Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My son, who is 8, begged me at the pet shop recently (Saturday) to buy him a snake. I told him no, no, no, no, no, because honestly, I do not have any love for snakes. However, he loves snakes and loves the shows on TV where people go trap snakes. He was literally in tears in the store. I felt it was not right to discourage this for him, based on my fears, so I said okay. I asked the pet shop which snake would be best for a child, something I do not have to feed live mice or rats (absolutely will not do this), and something that would not bite. They suggested a garter snake. We bought him a garter snake, a tank, a heat lamp, bedding or what they called substrate, and these feeder fish (not guppies or gold fish, black fish of some type, small). I have been reading on this forum for a few hours and have seen that garter snakes do bite, and this concerns me a lot. I have read that the bite does not hurt, but I would think on an 8-year-old, a bite would hurt. The snake seems tame when he takes it out, he keeps kissing it, and it has not seemed like he wanted to strike or bite as of yet, but is this something I have to worry about? If I Posted a picture, do any of you think you can tell me what species it might be from, its general temperament, how big it might get, etc? I have to figure out how to post a picture.

Another issue we are having is feeding this guy. We bought 12 of these feeder fish on Saturday, and they were all eaten by Sunday. Should I be limiting how often the snake eats, like 2 or 3 times a week? The pet shop told me that eat up to 6 fish a day. So, we went back on Sunday and bought 2 dozen more of these feeder fish, and half of them are gone, so this snake ate 2 dozen fish in 3 days. This seems like a bit much for small snake. Also, going to the pet shop every other day is out of the question, so is there something I can buy online in bulk, maybe something frozen, that this type of snake will eat? I absolutely will not buy mice/rats or anything like that. We have pet gerbils, have had pet rats and mice, and I love these animals too much to use them as food. I read on this forum somewhere that somebody fed their snake wet cat food. Is this something a garter can eat regularly? Crickets are out of the questions also as I abhor crickets. I also will not buy roaches, same thing, disgusting.

Well, thanks for reading. We are a pet loving family, have 4 cats, a dog, pet gerbils, and my other son who is 6, wanted to take all the little white feeder mice they had at the pet shop home. He was horrified to watch the pet shop feed one of these mice to a monitor lizard. We also have a chinchilla, have had pet rescue rats, and any time there are kittens in the neighborhood, we take them in and find them homes.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, and thanks for making a forum for us newbie snake owners to come ask our dumb questions, LOL.

Thanks again,

Joy

I would limit feeding to once to twice a week and not all the snake can eat. Also, don't let your son kiss the snake, and make sure he washes his hands after handling. I got sick with salmonella in the 60's from handling my pet turtle then of course putting my fingers in my mouth! Not that your son could get salmonella from a garter snake but better to be safe.

Thank you and I have told him not to be kissing him any more and to wash his hands and to limit his feeding him. Thanks again for reading.

This is a picture of the little guy. I measured him and he wiggled but I get approximately 18 inches long and about 1/2 inch wide.

Joy,

I must commend your for not allowing your own fears to prevent your son from pursuing an interest that may very well turn out to be a lifelong passion as it has for many of us.

I am not sure what exact subspecies of garter this is but I am fairly confident in saying it is a common garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis). As far as worrying about the snake biting your son, snakes are not domesticated animals so the possibility is always there. However, in my own experience, if the snake is handleable now then it should remain pretty calm as long as your son continues to handle it. Just make sure your son washes his hands before (and after) holding the snake just in case the smell of one of your gerbils or by chance one of the feeder fish is still on his hands (the snake may smell the gerbil or fish and mistake your son's hand for food at first). Also, even if the snake does bite, it would probably startle your son more than it actually hurt. I grew up chasing/catching snakes and was bitten by many, many, MANY snakes at a much younger age than 8 and don't remember it being to painful.

As far as your feeding issues... I would say feeding it once a week is better than as much as it can eat all of the time... just make sure there is a decent "lump" in it's belly after its weekly meal and he should be just fine. You could try freezing some fish and just thawing them out (make sure they are not still cold when the snake eats them though) as you need them but I'm not sure how much luck you will have with that approach since I have never tried it myself. I personally feed mine frozen thawed mice (I know you are against the idea of it but most frozen mice are killed very humanely and freezing the food kills any parasites that the snake would otherwise be potentially ingesting). Whatever you choose to do, you are on the right track by researching and asking questions. If you have any more questions at all, someone will eventually reply on here... Good luck and I hope your son enjoys his new pet.

-Joe-
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0.1.0 Colombian Red-tailed Boa (100% Het. for albino)
0.0.2 Western Hognose Snakes
0.2.1 Plains Garter Snakes
1.0.0 Red-sided Garter Snake
1.2.0 Barred Tiger Salamanders
0.0.1 Red-eared Slider
0.0.1 Common Snapping Turtle

Ditto what Joe said in the last reply. You are a great parent to put your sons wants before your own. The only thing I would add is that the fish that you have been feeding sounds like black mollies, which should be fine, freezing a bunch in bags of say half dozen -8 per bag for one time feeding would make things much easier, then all you have to do is take out a bag from the freezer put the baggie in bucket of hot water for about 10-15 minutes untill thawed and them place them on a dish in the snake cage, he should gobble them up as soon as he/she gets a whiff, if not wait a few more days to let him get good and hungry and then try again. The snake looks to be a Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis aka Red-sided Garter to me even though there is not a lot of red.

forgot to add that you might check with the pet shop they may sell frozen bags of fish already and that would be more cost effective than buyin live and then freezing them. Then you can just thaw that big bag and divide them up into ziplock sandwich bags for one time weekly feeding convienence, and then refreeze the individual baggies. That way once a week you can just pull one baggie out of the freezer and thaw it in a bucket of hot water and feed. Also if the snake hasn't pooped(musked) upon handeling I wouldn't worry about it biting too much, they usually poop when stressed and then next level of stress response is to bite, besides even if it did bite, the bite won't hurt a boy anyway. Garter's are great "starter" snakes and then for some of us later in life they are great "go back to where it all began" snakes. The fun thing for kids is that garters are alert, intelligent and active during the day, rather than being nocturnal like alot of other snakes. Best of luck to you and your son with your new friend.

You know how some of the feeder fish die in the bowl before the snake eats it, the snake won't eat them dead, but did eat a dead worm, so I guess I am going to have to just experiment with my son and see what she likes and what she does not like.

All of you snake owners are the best, thanks for everything.

Joy

Thanks Joe!

Although I am petrified of snakes, this one does not really scare me, so I guess this is a good thing. I would never be looking for snakes in the wild, as I would not know which ones had venom and which ones were safe, and quite honestly, they are way too quick for me. My son loves these types of animals. I see some pics on another board I belong to now, and my goodness, some of these snakes are huge and look so dangerous.

Today, we were out looking for worms to try to get the snake to eat, and although we only found one and killed it digging it up, the snake did eat the dead worm, so I'm thinking feeding this guy won't be a problem. But, in looking for worms we found a frog, and wouldn't you know it, my son wanted to keep this frog. So, what did mommy do? She made a frog setup for this little frog, and then went back outside with son to find crickets or other bugs the frog could eat. Did I mention how much I HATE crickets? Makes my skin crawl just thinking about them, but I did it. My hubby says no to him, let the frog go, they belong in the wild, etc., etc., but I want to foster his curiosity, I don't want to stop him from wanting to know all he can know about these creatures.

All I can say about my son is he is 8, most 8 year olds want toys, figures, junk, my son wants snakes, to join karate, to research things on the internet, and he is so much more inquisitive than my older daughter and my younger son.

Thanks for all your help!!

I would have fed the frog to the snake, garters love small frogs Your garter probably didn't eat the dead fish in the bowl because he was full, if you try to feed frozen/thawed fish...DO NOT put them in the water dish, as this will foul the water, instead put the fish on a small plate, the garter will gobble them up and then you can remove the plate and wash it up for the next feeding.

that's a red sided garter, thamnophis sirtalis parietalis. also, avoid frogs...they commonly carry parasites that can cause problems with captive garters. a variety of fish (no goldfish), worms, and pinkie mice or rats will work.

I started at about 6 years old in Fla. My mom and dad brought home a turtle from the side of the road and I have never looked back. I actually still have the scar on my palm where it bit me when I tried shading it from the sun lol.
Just keep fostering his interest but know one day it will turn to snakes that feed on mice and rats (it always does ask my mom).
They can be purchased pre killed so no worries.
AS for the cat food, it's for cats not snakes
Good Luck and enjoy.