New Snake, and a very funny story.

[seaton]

Thought I would post the story of my new snake and see if people get a chuckle out of it.

The Snake cometh
My kid came in hollering the other day that mom found a snake and wanted me to come kill it. I went out and sure enough there was a small garter. After several death threats and various issues (my wife hates pets) we setup an aquarium and put the snake in it. It was a reptile aquarium and had a very nice screen top. The neighbor informed me what great escape artists they were, but I couldn't see why they would even need a top as the snake was so small and the and the aquarium so big. Anyway for safety snake we put the top on also. I watched the snake all night, it was fine and went to work the next day.

The escape
I was on my way home from work and I get a call from the wife that "slithers" had escaped. I know my kids named her (think it is a her) in the spirit of all the kids that name their dogs spot, the snake was deemed slithers. So the snake was fortunately still in a corner of the room, and they boxed her in and I recaged it when I got home. So I worked the cage over put bolts in the top to keep the lid tight, and removed a light that I figured the snake used as leverage to crawl up and then escape around the tight lid that seemed to have no space around it.

The next escape
I got called to work at midnight that night for an emergency. I had not been at work 15 minutes and get a call from the wife. The snake has escaped again !!! The snake was harder than heck to get fast sucker and was squeezing under bookshelves and other moldings. She watched the snake for an hour before trapping it under an ice cream pail.

The Great Escape !!!!
Figuring the snake was nearing death if my wife found it in her living room again, I resorted to putting the snake in a big 3 gallon tall bucket with a lid until i could fix an escape proof cage. I went to work, and about halfway thru the day got an exasperated call from my wife that the snake had escaped the bucket !!! Wow that made no sense a little pencil thin snake escaping a very high bucket with a very tight lid ??? They found the snake in the front yard (what a miracle) and it was again trapped under an ice cream bucket waiting when I got home.

The new cage
I went to the hardware store, and made and aquarium lid out of a huge tyle fastened a handle to it, and drilled very small air holes. The theory being if it can't get out of an ice cream bucket a strong heavy lid without gaps to wriggle around would do the trick. We at that point decided to rename slithers to Houdini after the famous escape artist.

Meet Slithers
I get another call from the wife about the snake at work. At this point I am thinking NOW WHAT !!! A shovel is starting to sound really good also. Turns out the wife went out to use the bucket and there was still a snake in there . Turns out slithers had not escaped the bucket, we now had two snakes !!! I figured the snake had been soo abused it would die. The snake actually seems quite healthy and content

Finale
The ceramic tile top has solved our escape issues, and we now have two garters housed. For two snakes that look so much the same they are very easy to tell apart. So far we have just fed chunks of night crawlers, and I bought some pinkes (expensive) at a pet store, and am getting up the courage to break one up to feed them.

The mystery
All is going well now, I have no idea how old they are, and I think they are both female by the shape of their tails, but who knows lol
I have looked at numerous garter snake sites ect and think I know what they are, but don't want to influence others opinions. Pictures to follow.

Steve Eaton
Spanish Fork, Utah

[seaton]

[maverick]

That Was A Great Story! Welcome To The Forum. You Will Learn Alot About Your Snakes.

[seaton]

Thanks, its a great board

[ssssnakeluvr]

Welcome to the forum!! Cool story.....sounds familiar too....have had a few excapes myself!! Where are you at? Those look like wandering garters, have tons of them here in Utah.

[seaton]

Welcome to the forum!! Cool story.....sounds familiar too....have had a few excapes myself!! Where are you at? Those look like wandering garters, have tons of them here in Utah.

Utah here also. I had seen pictures of Thamnophis marcianus checkered garders that seemed very close. Now that you throw out the wandering I have found pics there that look the same also. I think your right. Given the fact you say they are common here that would make the most since.

[seaton]

Ok, you are for sure right they definately are Thamnophis elegans.
They have really calmed down the last couple days. They are sure active buggers.

[seaton]

Ok, I put my first pinkie in there and was worried about it. But man did he nail that thing and ate both parts of it. I got another thawing for the other snake. Any idea how much these 2 will eat ? I was guessing 1 to 1.5 pinkies per snake per week.

Thanks for all the advice

[ssssnakeluvr]

Some wandering garters (thamnophis elegans vagrans) have a nice distinct checker pattern while others don't. Checkered garrters range doesn't extend near Utah. I have had a few people here in the Salt Lake area think they were checkered, but they aren't. They actually have quite a variation in patterns. One or 2 pinkies a week would be fine for them.
I have seen baby garters stick to glass when they are wet, after crawling out of a water dish. They have made it to the top of the tank!!

[seaton]

Thanks for the information. Your right they like to take a pass through the water bowl and then they stick right to the glass, they are amazing to watch.