Help!!

[xXMapanareXx]

I think I have a Northwestern garter. I have live and dead minnows, and I don't know the last time he/she ate because I caught it on Saturday afternoon. There were at least twenty snakes in the area where I caught it.
I've got a couple pictures, but I need to figure out how to post them. It is mostly brown, with a yellow stripe going straight down it's back and one on each side. In between the yellow, it has sort of a checkered pattern trading off between red and brown. Underneath its belly its sort of a milky blue with speckles of orange every now and then and some dark blue. Its tounge is red, but the fork is a dark blue color (almost black). She shed on Sunday night. The picture that is my Avatar is him/her, I don't know if you can see it, but that is her.

[crzy_kevo]

http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets...al_Care_Sheets

thats the garter snake care sheet
stupid hotel computers eh james

[Snake lover 3-25]

http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets...al_Care_Sheets

here you go!!!

[adamanteus]

Thanks, Guys!

[jitami]

Welcome Cecilia! I'm guessing your snake just needs some time to settle in and get used to being in captivity. I'd just leave the live minnows in a dish with the snake and not bother the snake too much for awhile. If the minnows die before being eaten remove them and wait a week or so and then offer some earth worms. What part of California are you in? I'm just outside of Sacramento and I know we have several other Ca members as well

[Garter_Gertie]

Welcome, Mapanarex! It sounds to me, but there are others here that are better than I am, you've caught a garter you can keep.

Not eating... Just shed... It doesn't look like, from what I can see, that it's a gravid female, but maybe the picture's too small.

[Garter_Gertie]

I think Tami's hit the nail on the head. Garters need time to settle in and get comfy.

[infernalis]

Welcome aboard.

What are you housing your garter in? And I have found that most wild caught need a little alone time at first to accept the new surroundings.

Stick around, you will be fine, and the snake will wind up spoiled rotten

[anji1971]

Hello, and welcome!
If you just found it on the weekend, then it could have eaten just before you caught it.
At any rate, they're usually pretty nervous and stressed out when first in captivity. Give the snake a comfy home with a good place to hide, and leave it be for a few days. At first, maybe even put a couple of worms( they almost always go for worms!) on a margarine tub lid, and step back. Snakie will most likely come out of hiding and eat by then.
If not, then you know where to find us for more help!

[xXMapanareXx]

Thanks guys.

Answering a bunch of your questions; I'm housing it in a ten gallon tank, with snake bedding, two water bowls (one to wallow in and one to eat from) a half a coconut for a hideout with a hole on the top (which he/she loves! and uses to scope the whole place ) some small rocks to climb over and some plants (fake) to hide under.

I'll take out the dead minnows, and I'll leave her alone. I really hope this works.

Thank you guys for all of your help, and I'm definitely sticking around.

Oh! and I'm in San Francisco but I caught it in Humboldt County.