Caught my first garter today!

[BoidKeeper]

Before anyone asks I put it right back in the very spot where I found it.
My first Garter!

Last year I found a snake skin under the hood of an old car across the street from my place so I decided that this was as good a place as any to look tonight and sure enough it paid off! The snake I found was much smaller then last years skin but it was no less exciting. Too bad I didn't have my digi with me this evening when I caught my first maritime garter since being a herper. Until tonight I had only ever touched one snake in the wild many years ago. I think it was a male maybe last years or maybe even two years ago it was about 1.5 feet long and about the girth of my pinkie. It had something stuck up under one of its ventral scales but I don't know what it was. It did not look like a tick or a mite but I don't want to take any chances. After andling it I thought to my self I don't think I'll ever do that again because I don't want to transmit anything into my collection. Other then mites and ticks do any of you think there is any fear of transmitting something to our collections from handling wild specimens?
Thanks,
Trevor