Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought a wild caught garter snake today at the all ohio reptile expo(I know I shouldnt have bought her since shes wild caught and all but I couldnt resist). I brought her home and set her up in a 40 gallon reptarium. I noticed she has a bit of a nose rub so I went to put some neosporin on it and she freaked. She musked twice and then opened her mouth, hissed(not really a hiss but the best a little garter snake can do), and struck a few times(luckily she missed). This makes me feel really bad since I know that she is still wild and would have a much better life not in captivity. The people I bought her from said they caught her in Florida but I'm not sure if they were telling the truth or not. Is there a good website with pictures and garter snake identification so I can know if she's from around here or not? Would it be okay to release her if I found out she was native to Ohio? If she isn't native to Ohio do you think I could ship her to a reptile rescue in the state she is native to for them to release? I'm really worried about her being in captivity because I can still see the wildness in her. She wants to get away!

What couldn't you resist? The price? There was some great captive born stuff there yesterday, including some albino checkereds for $45 ea! Plenty of corn snakes for $20! And you "couldn't resist" a wild garter?
Please tell me you're trolling! No, you can't let it go...here or anywhere. That's why impulse buys are just plain bad in the herp world. Post a pic if you can, and maybe one of the local Ohio herpers will want it more than you do. How big is it?
Jeez, give it a few weeks to settle in! That has to be the new record for buying and wanting to dispose of a pet.
Again...If you're just trolling, please disregard. Duffy

dont mean to sound rude or anything but you must NEVER EVER EVER set free an animal once it has been colected and captive for a while. Not only is it agenst moral but in manny stats it is agenst the law. You made a decision by purchasing this snake weather it be a good or bad decision is errelivent now. Like the formentioned suck it up let it settle in and give it the best life you can.
RR

It's probably not from Ohio or even occurs in Ohio, because if it was they couldn't sell it at the show. Even if the species occurs in Ohio it's illegal to release it if it's been in captivity for 30 days. So... Don't release it!

i must admit it was an impulse buy(i went to the expo for a leusistic rat snake) but i have owned garters before so i couldnt resist. i felt really bad for it cause it had a nose rub. the people i bought it from said it was from florida. what i wanted to do with it was find out its species and then contact a wildlife rehabilitation center in florida where they could assess its ability to survive in the wild and then possibly release it. i figure even if i cannot end up releasing it, it will have a better life in a 40 gallon reptarium than it probably had at the people who caught its house. i do not think it had been captive for much more than a week or 2 and i am not going to handle it or even be around it more than necessary until i find out that there is no where legal to release it. do not worry, i will not release it here unless it is native to ohio, its injury heals, and it is still wild/can hunt on its own and still is terrified of humans. if i cant release it, im going to try to train it as an education animal to educate people about wild-caught herps.

The people you bought it from... are going to take the money and run out and get more garters to sell. NOT buying ill cared for snakes is the best way to help them in the long run. I know it's really sad... You're lucky, the last snake I saw there with a bad nose rub was a Boelen's python... I tried to give them my car for it but they said no.

Anyway.. you have no clue what that snake has come in contact with, especially if it did come all the way from Florida. No wildlife rehabilitator would release because it could be carrying cryptosporidiosis, paramyxo virus, IBD, ect ect ect... That one snake could turn the wild population into toast. So the snake is stuck in captivity, you should try to make the best of it together. He's probably just scared of you and needs to settle in. Captive populations do have to come from somewhere, so maybe you could buy a CB of the opposite sex and breed them to relieve the pressure on wild populations and kind of turn the purchase around into a positive thing.

Which city are you from? What wildlife rehabilitation center do you volunteer at? It's always nice to chat with fellow Ohioites. (Ohioanians?)

I volunteer with the Ohio Wildlife Center. I definately agree with you in trying to turn this into a good thing buy breeding and selling captive bred garters to take the pressure off of the wild garters. Maybe I will do this next season(I'm giving the bearded dragons a break from breeding and my ratsnake&leopard gecko don't have mates). I just kinda wish I could give him/her a life in the wild! But I see where you are coming from, she/he may threaten the wild populations with any diseases she has been exposed to. Would it be ok to deworm him/her(theres no doubt in my mind that an animal from the wild wouldn't have parasites that are probably multiplying like crazy due to all of her/his stress!) with panacur(I use it for the lizards so I know how much to give them)?

(I hope there's not more than one Ohio Wildlife Center, if this sounds like gibberish, disregard)

Since you work in the basement of a building housing some very decent herp vets, I recommend you take a fecal sample to Dr. Hayward or Dr. Sattler and they can get you any meds you might need. Should cost under $30 bucks without an office visit. You can also ask Dr. Sattler about the crazy couple with the sand boas.

ok thanks. yah that is where i work. im up there getting x-rays all the time so i'll prolly run into you at some point or anyother! lol. the ohio wildlife center has a billion reptile books so I'm gonna look up his/her species of garter snake there and one of our volunteer vets said panacur should be fine(I know the dosage, I've used it on my bearded dragons a few times)

I hope I don't see you in there, only because that would mean someone else is sick... . Although Bunny has to go back in a few months, at any rate.
(Bunny is pictured on the right)

If you do decide that you don't want to deal with him any more, I could either keep him myself or give him to one of my snake buddies... I always need an excuse for a new snake, and I alreayd have pleny of feeder fish... I don't know too much about garters now but I could pick it up pretty quickly.

Are those the intestinal parasites you were talking about? LOL...nice little Eryx anyway First time I have seen you actually post pics of the cute little guys. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

Apparently you need to hang out on the sand boa forum more often, because there's nothing I like more than posting pics!
I have 23 Eryx right now (colubrinus, jaculus, and muelleri) and I officially consider myself obsessed.

just like to say, calm yourself "duffy". i have the problem of wanting to help every animal i see(i volunteer at a wildlife rehab clinic twice a week and practically run my own zoo with all of the pets i own). yes i did see some of the albinos, they were beautiful but i wasnt there for garters, i was there for a leusistic kingsnake. the people who had it didnt seem to b caring for it and i figured i could give it a better life than they could, even if it cant go back to the wild. read the next post of mine for more info on what i plan to do...

"leusistic kingsnake"????? I thought earlyer in the thread you mentiond you went there for a Rat Snake?? Could be my mistake if so sorry but??????
RR

ok i have caught many garters and ribbon snakes and have raised them very well...regardless if you have caught or bought a snake u should never release it after you raised it or its been in captivity for a while...you say it tends to be aggressive eh?
both garter and ribbon snakes tend to be aggressive untill handled for a while...thay usually tame easy and fast, but there are exceptions....i recommend that you take care of the snake for a few weeks handling it quite often to some what to tame it.

if after a few weeks you still decide you dont want it. check your local petshops...many will be more than willing to accept it, just make sure you give them the history on the snake so they can give it special care care if needed.

hope this helps