In late fall, I found a juvenile striped garter snake that had been trapped on my screened porch for I don't know how long. I assumed she was very cold and hungry so I brought her in, made her a lovely terrarium with moss, plants, a hide, water dish, a heating pad underneath and a UV lamp on top ... all stuff that I just had on hand. I Googled what to feed her, named her Felicia ("happiness" in Spanish) and we were all set.

Hummingbirds have been flying into my house and I have handled and filmed them for many years. If interested, see: hummingbirds « The Global Rowing Club Hummingbirds love to sit in my hand — even outside — content and happy for long periods.

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Felicia does too sit happily curled up in my hand ... up to an hour sometimes before I have to say "gotta get something done" and put her back in her little house.

I have a Venezuelan assistant and she told me the word for snake in Spanish is culebra ... shockingly close to colibrí, hummingbird in Spanish. I mentioned it to another friend who sent me the link to this song: Colibrí Culebra http://lunamoth.bandcamp.com/track/c...ebra?permalink

Felica loves this song like a child who gets hooked on one Sesame Street song and wants to hear it over and over. I play it in my office on repeat and she comes out when it is on. Today she has been very uncharacteristically halfway out of her hide for most of the day.

Yesterday she did something I thought was amazing for a wild caught snake only three weeks at her new address ... at least I think so. I've been trying to find out if what she did is a common thing or not. That's why I am posting on this board.



I take her out of her terrarium to eat so I can monitor that she does eat and how much (earth worms ... so they won't disappear into the moss). I put her in a clear shoebox on a paper towel with the worms. It's a real show to watch her eat. She looks like a Muppet puppet. It's funny even though it's a little hurdle for me to get over to feed her live creatures. I don't think I'll ever be able to feed her mice no matter how big she gets.


After we fed her and she was able to relax and digest for a bit, she reared up inside the box looking at me like she was calling me to come pick her up for her "mommy" time. I took the top off and this time, instead of picking her up, I just stood there holding my hand out flat next to the corner of the box where her little head was, level with the top of the box and her head. I asked her if she wanted to come curl up in my hand for a while. Within seconds she lazily rose up and climbed into my hand and up my arm until she was completely out of the box and then with a little help, settled into a coil in my hand to sit happily for a half an hour or so before I had to get back to work.


Do snakes usually come when they are called? Next time we will make a video of it.

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