A disturbing trend, really disturbing

[Zephyr]

I think that to take a gravid female from the wild, and be inclined to keep her babies shows a certain level of knowledge in the subject itself. My friend Abby said her friend caught a gravid garter snake and released it and its babies once they were born. To want to care for the snake, nonetheless identify it as gravid, requires a certain level of skill and knownledge in the first place.
Also, I think that the most crucial point to taking gravid snakes is making sure the area you're taking them from can endure the loss of both the ma and her babies. Henceforth, it's everything but responsible to go to an area with only a few garters and swipe the biggest, fattest female you can find. (The exception to this would be at some one's house or on there land, where the snake would either be killed by the home/land owner or meet Mr. Choppy the lawnmower.)

[Stefan-A]

I think that to take a gravid female from the wild, and be inclined to keep her babies shows a certain level of knowledge in the subject itself. My friend Abby said her friend caught a gravid garter snake and released it and its babies once they were born. To want to care for the snake, nonetheless identify it as gravid, requires a certain level of skill and knownledge in the first place.
Also, I think that the most crucial point to taking gravid snakes is making sure the area you're taking them from can endure the loss of both the ma and her babies. Henceforth, it's everything but responsible to go to an area with only a few garters and swipe the biggest, fattest female you can find. (The exception to this would be at some one's house or on there land, where the snake would either be killed by the home/land owner or meet Mr. Choppy the lawnmower.)

I couldn't disagree with you more. Even if a person is capable of identifying a gravid garter, doesn't mean that the person knows the first thing about keeping, caring for and raising garters or is otherwise suitable for the job. On the contrary, it shows a fairly careless and selfish attitude to do so, even if the person may just be well-meaning and naive.

I also disagree with the point you're making about only taking from areas, that can endure the loss of the female and the offspring. Who here can honestly tell (and I do mean estimate for real, not just guess) whether or not the population can endure it? That one person isn't the only one catching or killing snakes and it adds up quickly. That's one way to reduce a healthy population to a level where it starts to collapse on its own. And like I pointed out in the other thread, catching a gravid female does as much damage to the population, as killing it. If it's about feeling good about having saved a snake's life, then that's something I think is legit, but that's not a real favour. Leaving it alone and hoping that it will escape detection or will avoid being run over by the lawnmower, is already a much safer alternative. Maybe even better than relocation.