Greetings!

[Qwerty3159]

Hey everyone! I've been keeping reptiles for some amount of time now, but on August 2nd I bought my first snake, a CB checkered garter:D This site has been of tremendous help to me getting started with my snake, but I haven't posted until now lol.
So hi!

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you with us. Thanks you for your kind words about the forum. Be sure to check out the care sheet, here's a link. When you have time we'd love to see some photos.
T. marcianus are awesome.
Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet (http://www.thamnophis.com/index.php?page=caresheet)

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//744/medium/welcome.jpg

[slipknot711]

welcome!

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Welcome!

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard.

[Mommy2many]

Welcome to the forum!

[Qwerty3159]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! And sorry for the delay in replying.

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I'm pretty confident that he's doing alright, and I've been following the care sheet, but I still have a few questions :p
I've been feeding him pieces of silversides. I was surprised how well it took to them considering at the shop it had been eating live fish since birth. Something that concerned me was how much to feed it in one sitting. I'm aware snakes can eat some pretty large meals in relation to their size but I'm afraid the chopped up pieces I've been giving it are too large or small. I measured it at roughly 9 or 10 inches, and about the width of a pencil for most of its body. What would be the ideal sized item of food to feed a snake this small?

Oh and another question lol. Do you guys have any complaints about the cypress bark? I know wood chips and aspen bark and that sort of thing is a commonly used substrate and the cypress bark seems like it is suitable, since it hardly sticks to the snake of hes wet and its a perfect burrowing material. And finally, I purchased a 50 watt bulb when I got the snake but it would turn out that the bulb is a little too high wattage since it puts the hot side at 88-90 degrees, and the cool side at 78-80. ( I measured these temps with a digital probe.)

[guidofatherof5]

I think if you imagine 3-4 guppies the same size as the girth of the snake, that would be a good amount to feed. Or a night crawler the same overall length of those guppies.
My only issue with wood shavings is the sharp slivers that can be ingested. They can cause blockages or perforated organs. Both those situation can lead to death. Your temp gradient looks pretty good. This will allow the snake/s to thermoregulate to what they need. Just my opinion ;)
Hope this helps.

[Qwerty3159]

Thanks for your help! I will definitely make sure to give it meals based on that. And the first time I fed it a silverside piece, the snake got a little bit of substrate stuck to it, he managed to wipe it off and I picked almost all of it off the chunk before it was fully swallowed, but so now I feed it in a plastic tub I put into the tank. And I'll keep an eye on the temps then, worst comes to worst I'll downgrade in wattage.

Thank you!

[guidofatherof5]

Why downgrade the wattage? Your temps are fine.
You must also be sure you don't get any regurgitation in the enclosure. Snakes sometime re-eat there food and it will be covered in substrate. Just something you need to watch for.

[Qwerty3159]

I meant if the temps ended up too high I would downgrade the wattage :p my fault for not being specific.
I'll also keep an eye out for that, thanks for the heads up!