Hi, I am caring for a garter snake which is my first experience with them. She has gone from almost affectionate (she would come to me when I put my hand in the enclosure and crawl into my hand and rub on me, really, I never had to initiate picking her up) to interpreting my skin as "bad". She won't crawl onto it for anything now,which is amusing if I pick her up with one glove on, she won't leave it, and tends to snap at me if I try to touch her. She's eating fine, seems to be healthy now, compared to when I first got her she has come miles. I probably am going to have to release her shortly, but I was interested in another garter, until this one decided it didn't like me anymore.

So I'm curious, how much does everyones snakes seem to "like" them? Are there tricks to taming them? Does everyone get bit time to time? Should I be so concerned about what the silly snakes feelings are towards me? For the first week or so I never tried to pick it up, it just came to me and crawled in my hand. I think it decided it didn't like me after I put it into some water to make sure mites were off, and when I picked her up my hands were wet and she couldn't move at all. She was stuck from friction. After that I had to pick her up on my own (gently of course), and now she just runs and bites.