wild caught garter -gender and type?

[acovert]

It's been fairly warm the last week or two. I'm not sure how warm it has to be for females to come out, but yesterday it hit 75 degrees. Everything here is in bloom. We've been hitting close to 60 degrees or more off and on for the last three weeks or so. We've had cold days as well, but the last week has been very, very nice. We're pretty much officially in spring.

The injury does make it hard to tell. Sometimes I can barely see where the vent is, but I believe that is is near the beginning of the discoloration on the tail. From the looks of it, it was damaged too, but it still seems to function properly. When we had the snake in the plastic container yesterday it did go to the bathroom.

I still lean towards female simply because of the size. It is about the same length as Cuddles, and thicker. Cuddles is about a year and a half old, I think, and about 10-12 inches in length. At the same size, this snake is about twice as thick as Cuddles and moves a lot slower (which is how we caught it).

One thing I've noticed is that, despite the fact that this snake is wild caught, it is very calm and will just sit in my hand calmly. It doesn't seem to mind being picked up and held at all. It doesn't even try to bite. Most of the garters I've caught in the wild have tried to bite me at some point or another....although most of them were much bigger than this one as well.

[guidofatherof5]

The calm behavior is something to watch as that maybe a sign of sickness.
Hope it turns out to be one of those special snakes.

[Selkielass]

Have to agree with Steve. Most of the very passive snakes I've only come across were calm because they were terribly ill.

Most have recovered with the 3time W's. (Water, warmth and worms) but their attitude usually comes back long before they decide im tolerable because I bring food.
Impressive that s/he has survived such an injury so far. Tough snake.

[acovert]

Hmmm...I didn't think about her being sick. She doesn't seem sick, but it's hard to tell with animals sometimes. We'll keep and eye on her and wash our hands when we handle her. She's staying at my boyfriend's house so she's far away from Cuddles. I'll warn my boyfriend to be careful about handling his corn right after the garter.

Does anyone have a guess on how old the injury might be?

I'm gonna go with calling it a she for now, until we know otherwise.

[Selkielass]

Last summer. Probably semi or mostly healed before brumation- I think infection would have set in if s/he went underground with an open injury.

The lumpiness and difficulty of determining sex and exactly where the vent is makes me think things may still be internally knitting back together. Fasting and not pooping for months might have been good for healing. Id watch for infection around its vent as digestion and eli
nation resume.
Scarred survivors like this one awe me. I hope the plumbing continues to work.

[acovert]

We'll keep a close eye on her and see how she does. We're planning on trying to feed her sometime this week, once she has a chance to settle a little more. I really do hope that she's alright and everything continues to work properly. If she is still healing will some of the lumpiness start to go away? Or will it always be like that?

[BLUESIRTALIS]

What a nice looking snake! I would have guessed single striped pickeringii by the first pic, but the other pics confirmed ordinoides for me! That is a handsome boy you have and i hope he settles in nicely and i hope the injury continues to heal without any future problems. Good luck with this nice looking little guy!

[acovert]

Now that I look more closely at the tail, it does seem to appear male. The size of the snake is misleading. For a male, it's rather thick; twice the thickness of Cuddles, I think.

From what my boyfriend has told me (he keeps it at his house, since I can't have another snake) the snake has been moving around more and, after being taken out of the enclosure, tends to be even more active.

[Foxrun402]

Well thats a good sign that the lil guy is active... My Sirtalis Parietalis is VERY LAZY -_- now that spring has come around I notice her behavior changing! becoming more active and I believe its because the ambient temperatures of the room she resides in are changing and warming up... Hopefully this is the case with your new addition, hope all goes well for you ! =)

[acovert]

Battlecry/scar is officially eating. As I am typing this s/he is eating half of a nightcrawler. I think s/he seems more calm because s/he is merely very cautious. We weren't sure that s/he would take food since s/he is wild, but there was almost no hesitation with the worm. Of course, s/he was not nearly as enthusiastic as Cuddles, but that's to be expected.

So far things seem to be normal with s/he. I'm not seeing any neurological problems or other visible illness, so I have hopes that s/he will continue to heal if there is any damage leftover from her injury. Since s/he just ate, we'll be keeping on eye on him/her to see if the vent is still working properly. Hopefully there are no issues with the plumbing.

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).