Wild Garter -- Care Suggestions

[Tori]

Hi Jennifer and welcome to the forum. I have to admit I am in shock here....not one person so far has insisted on photos of your "little one"! Maybe the addicts are recovering...but I'm not. So,...any photos of the baby??????

Tori

[Sid]

HI Jennifer and welcome to the forum. Look forward to seeing some photos of your Garter.

[Lori P]

Welcome Jennifer, hope you enjoy the forum!

[stonyloam]

Not knowing any better I would guess that releasing a healthy wild garter back into the wild would not be a problem. I kept a large female eastern all summer, and she became very “friendly”. She would come to me and crawl onto my hand whenever I would open the viv, and would eat from my hand, no problem. She even let me handle her any time and I never got musked, not even once. I releaser her back into the yard where I found her after she had her babies. About two days later she was out sunning and I thought I would see if she how she would react to me. As soon as I got close, she was gone, just as if I had never kept her. What is my point? I’m not really sure that you can “tame” a snake, at least not like a dog or a cat (maybe not a cat) or horse or even a pig. I think they react on instinct making a return to the natural state much easier. Anyway she was probably just looking for an escape rout when she crawled up on my hand. It’s 20F out tonight and snowing, hope she is snug in a hole under the pool heater or the sunroom floor.
Sometimes I get a little melancholy when winter arrives.

[adamanteus]

Sometimes I get a little melancholy when winter arrives.

Terry, I think we all feel that! Chin up, once Christmas is over, Spring is just around the corner!

[Odie]

Not knowing any better I would guess that releasing a healthy wild garter back into the wild would not be a problem. I kept a large female eastern all summer, and she became very “friendly”. She would come to me and crawl onto my hand whenever I would open the viv, and would eat from my hand, no problem. She even let me handle her any time and I never got musked, not even once. I releaser her back into the yard where I found her after she had her babies. About two days later she was out sunning and I thought I would see if she how she would react to me. As soon as I got close, she was gone, just as if I had never kept her. What is my point? I’m not really sure that you can “tame” a snake, at least not like a dog or a cat (maybe not a cat) or horse or even a pig. I think they react on instinct making a return to the natural state much easier.

They are like Cool hand Luke. Loose but willing to put-up with the man(human) but wait for that opening and it's gone

[gwynhwyfar]

*head-desks*

Well, I got a couple pictures, but I must say that Miss Snakey Snake is not entirely cooperative.

I did decide, perhaps with not entire accuracy, that it is a she -- her tail is remarkably short when compared with the rest of her body length. Since I don't really know any other way to tell, beyond being WAY too personal for the length of our acquaintenceship, it's just going to have to remain a guess.

So ... here she is behind the 'bars' of the cube shelves in my bedroom, through the side of the cage, and not being the most cooperative creature. Oh, yes. And not entirely in focus because the poor camera is confused by the plastic reflections.

Peek-a-boo ... oh. Wait. You can see me! Eek!




Now if you turn your head to the side, you can see that I'm -this far- into the shavings. And not coming out while she has the camera, either. Ha!

[drache]

hi Jennifer
nice to meet you and your new pretty snake

[gwynhwyfar]

More questions!

1) How often does a garter poop? I was given the girl-snake just before Thanksgiving vacation (November 20). She hadn't eaten at all for the biology department in a week's time. She's been chowing down twice a week on worms and rosy reds for me and so far, I've only found one mass of poop. Is this normal or a cause for concern? She's otherwise acting as normal as she ever has.

2) Because I move her twice a week to feed her, I have been handling her a little bit. Lately, I've noticed that she seems to want to 'hang out' on my hands when I'm transferring her. I suspect that she's just after the warmth, but she seems completely calm and she's never musked me or made any attempt to bite me. Given the probability that I'm going to keep her in the spring (I spoke with the local park rangers and they strongly suggest that you don't release them even if they were wild in the first place), what's the best way to encourage this calmness so that she gets more used to the handling?

3) I feed her largely rosy reds because they're convenient at this time of the year -- no more earthworms to be found. I tried a little fish when we had it the other night, but she was completely unconvinced that it was food since it wasn't moving under its own power. I'm hoping that I can do something about that little quirk, but I suspect that it comes from the fact that she's from the wild and they don't exactly have seafood deliveries out there. If I'm feeding her ~8 twice a week (so 16 a week), does that sound about right? Am I under/over-feeding her? She 'fishes' those out and eats them in ~30 minutes, and she doesn't seem to be looking for more afterward.

I'm pretty excited that she's never musked me or anything. She did musk once in her cage when something fell and thwacked against the side, but since I also jumped out of my skin, I can understand that. Am I correct in assuming that it's a good sign that she hasn't done so?

She's a pleasure -- very calming to watch and not really any trouble at all. The cats are also fascinated with watching her (her tank is cat-safe, yes, but that doesn't stop them from watching 'Snake-TV'.

[Stefan-A]

1. My garters usually poop within 2-4 days after eating, depending on what they have been eating. Worms go straight through them, mice take a bit longer, fish are somewhere in between.

If she's acting normal, then there's little reason to be concerned. My guess is that the rest of the poo is just getting lost in the substrate.

2. Try to avoid upsetting her. That's the best advice I can come up with. That, and continued exposure.

3. About 15-20% of her bodyweight per week should be fine.