Snake got away, roamed house -- ended up having a BAD day - advice please.

[GrapefruiTgirl]

Hi people! Admittedly I have not scanned every thread yet, but I will. Anyhow, here's the situation: I've had a beautiful black & olive female garter snake (Maritime or checkered?? Sirtalis Sirtalis maybe?) for about a month now, and she had adjusted to her new home very nicely. She eats from my hand/fingers and has a very healthy appetite, and would climb up and come out to me when I offerred my hand to her. After she eats salamanders, she often lets me scrape the dried salamander gunk off of her face and neck :P I sometimes take her onto the bed so she can roam around while I laze there watching her. I've dozed off to awake and find her beside be, her head poking out from under the sheet beside me. Anyhow, one day I dozed off. Normally she doesn't 'hop' off the bed, I guess she doesn't want to jump, but she did this day it seems, and when I awoke she was gone. I searched frantically and found her quite stuck to a non-toxic glue board we HAD in the kitchen to control some darned mice we had in the kitchen. I immediately got baby oil and (as gently as I frantically could) freed her from the glue board with relative ease and I'm sure quite painlessly. I then washed her with warm water and lightly oiled her to be sure any remaining sticky stuff would go away (there was none that I could tell) and allowed her to crawl through a fluffy towel to dry her.. Understandably she was quite perturbed and distraught once I got her free from this, and likely scared half to death. I took her to the living room and was examining and comforting her, and in the agitated state she was in, she was quite jumpy and to make the matter worse, jerked herself out of my grip, falling to the floor (about 3 feet down) I picked her up, resumed what I was doing, and soon after figured I better put her in her home to recooperate. Since then she has been acting 'out of character', no longer coming up to my hand, and spending a lot of time either hiding, or lying pretty still for long periods of time. She doesn't roam around her home and climb the branches like she used to. She often shies away when I talk to her or try to interact with her. She still eats very well and looks very healthy, but I am very concerned --- do you folks think she's 'pissed' at me, scared of me now, psychologically injured, or maybe just 'in a mood' from which she will recover and return to normal? I miss her usual adventurous, curious ways. It's been about a week now since all this. Thanks so much for your feedback.

[adamanteus]

Hi Sasha. Snakes don't react to this form of handling in the same way as other (mammalian) pets. They don't enjoy or seek out human companionship, they just tolerate it (sometimes!)

Their understanding of 'interaction' is different from ours.....the sticky board, clean-up operation, examnination and comforting will have felt like a sustained attack to her. So 'yes', you have scared her and taught her to avoid human contact. It may take her some time to re-adjust and become bold again. As long as she is physically unharmed, all will be well.

I would advise keeping handling to a necessary minimum, and certainly never leave a snake to roam unsupervised.

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, Sasha
I'd say about 19 days till she happy again

[GrapefruiTgirl]

Hello to both respondents, and thank you for your feedback.

Adamanteus, I am totally inclined to agree with you that she feels the entire episode, taken as a whole, was indeed one long unpleasant experience. And yes, I understand the differences in their relative sociability compared to usual pets.

I was impressed at how easily she initially got 'comfortable' with 'tolerating' my handling of her, so am saddened that this experience may have (hopefully only temporarily) taught her to avoid me.

She seems definitely to be physically unharmed. She's just much more shy and tentative in her interactions with me. Her appetite is great, and she's not a really picky eater, thankfully; she's a little piggy

Under normal circumstances, she NEVER gets to roam unsupervised, as our house is rather unsafe for most pets, let alone a snake.

I will give her time, and be patient, and hope for the best. I think she is actually preparing to shed soon. I'll keep you'se posted.

Thanks to you both!

[enigma200316]

hello and welcome........

[adamanteus]

Originally Posted by GrapefruiTgirl

I will give her time, and be patient, and hope for the best. I think she is actually preparing to shed soon.

She'll soon recover from the scare, as you say 'time and patience'....and of course food!

[GrapefruiTgirl]

Of course -- food :P she LOVES that stuff

[GrapefruiTgirl]

Well I am very happy--no, I'm delighted to report that Snaky is rapidly returning to her old self again, and is recovering just fine from her frightening experience about which I started this thread.
Part of her weird behaviour may have been coincidentally that she was starting to prepare to shed around when this event occurred, and she has now shed successfully.
She was quite active and curious this morning, paying a fair bit of attention to my hands, which is where she knows the food comes from
I had her out for a few minutes this morning, and she was quite at home with me, and she's since had a nice big Sunday brunch consisting of a pinky mouse and a half-dozen worms!
When I get a bit more daylight in here later, I'll try getting a couple decent pictures of her up on her warm rock, so you all can see her.

And thanks to everyone for their interest and advice.

[Lori P]

That's awesome to hear Sasha!!! :-) :-)

[enigma200316]

very kool Sasha!!!!! and when snakes get ready to shed they can act very funny, so glad to hear that the shed was a success, and all is well......