Long story short, my dog got a garter snake. The dog dropped her pretty quickly and I was over there before she could try again. When I picked her up she had a pretty bad kink in her back. I put her in our front yard under a propped up flower pot so she could pass in peace if that was what was going to happen. A couple hours later when I checked on her she had left the flower pot. Shortly after that the dog found her again, this time just barking, so I picked she up again and brought her inside, thinking she can move, but not quickly enough to evade the dog or other predators, a few days for the muscle stiffness and swelling to go down may be all she needs. The kink in her back had largely straightened out and didn't look nearly so bad and I could feel muscle movement down her body.

This is was a week and a half ago. I've managed to keep her pretty well in a 10 gal. tank I had around and from looking at other websites to figure out what she needs. I am not a snake person so don't have any of the normal equipment, and my husband thinks I'm nuts, so spending money isn't really an option either. She has eaten and pooped, don't know about peeing. She is sometimes very alert, some times not. She a few times has moved vigorously in the tank, but mostly just rests on the hot side of the tank.

I thought she was doing well enough to release her a few days ago and that is when we hit a snag. I put her down near the wood pile I know she lives in and she did not move away nearly as fast as I would have liked and the way she has in the past. (I've rescued this snake from the dog a couple times where she hadn't been really hurt.) I picked her up again and set her in the grass to better assess how she was moving and it seems to me that she isn't using her body below the injury to propel herself. As the injury is about 1/3 of the way down her body, this isn't enough to let her move well or quickly. I know she can move her tail and I can feel muscle reaction in the lower part of her body. (I'm a massage therapist so I know muscles just not snakes) so even if her spine is injured the cord doesn't seem to be.

So my questions, does this sound like an injury she can recover from enough to be released? Am I just prolonging her suffering? How can you tell if a snake is hurting? Should I be looking for someone who wants a pet snake?