My ribbon snakes are terrified of me.

[Gaius Iulius Tabernarius]

I've had them for over a year and they've yet to get used to being around me, they eat, but they spend all of their time hiding and I usually have to put their food right next to their hide for them to eat it.

I tried to interact with them yesterday, I thought if I took them out of their enclosure and spent time near them in an exposed setting they would stop perceiving me as a threat and I even offered them food. but it didn't work, and now they are so stressed out they aren't eating. I assume they will calm down in a few days but I'm not sure how to fix this.

I just want them to be more active and comfortable. ideally I'd like them to be ok with being handled by me. I just don't know how to do it, and garter snakes are so niche that I can't find any tutorials or guides on the subject. closest I could find is info for corn snakes, and that's where I got the idea that I just tried from.

Help?

[Zdravko092368]

What type of ribbons are you keeping and do they have a basking spot? I have redstripe ribbons and every morning shortly after I turn on their basking light they are all out in their tree under the light.

[guidofatherof5]

Ribbons can be very skittish.

[Gaius Iulius Tabernarius]

Eastern ribbon snake, I wanted the indigenous variant and those are what live around here, I even saw a few outside when I was a kid. They were captive bred as far as I know.

They have two wooden hides, one next to a heating pad, and another on the opposite side of the tank from it, I have a uv hood, and an ivy plant in the middle. The substrait is sphagnum moss on top of soil, and I have a large colony of isopods keeping it clean.

[Gaius Iulius Tabernarius]

Attachment 15107 Here is a pic of my snakes, I put them in there so I could interact with them without them being able to escape. the stuff at the bottom is bark residue, we use that to transport firewood usually.

[Zdravko092368]

Attachment isn't working for me. Anyways, the heating pad and no basking lamp is the reason the aren't coming out, their heat needs are gained from within their hide.

[Gaius Iulius Tabernarius]

Not sure why that is, hang on, let me try a link to my facebook, I posted it there.

https://scontent.fbos1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...86&oe=5C604623

I thought the uv light on the hood was sufficient One of the hides is right next to the heating pad. they go back and forth occasionally but they never spend any significant period of time between them.

[Zdravko092368]

Looks like Western ribbons to me, look healthy as well, hopefully they become more active for you. You can try giving them an elevated basking spot with like a 50w bulb and turn off the under tank heater to see if that draws them out during the day.

[Gaius Iulius Tabernarius]

Looks like Western ribbons to me, look healthy as well, hopefully they become more active for you. You can try giving them an elevated basking spot with like a 50w bulb and turn off the under tank heater to see if that draws them out during the day.

huh, odd they were advertised as eastern. I'll see about setting something like that up when I am able.

[Zdravko092368]

There's no way to be sure without location, just the the blueish tone is more common on westerns than easterns. Easterns usually sport a rusty color especially below the lateral stripes.