I've had a green and black Garter snake for about ten years now (he just won't die
) - but after a fair few bites I've been scared to handle him. Whenever I get him out of his tank for cleaning I use a pair of Thinsulates
Sad I know considering how small he is, but nothing can stop the shock when he lunges, and then doesn't let go
Is there anything that can be done to make him more tame? Or is he too stuck in his old ways? Also, he's completely nocturnal - is this usual?
Did take some pics of him and his newly furnished lair (complete with red brothel light) but haven't got my camera cable with me
Garter snakes are quite notorious for either being vicious, or very tame. Probably not much you can do, apart from suck it up. The way I figure, the more it bites you, the more it'll begin to realize that biting gets it nowhere. The most important part is to get over the 'jumpy' bit. If he bites you, and you jump back, you could pull his teeth out and do more damage to the snake than he could to you.
Gloves or something are fine for getting over the shock, I have a pair of gardening gloves in the background of one of the pics I put up, which are now only used for the costa rican boa, because she's a little snappy. Gardening gloves are probably a little heavy duty for a garter, but you get the idea.
The best way to break him out of his biting habits is just to keep handling him. Handle him as much as possible. It'll get easier once you get used to the bites, but hopefully, it might stop the striking. Also, it might work better to lay his food down and make him come get it, if possible. I found when I was strike-feeding my JCP's, they were more aggressive to me as well. Maybe that's because they were babies, but it's worth a try.
Do Boas bite, or do they purely constrict until they know you've snuffed it? I wouldn't want a 9-10ft snake clamping on to my face :-/
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Depends if they want to eat you or not. If it's a feeding strike, it'll probably bite you just to get hold of you, wrap the body round and then constrict until you suffocate. Then (try to) eat you. If they're just angry at you, they'll probably bite and let go. Either way, it's much better to have another person there. I've never been bitten by anything larger than 6ft, and I wouldn't want to. Although it is funny watching a teeny tiny hognose strangling your wrist to 'kill it'.
Usually, the bigger they are, the less scared they are of you. This means they are less likely to bite out of anger. Until they get REALLY big (20ft+), they probably won't try to eat you either, so most medium-large snakes are quite tame.
