So, imagine my surprise...

[Random User]

... when I went down stairs to move a dwarf jade back into my light cabinet beside the bougainvilleas and I found a garder snake sitting across the top of the plant.

-5C outdoors with a lot of snowcover, and this 30cm (12") snake decides to wake up early...

... I wonder if it will eat the aphids off of these damned bougs...

I'll have to go buy some earth worms from the bait shop to tide him over till spring... he's got to be hungry and I doubt that he'd leave the warmth of the lights for long...

BEAT THAT, Sorce!

 

[Starfox]

Cool. Any pics?

 

[Cadillactaste]

Glad you plan on keeping him inside instead of tossing his hide out in the cold. But, that would be a shocking discovery...lol Yes...photos of your new friend.

 

[M. Frary]

I'll have to go buy some earth worms

What kind of snake.
Some snakes don't eat cold blooded animals.

 

[Random User]

It would be some kind of Garder Snake... we have 3 or 4 different types here, I'll have to do more research, because Fluffy (thats what I named it) doesn't seem to like earthworms... or maybe he's just not programmed to feed yet... there is precious little about snakes that I do know, except that they like heat. When I came home, Fluffy was perched in a Bougainvillea with his/her throat resting on the T5 55w lamp... I'll go to town again and get some brackets and make a ledge that it can rest on, just under the light...

I have a 50 cm terracotta tray and a heat pad for germinating seeds that I put under the boug... I "thought" it might get warm enough to keep the snake happy, but it only seems to get to 73 degrees F, so that won't be good enough.

 

[Random User]

I'm pretty sure that it would be a Plains Garder Snake (Thamnophis radix) now that I've seen some pics online... supposed to like eating earthworms... perhaps it's more worried about me eating it, at the moment...

 

[M. Frary]

It's probably in shock and cold
Garter snakes do indeed eat worms. And frogs and toads. But snakes need the right temp to function properly.
They can also go a long time between meals.

 

[ColinFraser]

Cool. Just FYI, I don't think "garder" is the right word. I believe the common name of the genus Thamnophis has to do with what women use to hold their stockings up - a garter. Take that as you will from an out of work zoologist with an emphasis in Herpetology

Many species will eat feeder fish from a bowl in captivity - might be worth a try.

 

[GailC]

Many species will eat feeder fish from a bowl in captivity - might be worth a try.

Thats what I was going to suggest, some guppie or minnows in a bowl. If your local pet store carries frozen pinky mice, you could try that too. Just make sure you thaw the mouse before offering it. I put the mouse in a zip lock bag then plop it in a bowl of hot water until its soft and warm. DO NOT microwave or use boiling water, it will turn out bad...

 

[Random User]

It's probably in shock and cold
Garter snakes do indeed eat worms. And frogs and toads. But snakes need the right temp to function properly.
They can also go a long time between meals.

Fluffy is getting plenty pissed off with being handled, which also tells me that its warming up internally. I got a couple of brackets and a 6" X 24" seedling tray... mounted the tray on the back wall of my light cabinet and filled it with a soil mix... moved the T5 just above the tray and remounted the light. Will see if this is acceptable for my new roomie.

Thanks for all of the feedback...

I think Mike is right about the body temp needing to be right before they can even think about feeding... I'll try again in a couple of days, and have to go to the "big city" on the weekend anyway... there are plenty of large pet stores that will have something that I can offer; otherwise it can make due on it's own till spring... "IF" it decides that it even wants to hang out with the plants in the first place... I'm not keeping it captive, and don't really care where it goes in the house.

(Thanks Colin, I get so used to B'nut changing the spelling in my posts that I often overlook spelling errors... Herpetology, hmmmm... I thought you got those on your winkie in University from the girl who liked lots and lots of boys...?)

 

[ColinFraser]

(Thanks Colin, I get so used to B'nut changing the spelling in my posts that I often overlook spelling errors... Herpetology, hmmmm... I thought you got those on your winkie in University from the girl who liked lots and lots of boys...?)

Shares the same Greek root, meaning "to creep"

 

[sorce]

Very Cool!

BEAT THAT, Sorce

I found my Fox snake on the Kitchen window sill once before my mom found it!

I didn't even know it was out!
It startled me!

That's better than when she picked me up from the park cuz my garter snake was loose!

Nothing would be cooler than to display a ficus with a Green tree python in it.
At a show!

I wonder how many people would miss it!

Sorce

 

[just.wing.it]

I love wrangling wild snakes, always a good rush, and fun!
Glad you didn't kill it, like most people I know....
I know a guy who was bragging about how he killed a 6 foot black snake that was "blocking his family from getting in the house"...
Saw him 3 weeks later and overheard him complaining about their newly discovered mouse problem...
I had to point out the connection for him....some people....

 

[Random User]

I've always liked snakes, so for me having it around is no biggie... the odd thing is that it doesn't seem to like the new spa I designed for him/her, it goes right back to that dwarf jade... perhaps it can see the aphids easier on it and is looking for a sugary snack... Fluffy better leave my spiders lone though, I'd hate to see them cleaned out.

 

[CasAH]

Very Cool!



I found my Fox snake on the Kitchen window sill once before my mom found it!

I didn't even know it was out!
It startled me!

That's better than when she picked me up from the park cuz my garter snake was loose!

Nothing would be cooler than to display a ficus with a Green tree python in it.
At a show!

I wonder how many people would miss it!

Sorce

When we were kids we found our garter snake behind my parents head board while moving it to paint. It had been missing for over two yeas and was about a foot longer than when last seen.

 

[rockm]

Oh for crying out loud, I have you all beat. ;-)

When I was a teenager back in the '70's I was hoping to become a herpetologist. Had a collection of all kinds of tropical and native snakes, from pythons and boas, to king snakes and copperheads.

One August, my 10 ft Burmese python escaped in my house by pushing his tank door open. Looked for the damn thing for a week. One afternoon, when my macaw (that's a parrot) was walking around in the living room, the snake slowly slithered out from the void under the kitchen cabinets to try and get his dinner (which was the parrot).

The macaw, whose name was "Mack" (pretty imaginative, huh?), looked up at me with a beady eye and said "trouble" then flew onto my shoulder. Mac knew only a few words and that was one he learned from my mom who always called him "trouble" because he chewed up furniture.

I put Mac away and captured the snake and put him back in his tank and locked the lid down.

 

[Carol 83]

My washer and dryer are behind french doors, and the dryer vents outside. One day I opened the doors to do some laundry, and a garter snake was sitting on top of the dryer. Comedy history, as my mom tried to catch it with bbq tongs and I was ready with the broom to get it outside. The chicken-shit cat, ran away.

 

[just.wing.it]

Oh for crying out loud, I have you all beat. ;-)

When I was a teenager back in the '70's I was hoping to become a herpetologist. Had a collection of all kinds of tropical and native snakes, from pythons and boas, to king snakes and copperheads.

One August, my 10 ft Burmese python escaped in my house by pushing his tank door open. Looked for the damn thing for a week. One afternoon, when my macaw (that's a parrot) was walking around in the living room, the snake slowly slithered out from the void under the kitchen cabinets to try and get his dinner (which was the parrot).

The macaw, whose name was "Mack" (pretty imaginative, huh?), looked up at me with a beady eye and said "trouble" then flew onto my shoulder. Mac knew only a few words and that was one he learned from my mom who always called him "trouble" because he chewed up furniture.

I put Mac away and captured the snake and put him back in his tank and locked the lid down.

Nice!

 

[miker]

Glad to hear you are helping the little guy survive. I would never, ever intentionally kill a non-venomous snake. I try to leave even the venomous ones alone, unless they pose a real threat or if they are where they shouldn't be.

 

[ColinFraser]

Oh for crying out loud, I have you all beat. ;-)

Haha, not all of us I brought home my first rattlesnake in 6th grade and bred large constrictors for years (as well as geckos and dart frogs). I worked for the world's largest manufacturer of reptile husbandry products all through my 20s, going behind the scenes at some of the best zoos in the country and working major reptile shows and conservation conferences - I've seen it all!
Losing a snake that size in the house always made my girlfriend very unhappy . . .