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 .