wild caught garter -gender and type?

[chris-uk]

Do the injuries look fresh? My Impression from the photos was that the wounds are bites that have almost healed.

If s/he is eating worms it's a good sign, and you should know within days if the digestive system is clear and uninjured.

[Foxrun402]

At the moment, s/he is in a box (feeding box). She was wiping her face on the side, so my boyfriend put in some paper for him/her to use. At first s/he seemed offended, then s/he actually used it to wipe his/her face. It was cute.

So, does everyone agree that it's male, and not female? I'm leaning towards male myself, now that I look at the tail more closely. My boyfriend disagrees, but he's new to garters.

Oh, and we just took a measurement. S/he's around 14-15 inches, possibly even closer to 16 (s/he was very squirmy).

They do like to keep their faces clean lol =) You could also try some 10" feeding tongs or hemostats work well... make the worm wiggle a bit to stimulate a feeding response and watch him attack it from the tongs as if he was in the wild! I do that with mine some times to make feeding fun, then again he also see's YOU while your tong feeding letting him know you bring him food. That might make him a little more trusting of you, and its fun! looks male to me though too...

Also as chris said watch for s/he to leave a stool to make sure she wont just impact herself by eating too much and not being able to digest properly... if she gains a slight bulge from night crawlers I would say she should look somewhat normal again within 24 hours of eating, and should have a stool within 48-36 hours of eating... mine leaves a few off of night crawlers though, but I feed her 2 chopped into 1/4's (maybe why)

[acovert]

Yeah, I am believing that this snake is male now. Despite the size difference between him and Cuddles. Too bad the tail is so damaged. It would be so much easier to tell for sure.

Do the injuries look fresh? My Impression from the photos was that the wounds are bites that have almost healed.

The outside looks pretty much healed, but we're worried about internal damage. He produced some fecal matter when we had him in the plastic container at my uncles, so we're hoping that isn't the case. Also, the vent area looks as though it was torn up pretty bad, to the point where I can't always see the vent right away. That worries me a bit. He hasn't musked us once, either, which I find a bit odd for a wild-caught garter. Essentially every wild garter I have ever handled has musked me. It could just be his personality, but I'm wondering if there are some issues with the vent and that is why he hasn't musked us...only time will tell, I suppose.

I have to say, for a male this garter is very calm. Perhaps he is just a calm-natured snake, but I thought male garters were typically more energetic? I'm not sure. Cuddles is a pain to catch because he moves so fast, but this guy just curls up and sits still while you pick him up, despite being wild. It makes me curious...and a little worried. I'll be heartbroken if he is sick and we end up losing him. I'm attached to the little guy.

[Foxrun402]

All you can really do is the best for him that you can, and know that you're doing the right thing by trying to help him. Hopefully he recovers well and stays with you for a while =)

[acovert]

Alright. We are officially considering this snake a male (it took some considerable persuading when it came to my boyfriend). So, we have officially renamed him Scar, which is the best that I could get my boyfriend to agree too, after he suggested several very Harry Potter-style names that I just had to shake my head at. Naming him Basilisk or Slyther just seemed a little too "out there" for me. I wanted Battle, but he wanted Scar (which i also suggested) so I compromised.

I haven't seen him myself since the night that we fed him the worm, but from what my boyfriend is telling me he has been relatively active while being handled and that is good news to me. Another thing that I have noticed is that Scar does not seem to hide - ever. Cuddles, and even my boyfriend's corn snake (a Snow named Midnight, ironically - also the corn snake that I felt my friend and his fiance were mistreating, so I'm glad my boyfriend bought him) like to hide pretty much whenever someone bothers them. Cuddles hides 24/7, poking his head out of the aspen and basking until he sees something move and then disappears again.

Is it normal for a garter to not want to hide? I realize that this could just be personality, but this particular snake seems to like to contradict the little bit that I do know about garters, so I m trying to learn.

I am not sure if he has produced any fecal matter yet. My boyfriend is supposed to let me know when he gets home soon, so perhaps I will post an update on that later.

EDIT
We have fecal matter! So it seems as though the vent is working properly, despite the damage in that area.

[Foxrun402]

Awesome news! Good that he is doing things like he should be! and yes some garters can be very bold and will sit in the open and sometimes sleep in the open resting their heads against something is a good sign they're asleep! Mine will be bold at times like now when i'm typing this... Anytime I begin typing she can hear the keys being pressed and it grabs her attention... then I can look back and see her peering out at me spying on me lol! At other times she will be content in her hide and wont come out all day until I check on her lol

It's also possible that Scar has already acknowledged you as help and not as harm and trusts you a little more then most would from the wild. If you where hurt and someone helped you would you trust them a little better? Hopefully everything keeps going good! Keep us posted!

[guidofatherof5]

It certainly wouldn't hurt anything to treat the injury with a little weak tea looking betadine solution.

[acovert]

It certainly wouldn't hurt anything to treat the injury with a little weak tea looking betadine solution.

How does that work exactly? I've never heard of doing that for an injury.

I get to see Scar in a couple of hours. I'm rather excited.

[acovert]

Scar seems to be doing well. He is as slow and calm as usual. He does't move a whole lot, which worries me.

Here are some close-ups of the injury, including the damage to the vent:
Vent_Damage[1].jpg

And, just for the fun of it, here are a couple of headshots of the quiet little guy:
Headshot1[1].jpgHeadshot2[1].jpg

[guidofatherof5]

That vent scale should look better in the next couple of sheds. Good looking ordie.