BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

I found what I believe to be a water snake. It was in the mountains near the river. I was wondering if anyone can tell me what species of water snake it is. As well as if I can keep it as a pet and if so what I need. Thank you all in advance.

I'm pretty sure that that is not a water snake, looks like a garter to me. Dont take it from its home.

I would definitely advise releasing it.

It does look like a garter snake....most garter snakes will not eat in captivity and will die...

Put this in the OT forum/thread next time!

Really? I find that most garter snakes make excellent captives, and any I have had has fed vigorously on earthworms and feeder fish.

I would probably observe him for a few days, then release him back to his home.

Unfortunately, garter snakes do somewyat okay in captivity with a LOT of care, which propmt a lot of idiots around the Reno area to get them as pets. Collecting wildlife as pets is illegal in most states and municipalities because it's considered cruel and a depletion of natural resources, in this case, fauna.

As a matter of fact, just today, I saw a whole bunch of garters in a shallow lake in E. California, eating various bugs and swimming like mad. I captured a pretty one, no camera today unfortunately. It went right back into the water. It didn't even poo all over me.

The picture posted looks like a young garter snake, they get darker and more brilliantly-colored after a year or so.

Please let it go back to the wild.

KW

Thank you all for the words of advice. I think I'm going to let it go as you all advised.

It is illegal to keep wild animals as pets in Finland - another weird law but makes a lot of sense to me anyway...

Just interested - is there regulations/laws of keeping wild animals as pets in the US or Australia? I mean sure there are some, but I'm curious to know what kind.

Pretty little snake though and good thing you let him go.

It's not a garter, they're striped along the length of their body. What you've got is a gopher snake. They make great pets, fed on frozen thawed mice.
Edit: Though, with quite a few species of garters and the pattern a little fuzzy in the pic, it could be a checkered garter, but I'll still say gopher.

skinkee wrote::whistle: It is illegal to keep wild animals as pets in Finland - another weird law but makes a lot of sense to me anyway...

Just interested - is there regulations/laws of keeping wild animals as pets in the US or Australia? I mean sure there are some, but I'm curious to know what kind.

I think it's a safe "yes," on both locations. The laws vary here in the US, but sometimes it depends. You'd be on quite the quest to find out all of the laws.

KW

JWSR wrote:It's not a garter, they're striped along the length of their body. What you've got is a gopher snake. They make great pets, fed on frozen thawed mice.
Edit: Though, with quite a few species of garters and the pattern a little fuzzy in the pic, it could be a checkered garter, but I'll still say gopher.

Baby garters look remarkably similar to that. The gopher snakes I've caught as a kid have much longer heads, but babies may have shorter ones as well. I'm no snake expert, just have a lot of both of these kind in my area.

KW

well - i would just go buy a snake. get a good ball python or something. let the wild stay wild and find a good captive bread snake somewhere.

now, that said, i would take in a wild animal IF it needed help and IF i knew how to take care of it, but always with the intention of releasing it back to the wild.

I would put good money on that being a garter, not a gopher

I said, it could be, but I doubted it. It is definitely the checkered garter, Thamnophis marcianus. Not one of the most commonly found, T. sirtalis which has at least five sub-species from florida to California. All, with very prominent lateral stripes especilially the mid dorsal.

Since I'm now in the family of Talkaboutis Ignoramus in this area, have at it taxonomists.

KW