Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My step dad found a baby Garter snake in a glue trap (I hate those things..grrrr). The poor thing was barely breathing and covered in glue. His kids took tweezers and picked most of the glue off of him, and then rolled him in sand to get the rest not-so-sticky. He's eaten a few crickets and he's been drinking. I have a Ribbon snake that eats Red Rosi feeder fish and I was wondering if those would be better for the baby Garter (and if not what would be better for him?). I was also wondering if anyone might know what type of Garter snake it is. I live in South Carolina. o_O Thanks

Good rescue!

Unless you are in the very SE corner of South Carolina, you have either an eastern ribbon snake or an eastern garter snake. The ribbon snake has a very long tail, around 1/3 of total length, and its lateral stripes are on scale rows 3 and 4. With the big belly scales as zero, go up the side at a 45 degree angle as you count the scale rows. The eastern garter has a tail less than 1/4 total length, and the lateral yellow stripes are on scale rows 2 and 3.

Eastern ribbons are pretty nervous, but eastern garters usually do well in captivity. They will take fish, earthworms, small frogs, and tadpoles voraciously. They can be trained to eat mouse parts fairly easily. I have never persuaded any of my garters to take a field cricket.

Good luck with the little guy.

Paul Hollander

We're pretty certain it's a Garter because there is a colony of Garters in the area and a load of the babies running around. Plus he's as calm as he can be while my Ribbon snake is a little spaz XD. Thanks much!

((Because of the glue and sand we can't really see his stripes yet.. so we'll be able to tell when he sheads))

During a profound stress response, as your new snake might have experienced, the adrenal glands dump mineralocorticoids into the plasma that cause the liver/kidney(s) to dump electrolytes levels to waste products (uric acid/feces). There are many other cellular responses that occur, but replinishing its electrolytes will go a long way toward helping this snake out.
As long as your snake is drinking well, you can make a 10% solution of pedialyte or even gatorade for your snake to drink. Don't fill its water dish... just add a small mayonaise jar lid (or heavier equivalent) full of this solution into the cage. You might even want to remove its regular water dish for a day or so, but not indefinitely. Mist your substrate with water if lack of humidity might be an issue in your area. I'm not a fan of adding sugar to the water because it becomes an excellent medium for bacterial growth, but you're more interested in replacing the other electolytes.
Maybe somebody else knows about the products that are marketed to help a snake shed. I've never used any and have no knowledge of their efficacy, but I wouldn't doubt if your new snake has difficulty shedding next time.
Since it's such a young snake it will probably recover well with electrolyte replacement, if it can get past its next shed. Also make sure it has plenty of dark hiding places while it recovers. Don't be afraid to feed this young snake often to stimulate growth and promote earlier shedding. Best of luck,
Rick

P.S. Can anybody speak to the usefulness of shedding-aid sprays?

u r an idiot why did u roll it around in sand that is killing the snake give ur baby snake a bath and let it go in the wild wc snakes harbor bacteria and u will end up with 2 dead snakes the baby and urs

I'm sure nobody means to call each other "idiots" on this forum, particularly when making so many spelling, grammatical, and factual errors in their own post. We're just trying to help one another with common interests, right?

Even though bacteria are ubiquitous within and outside of our homes, wild-caught snakes ARE more likely to introduce parasites and pathogens to your collection. However, baby snakes are less LIKELY to do so because they haven't accumulated a lifetime's worth of exposure to infested prey.

I'm sure you've already tried washing your snake, but if you haven't, first use a mild dishwashing soap, like Ivory. If none of the glue/resin came off, it is probably lipophylic and will need a stronger solvent.

Snake are designed to conserve water, and their skin/scales are much less permeable than ours, but if the glue contained a poison, such as an insecticide, or is limiting the snake's mobility, you'll want to use an ethanol-based solvent to remove the glue. You can buy ethanol in the paint section at Wal Mart.

Here's how you do it. Start by dabbing the ethanol onto a rag. Cotton would be ideal. Just try to clean a small section of the snake's tail at first. Then rinse the snake in water and give it a couple of hours to look for any reaction. Babies have increased sensitivities/permeabilities and certain fungicides/pesticides alter alcohol metabolism. If the snake doesn't seem a little "loopy" after a few hours or become overly active or sluggish, you could put your snake's head in a cloth bag and wash the rest of its body with ethanol on a rag. Wash a section, rinse the ethanol off. Then move on to another spot. Don't submerge the snake in it. Rinse the snake off thoroughly, and try to minimize the about of ethanol that the snake breathes. Don't use the ethanol near the vitals if the snake has a negative reaction to treatment on its tail.

Don't forget the electrolyte supplementation. Alternatively, you could release the snake back into the wild where it will likely die unnoticed and pass the contaminants from the glue trap through the food web.

My step dad washed it with water and his kids picked most of the glue off. We did do the electrolyte thing this morning. The next time he's over here I'll tell him about the ethyl thing. Thanks o_O

Um.. ethanol.. not ethyl.

Wow your an idiot. I rolled it in sand to stop it from sticking to everything. And I don't have the snakes in the same house. Hasn't your mother ever told you that if you don't have anything nice to say you shouldn't say anything at all?

Read the instructions for the glue trap. I believe many of them can be dissolved with mineral or vegetable oil.
-----
Randy Hallman
Firehouse Herps