Wild caught

[SquirmyPug]

I was working in a customer's yard and found a red rat/eastern corn snake(Pantherophis guttatus). If I left it there, the customer would have killed it so I decided to take it home with me. It was very deep in shed so I wanted to keep it until it finished shedding so that it could see when relocated.

After it finished shedding I wanted to try feeding a F/T mouse..I didn't at all expect it to eat, but it did! So now I'm wanting to keep it as a pet...

My question is, what does everyone think about keeping a wild caught snake? I know most people don't like wild caught that are shipped and sold, but what about just finding one and keeping it? I'm curious to know what people think. I feel bad because it will have a much smaller home than it did before... but it will be safe and always have food and water...

I will add pictures as I have time today while at work.

[SquirmyPug]

Here are a few pictures. If I'm able to I'll add a video of it eating later.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

[JRLongton]

That's a tough call and depends heavily on your own sense of morality.

Personally, I don't think most snakes that are well kept suffer in any respect by being in captivity. Frankly, I think some species, such as BPs, are as close to happy as a snake can be living in captivity.

That said, you've moved this guy from his home. If released, he'd be going into a strange environment, where hides, food, and water are unknown. If your own backyard is safe, then that may be an option. Then he could be your own backyard snake!

Maybe what you could do, is try keeping him for time and see how he does. If he sheds, eats, and behaves like a healthy and unstressed snake, maybe keeping him is preferable to releasing him into who know's what.

I'd be curious to hear what the rest of the community thinks though.

[SquirmyPug]

That's a tough call and depends heavily on your own sense of morality.

Personally, I don't think most snakes that are well kept suffer in any respect by being in captivity. Frankly, I think some species, such as BPs, are as close to happy as a snake can be living in captivity.

That said, you've moved this guy from his home. If released, he'd be going into a strange environment, where hides, food, and water are unknown. If your own backyard is safe, then that may be an option. Then he could be your own backyard snake!

Maybe what you could do, is try keeping him for time and see how he does. If he sheds, eats, and behaves like a healthy and unstressed snake, maybe keeping him is preferable to releasing him into who know's what.

I'd be curious to hear what the rest of the community thinks though.

I have a wooded area around my house so it's "safe". There's already a population of snakes here though. There's also several cats.. and like you said, it would be in a new area so it has no hides or anything. We'll see how things go!

[JRLongton]

Yeah, cats. I have two that I love dearly, but they are killers.

[55fingers]

My first snake was a wild caught plains garter snake. Had him for about a year. He never settled down, would always musk and try to escape when holding him.

With him, our cats had caught him and brought him inside and we thought he wouldn't survive cause he was acting injured though he ended up being fine. Personally, I wouldn't keep a wild caught snake unless it couldn't be released. But honestly I see no problem with you keeping him as long as you provide proper care, which I'm sure you are.

[Cheesenugget]

I am not a fan of keeping wild caught native species. If it was an invasive species, the choices are clear: euthanize per Department of Wildlife request or keep it as a pet. That is what we did with a Cuban tree frog inside my home. Little guy grew in weight, eats well, had a missing leg so he would no longer have to worry about escaping from death again. But he will never be allowed out.

Lets say your wild caught snake did not carry any parasites or disease. In a bigger perspective, you took away his ability to do what he does best: hunt pests/rodents thus helping (no matter how little) keeping the rodent population down, contributing its genes if it survives long enough to breed to further increase survivability in its young or end up food for another predator that itself could need it to feed itself or its young. I know it sounds dramatic but if we are saying one's life matter that much in captivity, then same should be applied of its importance in the wild.

Look at this way too: there are thousands of captive bred corn snakes available. One of the driving reasons to captive breeding is so we don't have to take from the wild population.

It is hard to decide for our snakes that captivity is better.

With all that said, the choice is yours. I won't judge you for it as long as you are taking good care of it. I just want to think it through before you get more attached to it. That snake is kind of cute so I would have been tempted to do the same lol.

[Bogertophis]

Not sure what the temperatures are there in Florida, but this is still winter & lots of variation anyway...it's not a good time to release a snake in a new place,
& since his place of origin isn't an option, I'd at least wait a month or more for the weather to stabilize & warm up...right now he might be too chilly to find
adequate shelter...snakes have to learn their way around, so in relocating them they need all the help they can get as far as luck. They'll also be competing
for food with snakes that may already live in whatever area you select, so re-locations are always a gamble for the snake to do well. When I've relocated
snakes in the past, it was in the desert where water & food were scarce, so I made sure they were fed & hydrated before putting them in a new location, &
always with the temperatures in mind.

As already mentioned, I would also consider his reaction to being in captivity & weigh that heavily: he may be restless & rub his nose raw trying to get out.
If that happens, I'd favor relocating sooner rather than later. He (-?) is a lovely corn snake that may or may not make a good pet: they aren't rare in the wild
(thankfully) but also, you can buy a healthy c/b normal corn for about what you'll pay to get his stool checked (I'd assume he has parasites needing treatment).

I won't think you are terrible for keeping him if he adapts well to captivity & if all his needs are met (stool check), nor will I blame you if you'd rather release
him when you can. As I've mentioned before, my second snake was a corn snake, I've kept some for many years, bred some in the past, & currently have 5.
They're great pets, & he's handsome, but I'd leave it up to him (or her) to make your decision in his best interests.

[SquirmyPug]

Cheese, that's why I asked. I want to know what others think. I had to relocate to keep it from being killed, I'm not sure releasing it will give it a good shot at survival since it has no hides or anything and there are lots of predators.

I originally planned on letting it go around my house and still might. Just thinking things through.

Thanks for the replies so far everyone.

[SquirmyPug]

Bogertophis I caught it last Friday when it was warm, today it's been cold again (34f this morning) so I know I wouldn't want to release it today. Lots of things to think about