Newbie looking for answers

[alihauck]

Hi, I am new here and have a question. I found a very small garter snake at my place of employment. I took it home to show my son and he was fascinated and begged me to keep it. I decided to keep it and called it Slither (I know, not very origional). I did some research and found that this snake was most likely a baby. I have put him/her in a cage with dirt on the bottom, twigs, leaves, grass and the like. I figured that keeping it in as natural a habitat as possible would be good for it. Unfortunately, it took a day before I realized I forgot the water! (poor thing) it now has a small container of water. I have been feeding it worms from where it was found as I figured that it was best to give it what it would eat in the wild and my research showed worms were the best thing. It has been eating well, a lot actually! My research showed they would eat about every 5 days, mine is eating every 2-3 days, regardless of the size of worm.
My concern is that today I fed it and I think the worm was too big, I saw it having trouble so I cut the worm. He swallowed it but there was blood coming out of it's mouth. Will it be okay? Did I do something wrong? Please help, I'm worried.

[gibble888]

Are you sure it wasnt blood from the cut worm?

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard.

I don't think you've done anything wrong there and I doubt the blood came from the snake.

[chris-uk]

I can't imagine circumstances that would result in bleeding arising from eating a worm, even if it was on the large size.
I'd agree that the blood is most likely from the worm itself.

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you with us. Probably just worm blood. Here's a link to the forum care sheet which is always a good read. Feel free to post any addition questions to the forum.
It looks like you've got 3 garters in Alberta.
Thamnophis radix ( Plains Garter Snake)
T. e. vagrans (Wandering garter snake)
T. s. parietalis (Red-sided garter snake)
Take a look at the link to the Snakes of Alberta and see if your snake matches any of the photos.
http://www.ab-conservation.com/go/default/assets/File/Publications/Brochures/ACA_Reptiles_of_Alberta_WR_2010_v2.pdf
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//744/medium/welcome.jpg

[alihauck]

Thanks all, I was really worried. I guess I should have realized it would have been from the cut worm. :o

[Mommy2many]

Welcome! Blood is most likely from the worm.

[ConcinusMan]

I always cut worms regardless of the size of the snake. It keeps them from crawling back out. Yes, that does happen. If you cut the worm near the head end there's going to be some very red blood loss. From the worm of course.

[alihauck]

What kind of worms are best to feed a red sided garter?

[gibble888]

Earthworms.....not red wigglers or trout worms cuz they are toxic!!

[guidofatherof5]

What kind of worms are best to feed a red sided garter?

Canadian Nightcrawlers - Premium Live Bait Worms for Fishing (http://www.canadiannightcrawlers.com/)

Lumbricus terrestris - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumbricus_terrestris)

[alihauck]

You should see my baby now!! He has finally shed and is growing well. http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/webkit-fake-url://C99B7022-A980-4876-8CC4-AF78505348EA/imagejpeg

[guidofatherof5]

You should see my baby now!! He has finally shed and is growing well. http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/webkit-fake-url://C99B7022-A980-4876-8CC4-AF78505348EA/imagejpeg

We would love to see.

[Rober10169]

Welcome from fellow Albertan. The snake is more then likely a radix. I have a bunch who over winter in my old house crawl space.

[guidofatherof5]

Welcome from fellow Albertan. The snake is more then likely a radix. I have a bunch who over winter in my old house crawl space.

Very cool.

[alihauck]

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[guidofatherof5]

I can't view your attachment. Maybe it's just me.:D

[alihauck]

My baby has been growing well, three sheds since I found and took it home in September. How often do they shed? Is my baby normal? Three sheds in 4 months?
10164 10165

[guidofatherof5]

Sheds are a good thing for a growing scrub.

[alihauck]

So, I'm taking that it's normal. Is it really good? Or just normal?

[guidofatherof5]

Good and normal:D

[chris-uk]

A shed a month for a baby garter is fairly normal. I've had one shed three times in six weeks. As they get older the sheds slow down, especially over winter, most of my bigger garters have now gone since Aug/Sep without shedding (although my parietalis girl shed yesterday after a 160 day gap, and the radix girl in her viv is blue).