How to Keep a Garter Snake

OK, everyone out there who's afraid of snakes, skip this post. You know who you are. But if you find them interesting, I'll pass along everything I learned after several years of keeping garter snakes.

First, you need a garter snake. Unless somebody else hands you theirs, this means you need to be outside where they live. It could be your own yard, or in the tall grass next to a lake. Once you spot one, be quick. They are. Reach ahead of where they are now because that's where they'll be by the time your hand gets there. Sometimes it helps to have a child along, because they seem to know how to do this. You need to pounce firmly enough to pin the snake and gently enough not to squish it. While somewhat sturdy, they can be damaged, like any of us.

A note of caution here: be sure you know two things before you grab your snake. First, that it actually is a garter snake. Misidentification tends to cause unpleasant surprises. Second, make sure your particular garter snake is not endangered and/or protected. Those with red stripes instead of yellow, for example, are no-nos. No excuses. If you can't get this part right, you can quit reading right now because you shouldn't be having a snake.

Unless you grasp it right behind the head, it will turn and bite you. If this fact deters you, quit reading this: you are not the proper person to be keeping a garter snake. Their teeth are hardened cartilage, capable of giving a scratch, but not of inflicting serious injury, unless you let the scratch get infected! Their mouths are dirty, germ-wise, so soap and water is a good idea, as soon as possible. For you, that is. They will kill your snake. They have no fangs and no venom, and are very easily identified from other snakes if you have any sense at all, so infection is one of only two things you have to worry about.

The other is that they will poop on you when you first pick them up, and for as long afterward while handling your pet as it takes your snake to learn you are not an enemy. Well, besides the keeping it in a cage thing, but nobody said snakes are smart. Snake poop is gooey and strongly foul smelling: its main defense against predators. Like you. It's the snake's way of telling you that you really don't want to eat anything that tastes like this! Here again, soap and water is a good idea. Maybe lemon juice too, after, to cut the smell, or perhaps even salt.

Once caught, you need something in which to safely transport your new pet to its new home. It needs something completely without holes, since they are escape artists extrordinaire. A cloth sack large enough to knot at the top is ideal, something like a pillow case. Preferably an old but intact one, secured with the blessings of the owner. It's best not to get into too much trouble before your venture is even started. Another option is a coffee can with a secure lid with a couple small holes punched in the top for ventilation, although I've often found that while you are stuffing one end of the snake into the can, the other end is busy escaping on the other side.

Be gentle any time you are handling your snake, regardless of how it treats you. (Hey, you want affection? Try a puppy!) They are muscular and tough, but can be injured by squishing or in a fall. Support its body with your arms and hands, and always offer it another hand in front of it in the direction it's moving. Never poke it or try to pry open its mouth. Don't bother talking to it: snakes are deaf. While they can't hear, they do feel vibrations. They will be cool to the touch when first picked up but warm to your body temperature as you handle it. Another time to avoid handling your snake is just after a meal, unless you want that partially digested slimy smelly meal deposited all over you. (Don't say you weren't warned!)

Keep your snake at a comfortable temperature on the way home. Avoid sunshine, but at the same time, don't stuff it in the cooler with the ice to keep it cool. If it's really cool, you can tuck it inside your shirt to keep it warm, assuming you have it in that pillowcase. (Coffee cans don't lend themselves easily to that use either.) That's as warm as it should ever get.

Once home, you have a choice of homes for it. There are fancy reptile cages, but they're for fancy reptiles. Your garter snake is a temperate beastie, not tropical, so home room temperature is just fine. No need for heat lamps or hot rocks. Room lighting is also just fine, so no need for fluorescent tubes or whatever. It's a ground dweller and swimmer, so no need for fancy branches since it won't climb, unless it gets into its teeny brain that the branch might help it escape. Why tempt it? What you want is really something in which to see your snake, something easily cleaned, and something which can keep messes away from everything else. My favorite is an aquarium, either a 10 or 15 gallon size.

But don't go thinking that the standard aquarium top will keep your snake inside. No sirree! Those have "escape here" written all over them. Measure your top, add 3 inches each way, and go to the local hardware store and get a piece of hardware cloth to those dimensions. Better get a tin snips while you're there unless one is already lurking in your basement or garage. Cut each corner (one way, not two per corner) in to the aquarium top (1 & 1/2" cuts if you measured according to directions) while the hardware cloth is laying on its top. Bend all four sides down snugly around the tank, and take those extra ends that you just made by making those cuts and fold them horizontally around the corners, snugly. If it lifts off too easily, crimp those edges a bit. It it sticks too much, loosen them up. A two-fisted rock on the top will discourage any garter snake from showing off its muscles too much.

You might take a metal file and smooth off the edges so nobody cuts their fingers lifting off the top or replacing it. Tin snips can leave sharp edges. Or heck, fold duct tape around the sharp parts, decorate it a little.

Inside the cage, you will need a couple sheets of newspaper. Here's the important part: use only black and white, no colored inks. This serves as a hiding place for your snake, a place to collect refuse (poop to you), and soak up spilled liquids. Like that refuse. Or what I'm going to describe next.

Your snake needs water, not just to drink, but to completely immerse and soak in, particularly just before shedding. A shallow Pyrex bowl, about 8" x 3", is what I liked best, since I could see through it to watch the action, and tell instantly when it was dirty. Your snake isn't finicky: it will poop wherever it wants, including in its water dish. Whatever you use, fill it so that it won't overflow with your snake inside.

The time to clean it is whenever it's not sparkling clear. How to clean it, or the rest of the aquarium, is important to the very survival of your snake. Avoid soaps and all chemicals. Many of them are toxic, and the residue lasts. Really, really lasts. Clean your bowl under running water, using your fingers to dislodge whatever needs it. Roll up your newspaper and replace it with new sheets. Now, since your cage has gotten spotted and grungy, take another couple pages of newsprint - B&W ONLY! - dampen them, and scrub your glass until it sparkles! It's one of the best kept secrets in the glass-cleaning-chemical business that the best glass cleaner is newsprint.

Once it's clean, put everything back in as it was before, including your snake, and - what? You did put your snake back in the knotted cloth bag while you cleaned its cage, didn't you? Better start hunting!

Garter snakes eat three things. First, small frogs and toads, but let's ignore those completely. They're having enough trouble surviving on their own without any help from hungry garters. Second, angle worms and nightcrawlers. These are easy to dig up and keep in your refrigerator in a proper moist medium. Just try not to gross out your fellow humans by being too blatant about it. Third, small fish and minnows. Even if you don't have your own yard, the latter are easily available at a bait shop. Feed one or two to your snake once or twice a week. If you pay attention to your snake's appetite, you'll know what's the right schedule. Warmer temperatures increase the appetite, and vice versa. Remove whatever is not eaten after about an hour.

I always had the most fun with minnows. I'd put a few in the water dish, and watch the snake go crazy hunting them. Leftovers got frozen for later meals, but only to be eaten after becoming fully thawed. I also learned to freeze them individually, since trying to pry frozen minnows apart was, well, best left undescribed. My garter snakes were so crazy about even thawed minnows that whenever I opened the cage top to drop them in I had to be careful to do it very quickly and remove my fingers before they struck. In handling them my fingers smelled like fish, which is how the snake identifies its food. They also, I suppose, looked somewhat like fish. At least they fit in a larger garter's mouth the same way a fish would. (Hey. I'm the last one to try to claim snakes are in any way smart!) I can vouch that it is a bit painful to try to remove a snake from your finger after it has started working its jaw back and forth up its length with it backward-angled teeth. They are made that way to keep the prey from escaping, once bitten. Having to pry one off is a bit hard on the poor snake as well.

Snakes grow by shedding the older smaller skin once the new larger one is completed inside it. The eye covering will turn milky, and it likely will spend a lot of time in its water bowl. Avoid handling it at this time, and don't bother feeding it either. Most snakes won't be hungry during a shed. At this time it will be useful to put a small rough rock in its cage to rub against to start peeling the old skin off, inside out like taking off a sock. A healthy snake will leave a single intact skin behind that you can remove and keep. You will note that they have a scale covering their eye, not movable lids or lashes, all of a single piece with the skin. Without the old worn, dirty skin, you snake will now be shiny and gleaming, and ready for a meal.

About the time of first frost you will need to make a decision: try to keep it alive over the winter? Or take it back to where you found it while it's still warm enough so it can return to its winter den? Garters don't hibernate, they estivate. Some of them don't do it very well inside a house, and die of respiratory disease. Outside they could fall to a predator or an ignorant fellow human. It's your choice.