Can a W/C snake be returned to the wild?

[st0386]

I have a wild-caught cornsnake found in NC, and i was curious if i could return her to the wild? She was guessed to be about 3-4 years old when i got her, so i would say shes about 6-7 now. Shes doubled in size due to the regular feeding schedule shes had, so would she do okay out there? is there a period of time you can keep a wild caught snake and then let it go? i know shes still got all the skills she learned to get to adulthood, but would she be able to find enough food now that shes a good-sized snake? i now have the opinion that wild animals belong in the wild, but it may be beyond the point of no-return i suppose. any advice? thanks!

 

[Nanci]

Is it legal in your state? It is not, in many. She probably appreciates her pampered life with you, too. I think if you take in a snake, short term, for weeks, or maybe even over winter, it could be successfully returned, but I don't know about one you've had for years. She wouldn't have a territory, or know where to go, or anything.

 

[Kronos]

Another problem with returning a snake to the wild, is if you've had it for years, it has lost its fear of people and other predators. It probably won't run for cover when someone comes upon it, and many people just automatically think they should kill any snake they see. When I was young I actually saw a group of kids catch a snake that had been set free. It was basking out in the open on the path and didn't try to hide when the kids came right up to it. They killed it, thinking it was venomous. It was actually one of several rat snakes that someone I barely knew had decided to set free.

So, even though they may be able to re-learn how to hunt for food, the loss of fear of people can doom them.

 

[knox]

"Can They"? Of course they can. Animals are taken in, re-habed, and released all the time.

There is much debate over how much a snake can be "domesticated". So I am not sure if we can even argue any change in behavior as a result of being a long term captive. I have picked up wild Rat Snakes that were more docile than some captive bred snakes I have come across in my time.

Snake intelligence can't be measured, let alone domestication. So there is no definitive answer as to whether they SHOULD be or not.

Long Term Captive pythons sure don't have a problem in South Florida...

 

[Iguanagirl8662]

Legally probably not. Also animals that have been kept in captivity develop immunities to diseases that wild animals do not have and can spread that disease if they are released. If you don't want to or can't keep it anymore I'm sure someone on here would take it or try craigslist. Releasing animals into the wild causes many problems and as reptile keepers we have enough problems caused by people releasing animals already.

 

[kathylove]

Even if it is legal, and even if the snake has never been exposed to other captive herps that it could have picked up exotic germs from, and even if you find a location unlikely to be found by ignorant, fearful humans (that is a LOT of ifs!), there is STILL a major problem, touched upon by Nanci. That is that most suitable habitats already have enough individuals of a given species to populate that habitat. There is always competition for resources. As a few residents die off, it creates space and food for new ones. But the corns (or other species that might compete with them) that grew up in that particular place will have the advantage in competing with a newcomer. So it is more likely that the newcomer will fall prey to something bigger and hungry, or that the newcomer will starve if food is scarce. So unless some sort of natural disaster happened recently to kill off a lot of resident snakes, and now the habitat has recovered sufficiently to reintroduce them, I would say that it is generally better to keep it where it has been doing well, rather than to turn its world upside down at this stage.

IMO (from my observations), snakes tend to be stressed by change. If they are doing well in a particular environment, I feel they are going to be "happier" (= less stressed) by not changing it.

 

[st0386]

Thanks for all the advice. Sounds like she is better off where she is. I just wanted to make suree I was doing what's best at this point.

 

[kathylove]

I think it is great that you are trying to do what is best for your pet, AND...

that you did a little research before just deciding on doing something (such as release) based only on emotions instead of experience and logic.

 

[knox]

that you did a little research before just deciding on doing something (such as release) based only on emotions instead of experience and logic.

Totally agree. Opinions differ. Heck, even scientific research can give varying results. But you sought help before acting. Well done.

I am up in the air about releasing long term captive snakes. Again, the snakes in Florida - as well as the lizards - that were once pets have established a breeding population. And how many other invasive species MIGHT have started out as pets? We just don't know.

But I WOULD err on the side of caution just for the snake's benefit...

 

[kathylove]

I think you are totally correct. I think that survivability has a high degree of luck involved, as well as all of those other criteria mentioned earlier. Just being in the right place at the right time (plenty of food, shelter, and few competitors at the moment that those resources are needed) and not being in the WRONG place (sudden predator or stupid human appearing) can help survivability of released natives or exotics, even if the other factors are not ideal. And bad luck can enter into what seems an ideal situation, too. There is just no way to accurately predict the outcome with so many variables.

 

[knox]

Kathy, you speak as if you know a little bit about snakes ;-)