garter snake den question(field)

[Reticsrule]

i was out herping the other day and found a little den or family of garter snakes(probably 4-6) in a hole in one of those huge layered rocks. i was sitting there handling them for a few minutes and then i left. i went back a few days later thinking they would still be there because i thought they lived there. when i got to the place where i found them there wasnt a single trace of any of them. do you think they left because i was handling them and they got scared away or were they just hiding deeper in their den and not out basking at the time?