garter birth defect

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

I may have mentioned this snake on a previous thread somewhere, and I know for sure I have a pic of "him" posted in my gallery, and well, I just can't help but tell everybody about my one-eyed snake! Yes, I get a lot of strange looks, when I say that! But that's expected. "Lefty", the one-eyed Oregon Garter, is a strange snake.

Late last summer, I was strolling along the river's edge near our favorite camping spot (Matthew's Creek in SW Siskiyou County, CA) looking for my favorite garter, the snappy T. a. hydrophilus, when all of a sudden I saw a garter that couldn't see me! ...At least from the right side... I never planned on bringing home a neonate Oregon, but this snake (still unsexed!) would have never made it in the long run (easy target!). Yes, Lefty was born with one eye. Totally weird facial scale arrangement, like everthing just moved in to fill a void.

My question to all of you is: Have any of you seen this birth defect in other garters or other snakes?

By the way, as of today, Lefty is on "his" way to becoming a healthy yearling. I still have not perfected Alan Francis' trout recipe (too much gelatin), but Lefty currently feeds on pieces of raw rainbow trout, tadpoles, and the occasional guppy. The other day (this may sound gross!) I fed him my trout's eyeballs, which he relished; I figured these normally go down the hatch with wild specimens, and he could use ingredients other than just the meat. Since I haven't figured out how to grind down and mix in skin and bones for the complete meal, I chose a non-invasive eyeball! No bone sticking in the throat! The trout eye is encased in a round bony shell, hey! Calcium! And maybe, just maybe... Lefty was in the mood for an extra pair of eyes...

Enough sillyness! Here's a few pics of Lefty!









These are older pics. I hope to post some new ones soon!

Steve