These common reptiles do some interesting things. In some populations males emit female pheremones. Males competing for mates expend their efforts on these tricky guys and then the female pheremone emitters "get lucky" more often with the females and conserve their genes more.
I usually tend to have one as a study-specimen. Usually individuals doing something so stupid they're probably going to be crow-food or road-kill pretty soon. They're active, always interested in what you're doing ( the current specimen is fascinated whenever I dump water in the toilet---he resides in an aquarium on the top of the toilet tank ).
As study-specimens they're easy to keep healthy if treated right. I don't handle captive reptiles any more than necessary. I look at 'em like keeping a fish that doesn't require a heavy leak-prone tank full of water. Something to study and enjoy esthetically. Where I live if there were any snakes to turn up they'd immediately be slaughtered by someone who is an obligate ophidiophobe so I don't get to see them wandering around in my yard. If I want to see any I have to keep captive specimens which is allowed in my state. Up to 3 specimens of non-protected/non-game/non-dangerous wildlife per conservation #.
I like snakes. Anyone who has no arms, legs and precious few friends but gets up every morning and goes out to "beat the world" has my vote. And yes, they do eat rodents. Mine just ate the legs and tail from a small rat I had to buy for my vendor-bought Nelson's milk snake ( it was still too big for her ) because my local pet store can't be bothered to keep frozen mice in-stock. The 25" garter snake ate the legs and the tail ( cut up in sections ) and seemed very happy to have had them.
It takes food from my fingers at the pulled-open corner of the top of the enclosure and almost always has to bite a finger once-or-twice just to make sure it's not missing some live prey. Yes, it's drawn blood. Not much, but some. I've never experienced any envenomation symptoms from the slightly-venomous saliva which is, as I understand it, rich in a common neurotransmitter which would already be something to which your body constantly exposes you---or that's what I read somewhere. Of course if enough of that gets into wounds in a small animal the balance in it's nervous system could be upset so it may struggle less violently with less chance of injury to the snake predating the small prey or less chance of it staging an escape.
They may also be poisonous ( they eat amphibian prey which may exude toxins from skin glands and these can be present in the flesh of their predators ). So if you're an obligate ophidiophobe and hoe some poor garter snake to death in your garden don't get all "ethical-hunter" and decide to eat what you kill. You might get the same sort of nasty surprise your dog got when you weren't keeping it on the leash when it ate that toad before you could catch up to it and stop it.
The worst thing garter snakes will generally do to you if handled in a state of agitation is to deposit some really malodorous musk on your hands. Unless you're a highly unusual individual you're probably not going to enjoy that very much. Depending on the individual you'll also probably get some minor lacerations from defensive bites though in some cases I've picked up individuals to take a closer look and had them act as-if they'd been captive-raised and were used to being handled. Like anyone else there are individual temperaments. But if you have a child fascinated with snakes they should be warned that if they catch a garter snake the're probably going to be bitten. An "exciting" experience if one is not used to it. Also one calling for the tetanus vaccinations to be up-to-date.
These common reptiles do some interesting things. In some populations males emit female pheremones. Males competing for mates expend their efforts on these tricky guys and then the female pheremone emitters "get lucky" more often with the females and conserve their genes more.
I usually tend to have one as a study-specimen. Usually individuals doing something so stupid they're probably going to be crow-food or road-kill pretty soon. They're active, always interested in what you're doing ( the current specimen is fascinated whenever I dump water in the toilet---he resides in an aquarium on the top of the toilet tank ).
As study-specimens they're easy to keep healthy if treated right. I don't handle captive reptiles any more than necessary. I look at 'em like keeping a fish that doesn't require a heavy leak-prone tank full of water. Something to study and enjoy esthetically. Where I live if there were any snakes to turn up they'd immediately be slaughtered by someone who is an obligate ophidiophobe so I don't get to see them wandering around in my yard. If I want to see any I have to keep captive specimens which is allowed in my state. Up to 3 specimens of non-protected/non-game/non-dangerous wildlife per conservation #.
I like snakes. Anyone who has no arms, legs and precious few friends but gets up every morning and goes out to "beat the world" has my vote. And yes, they do eat rodents. Mine just ate the legs and tail from a small rat I had to buy for my vendor-bought Nelson's milk snake ( it was still too big for her ) because my local pet store can't be bothered to keep frozen mice in-stock. The 25" garter snake ate the legs and the tail ( cut up in sections ) and seemed very happy to have had them.
It takes food from my fingers at the pulled-open corner of the top of the enclosure and almost always has to bite a finger once-or-twice just to make sure it's not missing some live prey. Yes, it's drawn blood. Not much, but some. I've never experienced any envenomation symptoms from the slightly-venomous saliva which is, as I understand it, rich in a common neurotransmitter which would already be something to which your body constantly exposes you---or that's what I read somewhere. Of course if enough of that gets into wounds in a small animal the balance in it's nervous system could be upset so it may struggle less violently with less chance of injury to the snake predating the small prey or less chance of it staging an escape.
They may also be poisonous ( they eat amphibian prey which may exude toxins from skin glands and these can be present in the flesh of their predators ). So if you're an obligate ophidiophobe and hoe some poor garter snake to death in your garden don't get all "ethical-hunter" and decide to eat what you kill. You might get the same sort of nasty surprise your dog got when you weren't keeping it on the leash when it ate that toad before you could catch up to it and stop it.
The worst thing garter snakes will generally do to you if handled in a state of agitation is to deposit some really malodorous musk on your hands. Unless you're a highly unusual individual you're probably not going to enjoy that very much. Depending on the individual you'll also probably get some minor lacerations from defensive bites though in some cases I've picked up individuals to take a closer look and had them act as-if they'd been captive-raised and were used to being handled. Like anyone else there are individual temperaments. But if you have a child fascinated with snakes they should be warned that if they catch a garter snake the're probably going to be bitten. An "exciting" experience if one is not used to it. Also one calling for the tetanus vaccinations to be up-to-date.
I brake4snakes.