Is my one year old garter not growing fast enough? (pics)

[xStatic]

I got my female albino checkered garter about 11 months ago and I'm assuming she's close to a year old by now. I'm afraid she isn't as big as she should be by now. She eats about 1/4 of a frozen pinky a week and sometimes I throw in an inch or two of earthworm. She sheds every month or two usually and her sheds are always in one piece. When I got her she had an injury to her eye and I think she may be blind in that eye but other than that she seems healthy. Sorry the pictures I have of her aren't the best.

Current:

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/Snapshot_20120715.JPG

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/Snapshot_20120715_8.JPG

A year ago:

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/IMG_20110810_125817.jpg

[Steveo]

You could probably bump the feeding up to every 5th day or so. 1/4 of a pinky doesn't sound like a lot but I know that pinky sized can vary pretty widely. I don't think slow growth is worrying and some actually prefer it. I try to find a middle-ground.

Sometimes when I'm not sure if I'm feeding enough I'll let a snake pig out once and then adjust the amount I give them accordingly. For example, I have an adult wandering garter that gave birth a few weeks ago. yesterday was feeding day and I had some food left over from some picky eaters, so I let her have at it. She ate the adult mouse I had planned to give her plus a rat pinky and two mouse pinkies. I'm not going to give her that much every time, but now I know that if she's not putting the weight back on I can feed her more and/or more often.

[indigoman]

That is very small for a 1yr. old female, she should be eating more. I do have a hold back runt of the litter that is the same way,. healthy in all ways but has a small appetite. So she is small compared to her siblings.

[xStatic]

That is very small for a 1yr. old female, she should be eating more. I do have a hold back runt of the litter that is the same way,. healthy in all ways but has a small appetite. So she is small compared to her siblings.

How much should she be eating? I don't know what size/amount of food is good for a snake her size?

[guidofatherof5]

Zara is looking good.

[xStatic]

Zara is looking good.

Good to hear. As long as her small sign doesn't mean she's unhealthy then I'm not worried about how quickly I can get her to grow. I just want her to be healthy. Tonight I will feed her a day old pink sliced vertically into two pieces so it's easier to swallow. If she eats that easily I'll start offering a day old pink every week...

[guidofatherof5]

Day old pinky? Meaning it's 1 day old or it's been thawed out for 1 day?

[indigoman]

See what she will eat, a pinky a week with with some fish or worms is not too much for a growing young snake.

[xStatic]

Day old pinky? Meaning it's 1 day old or it's been thawed out for 1 day?

A pinky which was culled and frozen during it's first day of life. I thaw the mice immediately before serving to the snakes (:

[guidofatherof5]

[QUOTE=guidofatherof5;219079]Day old pinky? Meaning it's 1 day old or it's been thawed out for 1 day?[/QUOTE

A pinky which was culled and frozen during it's first day of life. I thaw then immediately before serving to the snakes (:

Thanks for the clarification.

I also think you could feed a little more food. Young snakes are growing machines and need the fuel.

[xStatic]

[QUOTE=xStatic;219082]

Thanks for the clarification.

I also think you could feed a little more food. Young snakes are growing machines and need the fuel.

Sounds good. Should I try to add another half a pinky or earthworms? She's never eaten Tilapia before but I could try adding that to her meals.

[guidofatherof5]

You could switch off between the worms and tilapia. Pinkies, worms and tilapia would be a very good diet.
All 3 items have a lot of good to bring to the table.

[indigoman]

All my checkerds like talapia but some still prefer worms if given a choice.

[xStatic]

Yeah my snake likes the worms the most and will lung towards them when I offer them to her. She also likes pinkies quite a lot but I've never gotten around to giving her tilapia because I thought worms and mice provided enough nutrition. I will pick up some tilapia though and if she will eat it I'll add it to her diet.

[mikem]

I'd feed her at least a whole pink once a week and some worm every few days.

[Invisible Snake]

I think you should feed her more, a small pink every 3-4 days, that's what I did when my albino checkereds were around 5-6 months old.

I've read in a couple of garter books that the young need to be fed more often because of their growing development.

[stevenrudge]

For a normal healthy snake its small for its age,worms are not good enough for a young growing snake,you must up the food intake to at lest twice per week.fish based diet (plus pinks if you must)multi vitamins every other feed,and the snake will be fine

[kibakiba]

Worms are good for young snakes, especially when the diet is varied. My varied diet snakes grow faster than my nonvaried diet snakes.

[stevenrudge]

when their diet is varied,problem is for this snake the diet was not varied nor was it fed enough,

[EasternGirl]

I have an albino checkered male who is almost a year old...and I would say that she is a bit small...especially since females are usually larger than males...Hermes is bigger than your girl at 11 mos. I feed Hermes a whole pinky or the equivalent in fish and worms every 5 days. That is a whole small pinky. I would start feeding her a bit more.

[d_virginiana]

Pinkies and worms provide enough nutrition/variation. Plenty of people feed a worm or pinkie-based diet with no problems (though they do love fish). Also, if you're feeding prey that has bones like silversides or pinkies you don't need to worry about a calcium supplement.
I like to feed younger ones smallish meals two or three times a week as opposed to a single weekly feeding. My really old one seems to keep his weight up better when his weekly food is split up over a couple days as well. My year old female probably eats 1.5 pinkies and a worm or silverside each week, but not all at once.

[xStatic]

Pinkies and worms provide enough nutrition/variation. Plenty of people feed a worm or pinkie-based diet with no problems (though they do love fish). Also, if you're feeding prey that has bones like silversides or pinkies you don't need to worry about a calcium supplement.
I like to feed younger ones smallish meals two or three times a week as opposed to a single weekly feeding. My really old one seems to keep his weight up better when his weekly food is split up over a couple days as well. My year old female probably eats 1.5 pinkies and a worm or silverside each week, but not all at once.

okay cool! That was exactly what I was looking for :) I usually do try and split feedings up and before I would give 1/4 of a pinky and then a few days later I would give her an earth worm. I'll keep up with the twice a week feedings but I'm going to start increasing the amount of food I give her. I got some Tilapia today so hopefully she'll eat it.

[xStatic]

when their diet is varied,problem is for this snake the diet was not varied nor was it fed enough,

I'm sorry but I think my snake's diet is varied enough. She eats both pinkies and worms regularly. Fish is not required for her to be healthy although I just got some Tilapia and will be offering it to her. I haven't been feeding her as much as I maybe should but she is not skinny and as a young baby I was warned not to feed her too much because their digestive system isn't strong at that age.

Snakes do not require multivitamins when their diets include whole bodied animals such as mice and whole fish.