Cuddles!

[kibakiba]

Northwesterns are one of the smallest garter snakes. Females get to about 2-2.5 feet and males are usually around 1.5 feet.

[ConcinusMan]

Indeed, the largest I've ever found in the wild (and I've been doing it for nearly 30 years) was exactly 2.5 feet. A female. She was very old, showing signs of advanced age. Due to their diet, there's no compelling reason to get big fast, unlike the situation with T. sirtalis subspecies. I've seen females as small as 12 inches give birth, so they do reach sexual maturity at a very small size.

Of the CB litters I've raised, no matter how much food, good nutrition, and good conditions I give them, they always grow extremely slowly. I can have a NW baby and any other garter be the same size starting out as babies. A year later, the northwestern is still a "baby" and the other snakes have doubled or tripled in size. This doesn't alarm me because it's normal for them.

[acovert]

I knew they stayed small, but I figured they grew a little faster than Cuddles is growing. I guess he's probably fine, since he sheds somewhat regularly.

Speaking of shedding, his eyes were clouded a few days ago so I am expecting a shed any day now.

[acovert]

I haven't checked in in quite a while, so I figured I would post a quick update on Cuddles now that I have time. Things have been a little crazy lately.

He shed not too long ago. Even after shedding, he's been pretty reclusive for the last month or so. He just started coming out more often. Part of it is probably due to the fact that I can rarely get his lamp out now. The cord for the lamp has to be plugged in inside my small, walk-in style closet, which is a problem right now because the door has to be closed 24/7. I have a mouse problem, which means there are traps in my room right now and there is poison in the closet where the entry point for the mice is. I have a cat living in my room with me now, so the door has to stay closed so that he can't get into the poison. I need to get rid of the mice because the closet is where I store food for my fish and hermit crabs, as well as for Cuddles. Hopefully the problem will be taken care of soon and Cuddles will have his lamp back. It's the only outlet near him, which is frustrating. This bedroom was designed by an idiot.

It stays plenty warm in my room for Cuddles without the lamp, and he gets sunlight from my window as well. It only just started getting cold and rainy here. Over the last couple of days the humidity in Cuddles' tank has shot up like crazy because of the massive amounts of rain we suddenly got.

Other than that I don't have much to say. Cuddles is about due for a tank cleaning and he will be getting fed today. He's still just eating worms. I gave up on frozen fish. He won't take it. If I can ever find feeder guppies somewhere then I will feed him those as well. But he seems to do just fine on the worms.

[acovert]

Cuddles gave me quite the scare today. I was about to leave for work when I noticed Cuddles was in the middle of a shed. When I peeked in to take a look, most of the shed was already off. But the last 1/4 of the shed was stuck, and he was struggling to get it off. Before I left I made sure his tank was nice and moist. There was nothing else I could do for the time being. When I came home six hours later there was no improvement.

Finally, after keeping him in a shed box for half and hour, soaking him in some warm water, and using a damp washcloth and some careful pulling on the dead skin, I managed to get the skin off nice and clean. It had been all the way up above his vent area. I'm very glad that I was able to get it off. Right now he is spending some extra time in the shed box to make sure that all of the little bits and pieces of the skin are off, and soon he will be back in his tank all nice and safe.some pictures

I will try to get some pictures up tomorrow since it is so late tonight. His color is nice and bright. To me it looks like it gets brighter every time.
The pictures might suck. All I have is my phone. We'll see tomorrow.

[snake man]

Good to hear everything turned out alright.

[guidofatherof5]

Good to hear everything turned out alright.

Indeed

[EasternGirl]

Glad to hear everything worked out, Ashley. Others might disagree with me on this...but when I see my snakes having trouble...I go ahead and assist in getting the shed off. I just gently work it off with my fingers in the normal direction that it would come off. Sometimes I put the snake in some warm water first if it is really stuck.

[acovert]

Here are a few photos of Cuddles that I finally managed to take:
SAM_0002.jpgSAM_0004.jpgSAM_0009.jpg

I noticed earlier that one of his eyes is looking a bit odd. Maybe it's just me, but does something look off about it to anyone else:
SAM_0006.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

Love that rusty head look.