzzled. As she got a better look and smell of me she came quickly towards me. Once she had assured herself it was me, things were fine. The others who had been watching from shelter quickly came out after she was up on my arm. They were still apprehensive and were doing some heavy tongue flicking on approach. This has never happened before. The only thing I can attribute it to is the fact I didn’t have my glasses on. I have always worn my glasses when I’m working with them. This time they noticed something different about my face. Facial cues must be something they use to recognize safe from unsafe. It’s also interesting that the other snakes didn’t come out until the first snake wasn’t being killed by the stranger. This is just another interesting observation of these wonderful animals.
It’s interesting that even in this captive situation they use 2 of their senses in friend or foe identification. Of course, in the wild I’m sure when they see or just smell a human they might automatically recognize it as a danger.

I remember a situation that occurred in Omaha that was definitely different. While out herping, I came to a very large railroad tie retaining wall. I stood in front of it and stared, knowing it was prime garter snake habitat. While I stood there I notice approximately 10 little radix faces looking at me from different locations in the wall. I could get within inches of them as they would simply move farther back into the cracks and crevices they were living in. They didn’t hide out of sight but simply moved into a more safe position and continued to watch me. If I did reach for them they would hide out of sight somewhere in the wall.
In their home they apparently felt safe enough to continue watching me instead of hiding. This really brought home to me the fact these little snakes are very curious about what goes on around them.