Cat brought in Garter Snake
 

Hi,
This is my first post and first snake in a long, long time. My cat occasionally brings me garter snakes from outside and they are usually dead. This time, he brought me one that was still alive but had a few injuries from being caught. I managed to get the snake from him in one piece and put it into a small fish tank. I did some quick research and ended up buying a heat lamp and a cave and set up a terrarium in my 90 gallon for it. I completed the terrarium with a bottom layer of potting soil, a top layer of cypress mulch, 3 hides, some large stones, a couple pieces of driftwood, a water dish, and some pothos cuttings. I put a few small minnows into the water dish and he/she has eaten 2 so far. Now for the questions:

1) Should I be planning to hibernate this snake in a month or two? It’s a little over a foot long.

2) Do I leave fish and/or worms available all the time or should I be feeding at controlled times(once or twice a week?) I also want to switch to frozen pinkies because I read that this is a more complete diet for them. True?

3) Is there anything I should be applying to his/her injuries? There are a few small puncture holes/injured scales along the body and some superficial injury to the end of its tail.

4) I have a 100 watt incandescent bulb in the heat lamp right now and the thermometer reaches a temp of about 80^F. The cool side is usually 10^F lower. Are these temps ok? Should I switch to a ceramic bulb or higher wattage to increase the amount of basking heat?

5) How can I tell the sex? I don’t know anything about probing or popping and i think it may do more harm then good if i try. I would post pics but the site is saying my files are too large.



Thanks for all the help in advance.