My husband and I found a garter snake on our driveway on Sunday. I took a bunch of pictures of him, used a metal rod to get him into the grass and didn't really think much of it. Then last night when I pulled into the garage and got out of my car, I looked back and there he was, sitting in my garage, looking dangerously close to my tire. Luckily it turns out that I did not run him over (I think I would have cried), so I picked him up with the rod again and this time moved him to the backyard. I kept going out to check on him and he barely ever moved. Since I apparently like flirting with danger, I decided it was a perfect idea to just pick him up. Turns out he is fairly calm - I read that garter snakes will usually 'musk' but he did not. Anyway, I left him outside all day and night and he never really moved much, and at this point I decide I am in love with him and brought him inside... I know he would have been fine in the cold, but I just felt so bad for him since it was only about 40 and windy. We are thinking about keeping him.

I don't really know a lot about snakes, even though I have always really liked them. Is it even a good idea to take him in, or would he be happier/better off in the wild? He is currently about a foot long and fairly thin, so I think that he might be young. Right now I am at work and he is at home in a really small cage with paper towels and carefresh; assuming we still plan to keep him by the time we leave work, we plan to go buy him a habitat setup, because I am sure he is hating the tiny cage. He still does not move much at all when he is in the cage, but he is more active when I hold him - although not trying to escape, just kind of wraps around my hands. He also occasionally opens his mouth up at me, is this an aggressive sign?

Anyway, I guess I am looking on advice on whether it is a good idea to keep him or not in the first place, and if so what he needs/what he should be fed/etc. I have done a LOT of online reading, looking at various websites and care sheets (including the one here), so I have a fairly good idea of the requirements, but I am simply looking for any extra advice you can give. We scheduled a vet appt in the morning for him, assuming that we decided tonight to keep him, just to make sure he is okay and get an idea on how old he is and such.


There he is, on Sunday when I was snapping pictures, with his mouth open. We named him Silv.

Thanks so much for your help!