new wild caught eastern...

[guidofatherof5]

Maybe she just needs a little of your home cookin'

[ProXimuS]

What a cool story! Glad you found her....Should keep her

[guidofatherof5]

If she's been a captive snake for 2 years I would not return her to the wild.
Just my opinion.

[kerensa]

I don't think I'll return her to the wild. It is like she had decided being out in the big wild world just wasn't all that fun and was waiting to be picked up again. I was so tempted to have a rant about catching babies, getting them used to being taken care of and then tossing them back out as adults.

[kueluck]

Yeah for you and your new friend. My local reptile rescue told me that snakes kept 2 winters or more in captivity can loss their ability to hibernate and die over the winter. If you choose NOT to keep her please post on this site for a new home.

[kerensa]

As I said I do not think I would return her to the wild in any case. there is just two large a list of reasons not to- not the least is my belief that animals kept in captivity have a much harder time surviving in the wild.

She simply does not act like a wild snake should. She never should have sat still while something huge walked over and picked her up. It does not look to me like she really had enough to eat, and when I found her. She has been eating like a piggy snake. Today was live guppy day (everyone got as many as they wanted first thing this AM) she got some just as everyone else did even though she ate yesterday and she was not interested, but readily took a night crawler and was looking for more. As readily as she eats she should be much heavier than she is.

I am not impressed (ok it did make an impression-just not a good one) with the set up they were kept in. The boy is only 12 or so, and there is a limit to how much he can manage alone, but that should mean he doesn't catch more then 1 or 2 at most. They were kept in the clearish sort of totes, on shelves in a corner of the garage no where near windows. The totes had that green fake grass type of out door carpeting in them, a bowl and some branches etc. No method I could see of heat for cold times, and only a bowl of water for hot periods- and I am sure that garage gets plenty hot. If you can not provide what I consider the very minimum for reptiles you should not have them, and have no excuse for catching them.

I don't agree with catching wild snakes as a general rule. If she had acted normal I would have simply have stopped long enough for her to move out of the road. I've never had a wild caught snake before. However when she was acting so strange I couldn't just drop her in the grass and go. It was just too weird.

I could have been catching garters all summer. I've seen enough of them around here. I waited till I could buy captive bred ones for a long list of reasons- not the least of which there is no shortage of captive bred snakes!

[guidofatherof5]

Sounds like she's come to a good home.
Monitor her feces for awhile. Make sure everything is passing along.
You might also print off a care sheet for that young man or suggest he look into this website. Maybe make the suggestion to his parents.

[kerensa]

Already watching. Trying to get a sample for a smear.

I've thought of doing so. Am going to wait till I'm not at a boil, as no one wants to listen to me when I'm a hair away from full rant. His brain dead mother was there, and telling me what a wonderful set up he had, and how knowledgeable he is. *sigh* idiot.

[guidofatherof5]

Break it to her gently.

[Mommy2many]

I am so happy to read that you are keeping her. It's just not fair to take a wild caught animal, feed and care for it for two years and set it free to fend on it's own for winter. I don't know about there but here, the past few nights have been in the 40's. My snakes (indoors) are under ground till the room warms up. Poor thing. I'm glad you found her. She needs you. Thank you for committing to her care.