VERY odd observation!

[Zephyr]

I let a few of the WC garters into the pen today, and after a few minutes they had adjusted to my presence. So I'm watching them and all of a sudden the little butler-like male starts flicking his tongue rapidly. I noticed there was a dead worm in the pen, and there were a whole bunch of ants around it. So the butlers slithers over to the carcass and starts eating the ants! A little later he browsed through the oak leaves and was doing the same!
What is going on here?!

[Snake lover 3-25]

strange i didn't know that they could even eat ants??!!!!!

[adamanteus]

Kyle, I think you are mistaken in what you think you saw. Maybe an ant or two stuck to the snakes tongue while he was investigating the worm.
Garters don't eat ants. They would be unable to maneuver them to the back of their throat, and they cannot digest the exoskeletons.

[Zephyr]

I'm 100% sure he was eating them. I can't think of any other reason he would be making the swallowing "gesture" while rummaging through the oak leaves in a feeding fashion.

[CrazyHedgehog]

do it again, but this time film it!!:eek:

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

the ants smelled like worm carcass.... .. ..?

[Lori P]

Get pics, Kyle... you could revolutionize the garter feeding industry as well!!!

[Thamnophis]

I would not rule out that ants (or other insects) are sometimes eaten.

Some thirty years ago I had a terrarium (200 x 50 x 50 cm) in which different species of Thamnophis lived. There also was a Podarcis sicula (Italian wall lizard) in this terrarium because there was no other room for him. He always sat on top of the snakes under the lightbulb so he could get the most warmth.
There was never a problem between them.

But when I put a handful of mealworms in his foodbowl it happened that they were gone very fast (they could not escape). And it were too much mealworms for that one lizard to eat in one time.
I suspected a Thamnophis radix to eat them. Have never caught him in the act, but the times that it happened he was the only snake that was active on that moment.
Unfortunately I have never examined the stool of the snakes for chitineparts of the mealworms.

[zooplan]

Martin Hallmen reported that garters may eat thier own (sheded) skin because of the smell of feeder fish, so the garter may have eaten some ants, carrying worm pieces.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

i have seen some of my baby garters eat their own skin! like, grab it, and start eating it. I wouldn't entire rule out that some garters have taken up a liking for insects... I've got one that'll eat waxworms... but then again she will eat anything I put in front of her if I present it like food.

[Zephyr]

Hmm... Perhaps if they eat insects, would they need UVB to digest and process them? Like with green snakes?

[ssssnakeluvr]

UVB won't help them digest....as a young kid I force fed a garter some flies....came out the back end looking just like they did when they went in. I let them go after not knowing what to feed. Later I learned what to feed them. Then I got a few to keep.

[Zephyr]

UVB won't help them digest....as a young kid I force fed a garter some flies....came out the back end looking just like they did when they went in. I let them go after not knowing what to feed. Later I learned what to feed them. Then I got a few to keep.How do green snakes process insects then?

[ssssnakeluvr]

they aren't garters.....:cool: they are a different species...different species eat different things....:rolleyes:

[Zephyr]

Obviously. XD
But it would seem odd that a snake adapted to so many environments, like the garter snake, wouldn't be able to digest such an easily found prey...

[ssssnakeluvr]

well, thats nature....there's something to eat almost everything out there!! :eek:

[Zephyr]

well, thats nature....there's something to eat almost everything out there!! :eek:
Hmm, well, we have no photos of them eating insects, but that doesn't mean they don't in the wild! *OR in my pen. :P*