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Post by breezygardener on Dec 23, 2020 0:04:31 GMT -5
Over the years, at this time of year, we've rescued a few reptiles who, for whatever reason, found themselves out & about right before a deep freeze. A Box turtle, a fist-sized toad, a juvenile Black rat snake. And we successfully overwintered all of them & released them the following Spring.
Today, however, was my very first Eastern Worm Snake. Husband, who was moving some boxes of stuff down into the basement this afternoon, called me out before he nearly stepped on this poor tiny little snake (6"-8"). I picked it up, & at first thought it was dead, poor thing, since it was stiff as a board. But after a little while in the warmth of my hands, the cute little thing came slowly back to life & is now residing in a bucket of potting soil in our upstairs bathroom.
It's recovering nicely, & if I can keep the little devil alive, I see a little terrarium here in the next few days, at least until Spring.
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Post by breezygardener on Dec 23, 2020 14:58:06 GMT -5
Snakelet is a LOT livelier today, peering up at me from his temporary soil-filled bucket home. Our weather definitely precludes my being able to safely release him until Spring, so guess I'll pop out & get a small aquarium for him this weekend & will have to scavenge in the basement to try to locate the reptile light setup I bought when I rescued & overwintered a juvenile Black rat snake years ago. Have researched keeping Worm snakes, & apparently they do best between 70-80 degrees, so the light setup will be necessary.
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Post by martywny on Dec 23, 2020 17:11:33 GMT -5
They love hot rocks.
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Post by breezygardener on Dec 23, 2020 17:44:13 GMT -5
Worm snakes may not take advantage of a "hot rock" since they're primarily subterranean creatures, which is why they're rarely seen. Lord only knows why this one was out in the middle of my driveway in freezing weather. And it's definitely an Eastern Worm snake. It's semi-frozen state yesterday enabled me to examine it very closely for a positive i.d. The size, coloring, tiny head, & tiny eyes were unmistakable.
I'll most likely give it a rock & small log to make a cave, & perhaps a small plant. Most important will be several inches of clean, loose soil for burrowing. The snake was caked in our heavy red clay when I found it, which leaves me to believe it may have come from under our deck, but I'm certainly not going to subject it to those conditions if it has to spend the winter indoors.
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Post by emmsmommy on Dec 24, 2020 6:57:41 GMT -5
breezygardener, I've never heard of a worm snake. I did some searching and found info which said their diet is mainly worms and insects. What will you feed it? Kudos to you for rescuing it as I'm not so sure I could have. I can coexist with them outside (as long as it's not a copperhead) but I'm still a bit squeamish around them.
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Post by reuben on Dec 24, 2020 8:18:57 GMT -5
Nothing says "winter holidays" quite like an indoor snake.
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Post by binnylou on Dec 24, 2020 9:35:24 GMT -5
breezygardener,you have cats living in your house? What do they think about the snake?
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Post by pepperhead212 on Dec 24, 2020 11:54:51 GMT -5
I only saw eastern worm snakes a couple of times, way back in college, when I was playing around in the pine barrens. This area is supposed to be in their zone, but I've never seen them around here.
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Post by tom π on Dec 24, 2020 13:51:31 GMT -5
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Post by Wheelgarden on Dec 24, 2020 15:17:55 GMT -5
Worm snakes are numerous here. Raking leaves, we always see them.
We had a bit of a problem with mice a few years back, until they suddenly disappeared. Soon after, I saw a small, fat black snake poke his head out from under the fridge. I was cool with him, so I didn't mention it to anyone. Then, DW saw it, and I had to escort him outside. My resident snakes are still on the job out there, though.
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Post by breezygardener on Dec 24, 2020 17:29:14 GMT -5
I did some searching and found info which said their diet is mainly worms and insects. What will you feed it? It's main diet will most likely be earthworms, which I can find around here under logs & rocks & stuff even in the middle of winter. I'll just do the best I can since I really can't release it outside. In a few hours it's going to be in the teens here & the poor thing just wouldn't have enough time to dig in & hibernate. It would just freeze to death. At least I can try.
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Post by breezygardener on Dec 24, 2020 17:30:38 GMT -5
breezygardener,you have cats living in your house? What do they think about the snake? The snake is currently residing in the upstairs bathroom, which is permanently off-limits to the cats & also houses any & all houseplants that are either cat-toxic or that they'd destroy (ferns & such that spend the warmer months outdoors).
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Post by breezygardener on Dec 24, 2020 17:35:46 GMT -5
We had a bit of a problem with mice a few years back, until they suddenly disappeared. Soon after, I saw a small, fat black snake poke his head out from under the fridge. I was cool with him, so I didn't mention it to anyone. Then, DW saw it, and I had to escort him outside. I love our Black rat snakes, which are outrageously plentiful here, but husband is less than enthusiastic about them (although he'd never hurt one). In fact, he came across one in the basement a few weeks ago & has been trying to trap it in a Hav-a-Hart sort of cage, which isn't going to work, but it won't hurt the snake either. I frankly don't care if they want to live down there or not. They DO keep down the mouse population. The only time we had one in the house proper was the same deal as I'm undergoing now - found one outside in sub-freezing weather & kept it inside in an old aquarium with a heat lamp over the winter. Husband wasn't happy, but he dealt with it so long as I assured him that it would never, EVER get loose in the house. It was a very interesting experience, the only rough part being having to feed the snake thawed frozen dead baby pinkie mice that I'd get at the local pet store. Having to keep them in the freezer amongst our food was also a bit of a clashing point with hubby - lol! Spring couldn't come soon enough for hubby that year - lol!
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Post by gardendmpls on Dec 24, 2020 17:59:42 GMT -5
You can get meal worms and other bugs at the local pet stores. I use them for my gecko, although I keep a small aquarium with a meal worm colony that is self perpetuating. Crickets I get in the store or by mail and keep with the mealworms. They now sell tomato hornworms, but it is hard to make yourself pay for those.
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Post by breezygardener on Dec 24, 2020 18:24:56 GMT -5
You can get meal worms and other bugs at the local pet stores. I use them for my gecko, although I keep a small aquarium with a meal worm colony that is self perpetuating. Crickets I get in the store or by mail and keep with the mealworms. They now sell tomato hornworms, but it is hard to make yourself pay for those. I, too, used to have self-perpetuating colonies of mealworms, but I think those - as well as crickets - are too hard-bodied for a Worm snake. They prefer very soft-bodied insects, so mealworms would only work if you managed to catch them right after they shed they skins. The soft, white stage. I've seen the Hornworms for sale occasionally. Yuck. And they're much to large for this little snake anyway.
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