Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello! I'm from Columbus, Ohio and was at one of the metro parks today(If your from Columbus it was the Inniswood Metro Garden)Anyway I found a young garter snake near the trail.I caught it at first just to look at it when I noticed it has cuts and scratches on its body below it's vent and on the tail.
One cut has torn the skin and the flesh underneath had been exposed, but has now dried out and is hard to the touch.This is further down on the tail. Other than this it is squirmy and not too thin.Right now I have it in a temporary container. I had thought of attempting to rehabilate and shelter it until it warms up in spring and then release it in a good habitat area. Or to take it to one of the nature centers,but I'm not sure they will care for it.(Garters are common here) I love reptiles as much as the fuzzy animals and would like to give this little guy a chance. But I would like to get some advice.
Thanks for reading.

i have rehabed herps for 3 years and the advise i would give you is keep teh garter on paper towels, use neosporin on cuts. gaters eat fish and worms (earth worms) adn depending on how cold it is outside you may have to winter it over.

np

One time I was in my garage in S.Texas when I saw somethig move out of the corner of my eye. I had seen a Bull Snake their earlier but this time it was a Rattler. Well because of this amazing coincidence I automatically assumed They had bred and would soon produce baby snake that I like to call "BRATTLERS". Well needless to say I was very scared and went around killing everysnake on my property in hopes that I could eliminate all Brattlers before they reached their adult size and full deadilness. Then on another time I was working in the garden with my son, when he walked up holding what he called a BullSnake. I screamed to him Bubba that ain't no BullSnake thats a Brattler, he let out a loud shriek as the potentially deadly snake bit him on the forearm. I was expecting him to be dead with in minutes of the bite, so I rushed him to the hospital where I had the emergeny staff amputate his arm. I sure am glad I was there to stop the venom from flowing through his body. Evey Brattler on my property is gone now, thanks to me and my shovel.

you guys know what you are? those of you about the bull rattler crosses? you guys are nothing but sick jerks, that think you are funny but are not. you are cruel and mean.

>>I caught it at first just to look at it when I noticed it has cuts and scratches on its body below it's vent and on the tail.
>>One cut has torn the skin and the flesh underneath had been exposed, but has now dried out and is hard to the touch.This is further down on the tail. Other than this it is squirmy and not too thin.Right now I have it in a temporary container. I had thought of attempting to rehabilate and shelter it until it warms up in spring and then release it in a good habitat area. Or to take it to one of the nature centers,but I'm not sure they will care for it.(Garters are common here) I love reptiles as much as the fuzzy animals and would like to give this little guy a chance. But I would like to get some advice.
>>Thanks for reading.

If at all possible I would suggest a trip to the vet for some antibiotic shots and perhaps have the snake evaluated to see it it will actually needed stitches or not.

Daily soaks in warm water for 15-20 minutes will help soften up the hardened area and keep it a bit pliable. If you have chlorhexidine you can dilute that (1 tsp. to 1 cup of water) to help wash the wound area out every day. I often don't like using neosporin on deep wounds as it can help hold in bacteria sometimes. House the snake on paper towels to help keep the wound from picking up any new debris. Give it plenty of hiding areas and a decent sized water dish. Injuries create stress on animals that take up a lot of energy that would be needed to survive hibernation therefore I would not suggest hibernating it at all except as a last resort. I would suggest trying to overwinter it yourself (unless a nature center is willing to take it), feeding it earthworms, waxworms, fish (minnows, rosy reds, and guppies rather than gold fish), frog tadpoles, small frogs, and you may even get it to take some thawed out pinky/fuzzy mice. Keep in mind that with flesh wounds of this nature when the snake sheds its skin it will reopen the surface area of the injured site (kinda like picking at a scab). It is very important to keep the snake in clean surroundings during these early stages of the healing. With each subsequent shed, the flesh will be less and less raw and more and more scar tissue. This process may take 3-4 months. I had a garter very nearly cut in half that managed to survive and be released several months later completely healed. Garters will heal pretty fast but the key is they need to eat regularly and well and try to be kept as stress free as possible (handling only when treating the wound or cleaning the cage).
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Wyvern

Feeding baitfish that have been frozen is a better idea. Minnows, rosies, ect. still contain just as much Thiaminase as goldfish do. I believe guppies are safer, but don't quote me on that. Sometimes if you rub a fish on a live pinky, the garter will take that. Andy