Taming Baby Garter

[ravgez]

Just got my baby checkered albino couple days ago. The first day it was terrified of me, would run to the other side of the cage if i opened it up to offer food or change the water. These last couple days its definitely calmed down a bit but still nowhere near letting me touch it. Its never striked or musked but on the other hand I still havent held it in my hands. Later on in the week I want to start trying to tame it, any advice or instruction would be greatly appreciated!

[guidofatherof5]

It takes time for her to trust you. Just putting your hand in and letting her come to you is a good way to build trust. It also help when they see you as a food bringer Do you have a pair of hemostats? They work great for feeding babies.

[infernalis]

Yes please follow Steve's advice and don't force handle the little one.

There is no valid reason to handle babies excessively, and it stresses them out.

[Greg'sGarters]

Sometimes, I'll just put the snake in a container an leave that right next to me while I go on the internet. They get used to looking at you then. And so everything else posted above.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Sometimes, I'll just put the snake in a container an leave that right next to me while I go on the internet. They get used to looking at you then. And so everything else posted above.

That is doing nothing but stressing the snake out. Placing the enclosure where the snake can catch a glimpse of you from the safety of his comfort zones is one thing. Stuffing a snake into a container and forcing it to sit in there and stare at you does nothing for the snake, or you.

[Steveo]

I have yet to see any evidence that handling them conditions them to being handled; that sounds like a Stockholm Syndrome situation to me. I don't force the issue and they come around just fine as they get older. The milk snakes used to musk every time but there came a point where they just stopped doing that, so I started holding them more. I got lucky with the kingsnake as she was great from the day I brought her home.

When I walk by the garter tank and look at them through the glass, I can see that some of them start breathing heavily. If that's all it takes to stress them out, I try to minimize that by checking on them daily but otherwise only bothering them at feeding time. They have calmed down considerably from their baby days, but I still only handle them for a few minutes before a meal. Some of them are pushing 50g now and have become more docile. The only exception is the pickeringii, who still musks me every single time. There's always one.

[guidofatherof5]

Steve you need to visit the Ranch and meet my big radix girl.

[chris-uk]

Offering contact, but not just reaching in and grabbing, has worked well for me.
My Cuitzeo girl was nervous as a long-tailed cat in a rocking horse factory when I got her. We're talking regular muskings when I had to move her for cleaning and she would scarper to a hide as soon as she sensed you were looking at her. Now she's often hanging out in the open and when I open the viv door she will (still cautiously) approach my hand in the doorway and slither over it, if she wants to come out she does if she is just checking me for food she heads back inside. My approach was to just sit watching her a lot (she was next to my desk) and putting my hand into the viv to see if she'd check it out. It took almost a year, but now she does trust that I'm not going to hurt her. The same technique with others has improved their jumpiness but no such dramatic results (of course Lacrimosa has been shacked up with a radix girl for the last 9 months which may have helped).

[d_virginiana]

I usually offer food on the tip of my finger for very young babies. That gets them used to you, and for mine they've always been so excited about the food that they forget all about the giant hand in their cage. After they get used to my hand like that, I'll lay my hand in the tank and wait till they happen to crawl over it either by curiosity or chance, but I don't actually pick them up. I don't actually handle them till they get older and sturdier unless I have to.

Also, if you have any adult garter snakes, I think it helps if the new one can see them taking food from you and being handled. They do have a sort of 'herd' mentality, and seeing other garters sometimes makes shy ones more outgoing.