Scores of Hungry Garter Snakes!

About two months ago while I was walking around the pond, our dog Pepper started barking and running in circles around something on the ground! When I walked up, Pepper grabbed the thing in his mouth and shook it viciously until I yelled for him to stop. When he did, I saw that the thing was a very big garter snake! The scared garter snake was ready to strike at anything that moved. By the time I had it safely in a home that I fixed for it on Critter Corner, I had been bitten twice! As I closed the lid to the snake’s new home, I saw the reptile had a cut on its side from where Pepper had grabbed her! Feeling sorry for the snake, I took her out and wrapped the cut with a piece of tissue and tape. After a few days, the cut was healed, and I removed the bandage.

The garter snake was doing very well now, and without its bandage I noticed that she had an unusually long lump in her belly. At first, I thought that she just had eaten something recently before I caught her, but when the lump continued to stay in the one spot, I realized that she was probably carrying babies! It was exciting to think of having baby garter snakes on Critter Corner.

I continued feeding and caring for the snake, and slowly the lump in her belly grew bigger. We were going to be gone for a week at Hillsboro Family Camp, so I put enough food in with the snake to last until we got back. When we returned, I looked in the snake’s pen and there were tons of baby garter snakes all over the place in the tank! It was getting dark, and when I shone the light in the tank, I saw a whole lot of snakes in the log tunnel!

After I showed everyone the snakes, I tried to feed the hungry reptiles with earth worms, little toads, baby frogs, and tiny insects. A few of them ate, and when it got too dark to see, I decided to feed and count the rest of them the next day.

The following day after church, I counted and fed every one of the baby garter snakes. There were 51 of them! 

I kept every one of the thin 3-inch-long snakes for about a week. Then I let 36 of them go, leaving me with a mere 15.

I have had my garter snakes for about a month now, and they have already grown two inches! Feeding them is a big job. 

When I feed them their small fish, frogs, toads and insects, I must stand and watch because sometimes they almost eat each other! It’s fun to watch them eat.

I hope to keep my garter snakes until fall. Then I will let them go. Maybe next year I will catch some of the same ones when they are bigger. I wonder if they will remember me.

~Samuel