Just found a garter

[garfield411]

Hello everyone. I joined this forum because Im trying to keep a garter snake that I found on a sidewalk near my mother's house. It is a brown garter I believe, it is approx. 4 1/2 in long and as thick as a coffee straw. I dont know how long it was outside in the cold I live in NYC. My mother got some frozen raw fish and cut it up into minced sized pieces. It didnt want to eat it, I also took a container lid and put some water in it to see if it would drink it. I would like to keep it alive so I can keep it but dont know how long it will live since i dont know when was the last time it ate or drank. Can someone one give me some details on what to do. ASAP! Thanking you in advance. I also got it resting in a container on top of my cable box to keep it warm.

[Stefan-A]

A good place to start is our care sheet. It answers most of the basic questions about keeping garters. Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet

Drinking shouldn't be a problem. As long as it has water, it will drink when it needs to. As for eating, that may take a couple of weeks or more after coming in from the cold.

Could you post a picture of the snake? That would make giving more specific advice easier.

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Welcome to the forum! Are you sure you have a garter snake and not a dekay snake? Can we see a pic because if you have a dekay snake it won't eat fish. Either way if it is a dekay or a garter it should eat worms and small slugs. Can we see a pic of the little guy?

[guidofatherof5]

A photo would be great. Does it look like this?

BioKIDS - Kids' Inquiry of Diverse Species, Critter Catalog, Storeria dekayi, brown snake

[Selkielass]

The cable box as a temporary warming spot is a great idea!
Make sure he can get away from the warm spot if he'd wants too though- maybe have one corner in the cable box, and the rest setting on a book.
For a little guy like this, a plastic shoebox or storage tote is plenty, if not great for viewing. Paper towel or newspaper substrate, jar lid water dish, plastic or foam container w a door for a hide, and if there is room, another plastic container filled with damp shredded paper towel or sphagnum moss.

Snipped up night crawlers, tiny back yard under worms or slugs and snails are most likely to be familiar and accepted.
If it is a dekay brown snake, it will avoid the heat and light. They are nocturnal and like temps relatively cool. (70'sa I think.)
He may need time to adjust after his winter nap.

[ConcinusMan]

I'm thinking it's probably not a garter

[Invisible Snake]

Hello everyone. I joined this forum because Im trying to keep a garter snake that I found on a sidewalk near my mother's house. It is a brown garter I believe, it is approx. 4 1/2 in long and as thick as a coffee straw. I dont know how long it was outside in the cold I live in NYC. My mother got some frozen raw fish and cut it up into minced sized pieces. It didnt want to eat it, I also took a container lid and put some water in it to see if it would drink it. I would like to keep it alive so I can keep it but dont know how long it will live since i dont know when was the last time it ate or drank. Can someone one give me some details on what to do. ASAP! Thanking you in advance. I also got it resting in a container on top of my cable box to keep it warm.

In which borough did you find the snake?

[ConcinusMan]

@ garfield: Brown snakes (Storeria dekayi) look a lot like a garter and are usually the first snakes out. Cold weather doesn't bother them. In fact, they prefer cool temperatures. Keeping them doesn't require heat and it should be avoided. Room temp is fine. This is a northern brown snake:



If that's what you have as long as it's not below freezing outside you could let it go and it will be fine. Doesn't matter if it's cold. They are sometimes active when there's still snow on the ground.

[garfield411]

Hi thanks for responding. Unfortunately the snake died this morning. To guido it did look like that it was just very small. To invisible snake I found near the VA hospital in the bronx. To Concinnusman I dont think it would of survived too long outside there is no vegetation or worms, I think the rats would of eaten it, but maybe I will get a brown one since I dont have to worry too much about the temp for it to survive, I just happened to see it just as an old man was about to step on it thinking it was a worm. Thanks everyone for trying to help. I had garter snakes as a kid and was hoping I could keep it.

[ConcinusMan]

Sorry to hear that. Sometimes snakes that are injured or dying fail to go back to, or stay in their hibernaculum. Instead they come out at odd times and are found outside exposed in the cold weather.