Attack of the 6 foot garter snake

[Valentine Pirate]

So Saturday night I got a call from an aunt of mine in town while I was working. A friend of hers had made a facebook post about a 6 foot snake being in their cable box, and being the only "snake person" she knows, she thought I might be interested. I haven't been out and about in a while, but I've never seen a garter in the area more than 4'-5' long, so I thought I might get lucky and find an escaped or abandoned pet (free ultramel? ). Got off work about a half hour later and went to the address she gave me. When I arrived the folks explained that they hadn't actually looked in their box yet, their neighbor had told them the cable guy had seen the snake, closed up immediately, and took off with a proclamation of never coming back to a place where there were 6 foot snakes in the boxes.

They showed me the box/tower, and it was already loosened up. Lift up the lid aaaaand...

A somewhat startled 18" garter was coiled neatly on top of a lege

My aunt's friends were pretty underwhelmed, but took a few pictures. The woman actually held the little guy for a while! Even with it not being an exotic, it was fun for me. I don't have the time anymore to go run around and catch them all, so it was pretty nice to admire one of the local herps. Being able to educate a couple strangers on snakes was enjoyable for me to, and I hope I get to do it again.

You guys have any good "herper on call" stories?

[Mike41793]

6 foot garter = 18" garter??? Lololol

The other day i saw a juvie black rat snake in my yard that was like 2 feet long. Nothing really exciting though to go along with it lol

[John1982]

Reminds me of that 500 pound catfish I caught.. Almost lost an arm in the battle!

[Valentine Pirate]

Reminds me of that 500 pound catfish I caught.. Almost lost an arm in the battle!

500? I thought it was 650

[Pampho85]

Lol, exactly what my dad said before when he started making me mow the lawn, 'There's a HUGE 6-7ft long snake in the backyard, it's your job to mow the lawn now!' I never knew 8-9 inches resulted in 6-7 ft? Haha

I volunteer at my local zoo in the reptile house, and I found it funny when some middle aged man came up to me and started talking about the 46 ft long snake his friend had, so I asked him what species is it and he said ball python. ._.

[Argentra]

Yep, don't you just love people whose size judgement goes out the window when they see a snake?

My story - When we lived in El Paso, TX (and believe me we are GLAD to be out) where my mother still lives, I got a call one weekend morning from said mother. Now, let it be known that my mom does know about snakes. She may not be a huge fan, but she knows harmless from venomous. So when I hear her shrieking at me that she caught a snake in her kitchen with 'brown coloring and a diamond like pattern' I was certainly curious. So I go over to her apartment and my nervous mother points to the tall garbage can. I look in... and find a thoroughly panicked Texas Rat snake trying like mad to get out. Turns out, mom saw this little guy (about thumb thickness, so a youngster) on her windowsill and only registered the color and pattern.
I picked the poor little guy up and showed him to her, at which point she stated that she felt like an idiot. I said 'Hey, it's an honest mistake for a quick glance in the morning. At least you didn't tell me it was 10 feet long.' I took the snake to some herper friends of mine who said they would see if he would eat in captivity (to test if he was wild or not, as apparently wild rat snakes are very picky eaters) and if not they would release it into a good spot near the mountains.

That's my favorite story, but as the 'Snake Lady' in every apartment complex I've lived in (including those in Denver) I have been called to snake and lizard sightings where the claims were pretty wild.

[gsarchie]

Here's an under-reaction (if that's a word) story for you. We lived in the small town of Medicine Park, OK, from when I was five until I turned eight or nine. When I was six I was out playing in the backyard and came across a small snake, which was nothing special, as I used to find lizards, snakes and scorpions on a regular basis. I went inside, grabbed an empty glass jar, and caught the little one, placing it into the jar. I took it to my dad and showed him, at which point he asked me if the snake had bitten me, to which I replied that it had not. He the said something to the effect of "Good, that's a copperhead."

Based on what I know now, namely that my dad is not a snake species identification expert, it was probably not a copperhead but one of the many non-venomous species of snakes found in Oklahoma. I don't remember what it looked like though, so who knows, maybe it was!

I've loved everyone else's stories so far, so here's to hoping that more get posted!