Questions
Q&A: Feeding a Ribbon Snake in the Backyard
Earlier this month, Daryl Frese wrote to me with an interesting story about a snake that kept coming for a visit.
We live near San Antonio, Texas. We have water gardens and fish ponds and have had garter snakes for the last few years that would show up at feeding time for the fish. We have always had fun watching them eat and learning their different personalities. This year, we have one that seemed a little bit more comfortable binging around us. After a few weeks of it coming closer and closer to us, my wife decided to put some food in her hand and see what would happen, and sure enough it came up and took the food out of her hand.
Is it OK to keep feeding her this way? We have started digging up earthworms and letting her (him) have a treat. She shows up about every three days, comes over to my wife and begs for dinner.
I wrote back to say that I couldn’t see any harm in it. While conventional wisdom is that feeding wild animals is a bad idea, I suspect that’s because there are real dangers for both animal and people alike when certain species get acclimated. An animal that becomes used to human contact can be dangerous if it’s a predator, but more generally is less able to fend for itself. I don’t think a wild snake’s ability to survive is going to be impeded by being hand-fed by humans every now and then.
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Q&A: Feeding Recently Wild-Caught Garter Snakes
Liz writes with a question about feeding two recently caught garter snakes:
I recently found two small garter snakes while hiking in a nearby forest. My fiancé and I decided to catch them and take them home. I read through your articles on caring for garter snakes and it has helped a lot helping me meet the needs of my snakes, although I am having trouble finding food that they will eat.
Before I read your article my fiancé swore they ate crickets though I know now that is not true.
I also tried small goldfish (alive in a rock bowl) but there was no reaction to them. One of the snakes poked its head in the water and went right past the fish. One of the fish died so I cut it up right away and tried to serve it to them that way and still nothing.
Someone also said they do not eat very often so I thought that may be why I couldn’t get them to eat anything.
I have not yet tried earthworms; the pet store was out of them when I tried to pick some up and pinkies are so expensive I was afraid I would spend money on them and they would be ignored as well.
I’m a little concerned that my snakes will die if I don’t find something they will eat soon. I have had them for about three and a half days now, and as far as I could tell they have not had anything to eat.
The pet stores in my area have been having problems with getting their shipments of fish in so no one has guppies and one place had minnows but refused to sell them when they heard it was for snake food.
I am all out of ideas other than drowning my lawn for worms.
Catching wild snakes involves a host of considerations that buyers of captive-bred snakes don’t usually have to face; the biggest of these is getting a recently caught snake to feed. (This is one big reason why most snake keepers recommend getting captive-bred animals wherever possible, incidentally.)
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Q&A: When a Dog Meets a Garter Snake
Christine’s dog had an encounter with what she thinks was a garter snake, and wonders whether either animal came away unscathed:
Two days ago I was wandering around in a bush lot and came across what I believe is an Eastern Ribbon snake (dark grey with light yellow stripes, very long tail and no patterning) taking up some sun on a leaf-covered rock pile. While I was busy admiring this fellow who seemed content to let me do so I didn’t notice that my dog had found another snake a few feet away and was ashamedly harassing it. By the time I got hold of his collar and pulled him off, the poor snake was sort of balled up with mostly belly showing, half covered in the leaves.
I didn’t want to handle the snake and add insult to injury but I did at least want to make sure he was still alive. I gently rolled him over (he was still all balled up, belly up) and he slowly unwound and headed for cover under the leaves. At first I thought it was another ribbon snake but the belly was a very bright yellow-green color, more like a garter snake.
My question is threefold. Firstly, do you think it was a garter snake or a ribbon snake that suffered at the nose of my dog? Secondly, given how long it took him to right himself do you think he was OK? I’d hate to think my dog caused him any harm. And lastly, the snake did get a chomp in on my dogs nose. I’ve been told that garter snakes can emit a mild toxin when they bite and/or eliminate a musky fluid. Could either of these cause a dog or any other animal to become mildly ill?
My bad boy sort of came down with what I can only equate to mild flu symptoms later that evening. (Yep — serves him right.)
The short answer is that it does not seem likely that either the snake or your dog came to harm as a result of the encounter. I could be wrong, but if your dog got sick later that evening, it’s probably not a result of anything a garter snake did.
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Q&A: Heating and Lighting
Jennifer writes with a question about heating and lighting:
I just recently brought home my garter snake from my father’s house and I’m just not sure about the lighting situation. I read the Heating and Lighting section of your care guide, but was not sure about the lighting and heating at night. I currently have a heating pad underneath the cage and a 60-watt red-glass lightbulb in a 20-gallon long tank. The temperature generally stays in the lower 70s, but at night I’m afraid it may get too cool for him. I read that the snakes generally need certain hours of light and darkness, but does the red light bulb count as light (I’m pretty sure it just may provide heat)? Or should I get two bulbs, one for light and the red bulb, and turn the white light off at night? I just want to give Bubba the best care I can give him. Thanks for your time.
I wrote back:
You don’t have to be super-precise with temperatures: garter snakes are pretty robust; they can usually handle cooler temperatures than, say, boa constrictors; and it’s okay if it cools off a bit at night. They don’t need, in other words, to be at 80°F at all hours of the day.
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Q&A: Finding Garter Snakes in the House
A couple of questions from people who have discovered baby garter snakes in their homes in the dead of winter, have read my article about garter snakes in winter, and have still more questions.
Debbie wrote on a cold day in January:
My parents live in a rural area around Neepawa, Manitoba. It’s one of the coldest days in January here, -49 with the windchill. My mom has found a very small green and yellow garter snake alive on her kitchen floor in the early evening. How did it get into the house and how do we get rid of it? Also, is there a chance this is only a baby and there is a larger snake somewhere with more babies? She also has a small dog and three kittens. Any advice will be appreciated.
The Snake Scientist
Garter and Ribbon Snakes