Garters do produce venom

[Foxrun402]

I have been struck at and nailed but never got a hold of me and let go right away. Granted she is a WC parietalis, she was picked up so young that she still has the ability to adapt, and I think you're right about handling them, they need to know your presence is trustworthy and that you are not a predator, and they aren't your prey. I think once this trust is established they become a little more bold around you but still have the tendency to get scared and strike from reflex. If you place a piece of night crawler in your hand and coax them to come onto your hand a little bit then eat it, It might make them more trusting of you, then again it might get you eaten alive!

[Natrix]

"If you place a piece of night crawler in your hand and coax them to come onto your hand a little bit then eat it, It might make them more trusting of you, then again it might get you eaten alive!"
If I did that with the flame I'd definitely be part of her menu, judging by the way she tries to eat the dish her food is served in

[Ruth]

I read your post yesterday and today one of mine latched on She didn't want to let go and a bowl of cold water did nothing. I had to pull her off which I was not happy about but everything else I tried did nothing. I popped up a post following on from my Obscurus and was wondering what else you can do to get them to release.

[chris-uk]

Are you sure your obscurus (edit: just read your post and saw it wasn't your obscurus, is she a Florida Blue? They can be temperamental too from what I've read.) wasn't reading over your shoulder and getting ideas?

I had some success getting my thumb nail under my checkered's jaw before she shifted her grip and I was back to square one. I'd read that cold water was a good move, but most suggestions I've read that go further than cold water are generally things I wouldn't want to do to my snakes. Personally, if cold water didn't do the job for me I'd be grinning and bearing it until the bugger got bored.

[guidofatherof5]

I know it will sound strange but you have to push into the mouth to get the teeth to release. It's a quick movement and takes practice. You have to be care not to break those little rear-facing needle teeth.

I would agree with Chris in that sometimes it's best to wait for them to release unless you have a T.s.concinnus- (Red-spotted Garter) attached. Waiting on them means waiting until they've chewed a nice chunk of flesh out and the rest of the hoard is smelling blood and organizing for an attack. Waiting too long means waiting until they've all had a go at you.

[chris-uk]

Another feeding day today, and Esme is definitely a little mental once she knows there's food around. Considering Esme and Gytha are from the same place as Rod's flame Eastern I'm wondering how they were kept and fed by the previous owner.

Gytha turned on to food quicker than Esme, she'd finished a pinky (after one of the quickest strikes I've seen) before Esme hit feeding mode. Esme came charging to the front of the viv, which made me nervous because I was feeding Gytha at the back and having Esme strike towards my forearm was enough to stop me feeding Gytha. I managed to lure Esme to the other back corner with a pinky, but she was as interested in my hand as the pinky in the tweezers. She finished the pinky and came back to the front and started trying to eat my finger through the glass... Then climbed up to the bottom of the door and started coming out, missed the pinky I offered her because she struck at thin air, missed again and ended up falling to the floor (any of my other snakes I'd have moved back into the viv when they got halfway out, Esme is one my hand isn't going near when she's in feeding mode). I got a pinky in her mouth and used that as the right time to pick her up and put her back into the viv.

So striking towards my forearm, trying to eat me through glass, striking at a pinky hard (and missing) so hard that she falls out of her viv. She's a nutter.

[Ruth]

Yes she's a florida blue and was very frisky when she came to me. Yesterday she was like a thing possessed. I did try prizing her jaw as she was only holding on with half her mouth but I was very concerned I would do her harm. The cold water did nothing and we tried that several times. I carried on waiting until I decided she wasn't going to release. I think maybe if I had let go of her totally she may of fled and I'd be back to catching her again but I'm actually quite sure she would of munched down harder with her full mouth. I will get her out tomorrow and see how she is, this morning she was curled up in her log giving me evils. She's so beautiful though and really very lovely, though hubby doesn't think so now.

I had no swelling from the area though, it did bleed quite a lot. It got irritated and went red. I took some antihistamines and had little reaction, I am on a lot of meds at the moment including anti-inflammatorys (sp) due to a bad back so that may be why. It now just looks like I scrapped my thumb on brambles.

[Natrix]

"So striking towards my forearm, trying to eat me through glass, striking at a pinky hard (and missing) so hard that she falls out of her viv. She's a nutter." Sounds very familiar my friend lol

[ConcinusMan]

It had been at least 10 days since they got fed and I knew they were very hungry a couple of nights ago. You know, when they start giving you "that look" and watching every move you make. Well I only had enough food on hand to go ahead and give everyone a few bites but really just a "half feeding" to tide them over so I did go ahead and give them what food I had left (some salmon and Rock cod fillet).

Then tonight I had whole silversides, rat pups, and some chicken liver. Well I have to tell you that the most violent feeding response doesn't necessarily happen just because it's been a very long time. I think it was worse tonight because I only fed them just a bit a few nights ago. I dropped the hemostats when I had 3 or 4 huge adults snapping at thin air and my fingers. It wasn't immediately clear where I had dropped the hemostats so I "got brave" and just grabbed a silverside and a rat pup and offered them in my bare fingers.

Now picture this... 4 huge adult concinnus' already had a bite to eat and were in full blown animal predator feeding mode, snapping at thin air and salivating. Needless to say, I got bit and shed some blood. Within seconds I had quite a reaction. Immediately the broken skin itched beyond belief. Out of pure curiosity I let it, and put off washing the wound. Didn't take long for numbness, redness and some significant swelling to occur. These symptoms were gone within 5 minutes of washing the wound but clearly a larger garter in feeding mode practically drooling, has some kind of toxic effect in their saliva.

There was a definite reaction to their saliva getting in the wound. The itching was immediate and intense followed by very red swelling. Of course the symptoms subsided within minutes but still, that was pretty potent saliva.

[chris-uk]

Good to hear another account of a reaction to garter bites. Was there any chewing with your bite Richard? I suspect your concinnus was bigger than the marcianus that chewed on me.
I had a bite last weekend from my 400g cuitzeoensis in feeding mode, it was a very quick tag and release and barely a bite at all. She broke the skin with 5 or 6 teeth though. I had no reaction, which I put down to her having released so quickly (she'd bitten, released, and run halfway across the viv before I'd finished saying a four-letter word) and there simply wasn't the chance for saliva to enter the wounds.