How can I tell if my garter snakes pregnant?

Question

I have an eastern garter snake and I want to know if she's pregnant. She's in a 20 gallon long tank with a male, and I she's been acting really aggressive and has been getting fatter without any extra food. How can I tell?

Answer 1

If this snake is over 18 mo.-2 yrs. it's old enough to breed & this is exactly the time of the year that they give birth (as well as the springtime). Sometimes you can hold the snake gently & feel the bulge her babies can cause in her boby just past her stomach & before her vent. Let her crawl thru your loosely held fingers & note any unusual bulges. This method is not fool proof & will not give results with a plump snake. It does sound like she may be close to birthing. Good luck.

Answer 2

Sometimes with garter snakes it can be hard to tell. Someone gave me an eastern they no longer wanted, and it just gave birth to 6 babies today. I had absolutely no idea it was going to have babies. It was acting aggressively and it was eating like normal. But it sounds like you have a good chance of getting some babies. I guess it'll be a nice surprise if you do have babies!

Panfan, garter snakes give live birth! They don't lay eggs! Do your homework before you give me a thumbs down!

Answer 3

i dont see how a snake can just have a bunch of babies since in order to get babies (or hatchlings) from a snake, they have to lay eggs....so if you see eggs then no surprises, if you dont see eggs in the habitat then no babies...if the snake lays eggs then believe me, you will know because there will be lots of them....there are several reasons for a snake to be aggressive all of a sudden, it could be hungry, it could be stressed, or it could be getting ready to shed....as far as getting fatter then she may be getting ready to lay eggs or she has just started growing more...are you sure it is even a female?

Answer 4

http://www.gartersnake.co.uk/maintenance.htm#Breeding