Snake questions

Jerica · #1 09-15-2004, 12:59 AM

My mom found this snake the other day and I would like to know what kind it is if someone can help me. I think it is some type of garter snake. Its a light olive brown with a dull yellowish stripe down its back and one on each side, it has some black dots in the center of each side also, but they are tiny and barely noticable. The head is small and not narrow, but somewhat roundish. It is a baby right now, I assume at least because it is only about 6 inches long. Also from some I've read, it seems that garter snakes don't generally eat mice, but insects. Does anyone know if this is true? Because if we kept the snake we were going to breed mice (pinky mice) to feed it. Thanks. I will do my best to get some pics of the snake tomorrow. The ones I had, got messed up.

**krazy4birds** · #2 09-15-2004, 01:45 AM

I have no idea Jerrica but my my you are very busy girl there!!! LOL

Jerica · #3 09-15-2004, 07:26 PM

LOL! Yeah I spend most of my time with my animals. Since I have so many I am pretty busy with them, but I enjoy it.

Jerica · #4 09-15-2004, 08:38 PM

Here is a picture of the snake. It is very pretty, and if you need any more pics to help identify it tell me.

Jerica · #5 09-15-2004, 11:18 PM

I noticed the last time i picked up the snake that he is longer than six inches, in fact I think he might be almost a foot long, but is still very slender.It seems that his eyes are close to the front of his head and he has a short nose. Just thought I'd add that bit of info.

**krazy4birds** · #6 09-16-2004, 01:11 AM

Oh my gosh Jerrica!!!! I know one thing...if he was mine I would turn him loose right away! hahahahahah...snakes give me the goose bumps! LOL

DachshundDuo · #7 09-17-2004, 02:56 PM

He sure is pretty! He looks like a garter snake to me; but I have been known to be wrong. I know that sometimes garter snakes and copperheads can look similar sometimes... I think... I DO know for sure that if it is a poisonous snake that the head would almost assuredly be diamond like in shape. I couldn't see the head. Is it rounded or diamond shaped?

Anyway, he is pretty. I would like to take care of a snake, but I husband doesn't like them at all. Last summer there was a black snake in our front yard that was easily five feet long. I thought that it was a sapling and nearly picked it up. I called for Steve to come out and look, and he wouldn't come off of the porch! The snake started towards the house, and Steve asked me to "redirect it". So, I took the sapling, which I was looking for in the first place, and tried to redirect it back down the hill, but it was more interested in going to the house. So, I picked it up behind the head and turned it back down the hill. Poor, poor Steve. You could have flown a whole flock of birds into that gaping mouth of his.

He said, "I can't believe you touched it", as if it were going to hurt me. But he said this because I am the one who absolutley freezes in terror when I see a spider.

Jerica · #8 09-17-2004, 05:07 PM

His head is rounded. Here is a pic of the top of his head if it helps.

DachshundDuo · #9 09-17-2004, 06:45 PM

He is very pretty! And, I would guess that he is very harmless as well - so long as you don't act like a cricket (chirp chirp

) Have you thought of a name?

**krazy4birds** · #10 09-18-2004, 03:26 AM

Hey Becky....Your husband is not alone in the fear of snakes category!
Good luck there Jerrica and btw...your camera takes an awesome closeup!

Jerica · #11 09-20-2004, 01:15 AM

Thanks for all the comments and help. We've decided to release the little snake because he had been wild before and didn't seem very happy. We don't know if he just didn't like the tiny cricket we put in there or if he had eaten within the last week and wasn't hungry, but he never ate the tiny cricket. We let him go in our yard so he could eat all the bugs he wanted. It was nice having him but he will probably be a lot happier outside.

DachshundDuo · #12 09-21-2004, 06:26 AM

Good for you Jerica! I'm sure that he is a much happier little snake in the wild. Be proud of yourself. That was a very wise choice you have made.

rachelaw · #13 09-21-2004, 01:30 PM

It was a garter snake... they only eat bugs and he was about his full length. They also eat very little so he probably wasn't hungry when you gave him his food. When they eat they eat in LARGE amounts and then go 4 days to two weeks with out food.

Jerica · #14 09-21-2004, 07:32 PM

Yeah, I found out that he really was a garter snake and that they only eat bugs, but I know he couldn't have been his full length because I have caught other garter snakes that were at least 2 feet long, he might have been only 8 inches, i never did mesure him. I knew that snakes would eat a lot at one time and go with out food for weeks, but I thought maybe since he was so little, he had to eat more often. Well, thanks for the info, I'm sure he will do better in the wild anyway and eat our pesky bugs around our house.

Python · #15 11-18-2004, 03:55 AM

You did very good Jerica for doing research on the snake and asking for help.And the best thing you done was letting him go back into the wild.Some times its very had to keep a wild cought snake alive casue you really dont know much about the snake.