# Met a Snake Today!



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I came home and a wee little snake was sitting on top of my bushes  I thought immediately that it might be a pet snake so set to catching it to inquire about. 

In Florida, most snakes are able to and will strike to harm. Here, this snaky didn't even qualm about us freaking out around him (even a wee snake, due to where I'm from, makes me feel like my pets aren't safe) nor catching him (I know how to catch a snake safely for removal/relocation). 

After verifying no nearby neighbors lost a wee cutie we let him go near the grainery. The only place with trees and vines haha. I was just so surprised! He came to sun on my bushes I assume, but I live where the sun doesn't shine bright. I was so worried my rat smells attracted him and again thinking of all the venomous snakes in Florida...we don't mess around there. 

Anyway. Here he is before his release back out, hopefully for good. He was tiny and beautiful and the apartment manager called him Fluffy. It almost made me want a garter snake, his temperament was so wonderful. 
https://m.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/13883205377/
https://m.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/14070285854/



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## cammipooh (Apr 26, 2014)

Awe! 

Love, Cameron and Sneezes


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## CleverRat (Mar 9, 2014)

Aww it's so cute. I'm not sure if it's a garter snake cuz it doesn't have the top stripe. Maybe it's a young garter snake?


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## bloomington bob (Mar 25, 2014)

Aww very nice - my mom once had a dog named Fluffy


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## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

I _*love*_ snakes, especially garters, Northern red-bellied snakes and wormsnakes. I had a corn snake, he was very sweet. He'd slither up to the side of the tank when I'd walk by and if I opened the lid he'd streeeetch up to meet my hand. He passed away too soon. But I wont own anymore that eat rats or mice, I just can't bring myself to do that. 

Maybe one day I'll have a red-bellied or wormsnake, maybe even a garter, but I couldn't feed it mice.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I didn't think it was a garter, to be honest.

This is all Ohio species: http://www.cnah.org/pdf_files/1754.pdf

It's head was clearly fatter than its body...does that make it a rat snake ?


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## Jessiferatu (Apr 30, 2014)

Very cool! Every once in a while we get snakes in the yard, usually little garters. We have woods behind us so I guess they stop by and then go back in. Always fun to see them.


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## Gannyaan (Dec 7, 2012)

Wow he's really beautiful! He looks like a baby  


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## bloomington bob (Mar 25, 2014)

Hard to say - he does look quite a bit like one per the photo in the guide


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## Gannyaan (Dec 7, 2012)

I'm kind of in love with that "smooth green snake" in that Ohio guide you posted.... Wow! So pretty! Also, they specialize in eating invertebrates, so no need to feed them mice!!!! I wonder if they can be kept?  


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I'm sure they can be though they're probably all wild-caught instead of captive-bred. There are a few snakes that live off snails, worms, and fish but the opinion on keeping these / feeding that varies and of course asking often gets you attacked - "if you can't stand feeding your pet what it I supposed to have and try to make-do, you shouldn't have it!" Blah. 

This snake, whatever it was, was absolutely calm. With me panicking, my dog barking, and us flitting about an disturbing it trying to catch it without touching it (via boxes and a grabber stick) it never struck and it hardly cared when we finally just grabbed it even in such a delicate position (from above/behind just behid the jaw!). 


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## artgecko (Nov 26, 2013)

Nice looking snake! We don't have a ton of nice looking native snakes here in Georgia, mostly rats, corns, some eastern kings, and venomous species. Good for you for not freaking out and killing him... I know many people would. He was quite pretty in your pics.


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## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

I looked at the Ohio snakes and I thought he could be a garter, I could very well be wrong though. Still he's very pretty none the less


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## artgecko (Nov 26, 2013)

nanashi7- Although there's quite a bit of interest in some of the more rarely kept snakes (like vine snakes) that eat reptiles, snails, etc., it is very difficult to obtain a steady food source for them in captivity (i.e. no one breeds feeder anoles or snails) and it is not good to feed them wild ones due to possible pesticides, parasites, etc. The same with garters, except that many times they won't eat fish regularly and then you are stuck with a snake that refuses fish and needs other unobtainable food (snails, lizards, etc.) and then the owner rehomes the snake. The same with hognose, although they mostly eat amphibians in the wild, most switch them to mice because you would have to raise your own frogs / toads to feed them. 

I am sorry that you have seen people get fussed at, but I would assume it's better to warn folks ahead of time than let them think they'll be able to feed fish to the snake for its whole life and end up with a snake that refuses fish and have no other options to feed it. 

If you're really serious about wanting a non-rodent-eating snake, maybe look into raising your own feeders (snails, lizards, etc.) and see if you can get a steady food supply, at that point, if you got one raised on those feeders, you should be good to go. 

I think garters are really neat animals, but I don't want to deal with the feeding issues, so I haven't kept any myself. Asian vine snakes are also awesome, but almost all are wild caught and again, feed only on anoles and small reptiles.. But man, what a cool display snake that would make!


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