Winnie Ate A Fish!

[Garter_Gertie]

MAS (Minnesota Aquarium Society) is here [at the park] doing a fish count and setting up a native St. Croix River fish tank. I begged one of the smaller fish off them and put it in a tub of water. Winnie would have nothing to do with it. :(

So we put it in her water dish and in no time Winnie had fish for lunch! :D

[adamanteus]

Go Winnie!:D

[Stefan-A]

Congratulations. :D

[crzy_kevo]

haha sweet winnie rocks

[Garter_Gertie]

Thanks, you guys. I didn't know about the calcium stuff until I came here. This is the first calcium Winnie's had since last summer. James, I fed her meal worms during the winter, not knowing any better, and I've no idea if she ate them. Ever since the ground has thawed I've been giving her worms.

I'm SO XCITED to have been able to give her fish with scales, bones, eyes and fins because I know that's best for her!

Winnie doesn't rock, you guys do! :D

[anji1971]

Good for Winnie!! Isn't it fun to watch them chase the fish around?

[Sid]

Way to go Winnie!:D

[Garter_Gertie]

And she's had a SECOND one! The crayfish captured the red horse (very small baby). The crawdad has since been removed and in removing him we got the red horse away from him... And gave it to Winnie! It was deader'un a doornail, but she went have that puppy like lightening!

YEEHA!

[drache]

good job, Winnie

[Garter_Gertie]

Anji, she didn't chase the fish. In the tub of water I'd put it in Winnie would have nothing to do with it and only wanted to get out of the water (I think I've much more of a forest garter than a marsh garter). And sadly - because I didn't know any better at the time - Winnie's water dish is just barely beg enuff to have held the fish with a little bit of water.

She came skulking up on it... eevvveerrrr ssssoooo sssllloooowwwwlyy. Sat, with her head cocked and one bright, shoe-button eye focused on the fish. And then...
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BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Struck and nabbed that puppy and swollered'er down! Then being the lady she is, she quietly 'burped' and then dabbed at her mouth on a rock.

[anji1971]

...... Then being the lady she is, she quietly 'burped' and then dabbed at her mouth on a rock.

Well now...............a burping snake.......... that's probably a whole lot more fun to watch than a boring ol' fish chase!:D Too funny!

[el lobo]

Nice. haha...good work Winnie!

[Garter_Gertie]

Anji, come on. You gotta be kidding me. Don't your snakes "burp"? You know, where they 'yawn' and re-align their jaws? I'm sure they do. Just never had it described as I've described. :D

[anji1971]

Anji, come on. You gotta be kidding me. Don't your snakes "burp"? You know, where they 'yawn' and re-align their jaws? I'm sure they do. Just never had it described as I've described. :D

Point taken. Guess I need more of an imagination sometimes. I've just been calling it "yawning and realigning their jaws"!:rolleyes::)

[Garter_Gertie]

I'd read on here last nite about 'drumsticks.' So today I asked Dave if I could have two of the legs from Ripley's baby bunny.

And... WINNIE SNARFED DOWN HERE FIRST EVER, WITHOUT BATTING AN EYE, F/T DRUMSTICKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Garter_Gertie]

I'd read on here last nite about 'drumsticks.' So today I asked Dave if I could have two of the legs from Ripley's baby bunny.

And... WINNIE SNARFED DOWN HERE FIRST EVER, WITHOUT BATTING AN EYE, F/T DRUMSTICKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bump.

Didn't want to start a whole new thread for this but I'm SO EXCITED!!! I can now kiss the vitamins I bought goodbye! Winnie can eat F/T pinkies/mousies this coming winter!

[Garter_Gertie]

See?! I'm using so much of what I've learned! We fed Winnie meal worms last year and even though I learned here they won't eat them, I do belive she did as we got no worms. I don't think garters are strictly carniverous as I read here because garters are somewhat oppertunistic and will eat bugs smaller than themselves.

Anyway, I didn't want to have to go the way of meal worms this winter should Winnie deign to eat. And I wouldn't be able to get worms or fish with the river frozen solid.

After reading about poor Lori last nite and her king snake, I decided to try the 'drumsticks' today on Winnie AND IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!

I'm so EXCITED I'm learning and ITTIZ WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Garter_Gertie]

Bump. I'm sorry, but I know of no other way to do this. :(

[Snake lover 3-25]

okay.... what do you mean by drumsticks????:D she ate a chicken leg???:confused:LOL:D

[Garter_Gertie]

No, Shanley! LOL! Ittiz a term I learned here last nite reading all about Lori and her trials and tribulations with her king snake.

A drumstick is, in this case, a whole leg. Uhhhmmm... In chicken parlance it would be called a "chicken quarter." The thigh and drumstick.

I asked Dave to cut me off two - I think they were the backs. Winnie originally shied away from them. But when I did the 'wiggle dance' a good distance away from her, she struck (a million miles away from the drumstick; poor thing) and then kept going for it. So I moved my hand closer to her, I was holding her in my left hand. And dang if that sweet baby didn't nail it!

She then sat there for a bit (I think the kids around her bothered her) like if thinking, "What is this stuff? Is it good? Do I want to eat it?" And she finally gulped it down.

On the second drumstick, Missy Winnie needed no help/encouragement whatsoever! Winnie likes bunny! :D

[Snake lover 3-25]

garters can eat chicken???? :confused:????

[anji1971]

No, Shanley. She fed Winnie baby rabbit drumsticks.
Although I've not heard of that one before either!
Anyone have any input on the rabbit? I find it interesting that she went for it, and I'm kind of curious now.........;)

[Garter_Gertie]

Sorry, Shanley. I thought you'd caught that. About getting Ripley's baby bunny "drumsticks."

Anj, she ate it. Dunked herself in her new 'swimming pool,' sat out on the warm rocks under her light for awhile and then toddled off to sleep under her bark chips. NOTHING I could do could wake her. She was a Starvin' Marvin.

When I got to work, she was under her chips. As soon as she 'heard me' (my walk/my vibrations) she was up and out and like a being possessed. All over her tank; would snoot under a bark chip or two and look at me. Back over here, then over there; a snoot here, a snoot there. I knew she was hungry!

She loved her drumsticks! She is a super LOVE!

[anji1971]

I don't doubt that she ate it, Gertie. I've just never heard of rabbit as a food item. That's what sparked my interest!:)
Might be that I just don't remember reading it anywhere before, my brain has issues with remembering what I've read.........:o

[Zephyr]

Drumsticks... So she got the calcium too?

[Garter_Gertie]

Anj, at the time it was all I had to offer her f/t. No winky-pinkies. So, wanting to try her on what I had available - Ripley's baby bunny - I went for it. It was more me trying her on f/t than it being rabbit that exited me. It was the f/t that concerned me.

Now, I shall get pinkies, frozen, and start with them. I feed Winnie less than you guys seem to feed your snakes. I'd rather keep her a bit hungry and lean than over feed her. I've no scale, but she's way longer than she was when we caught her and she's a nice gartery size. Has shed twice this spring/summer.

Yes, Mr. Zephy! My baby has gotten calcium in the past two weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fishies the first week, rabbity drumsticks this week! I'm SO HAPPY, EXCITED, AND RELIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:D

[anji1971]

By all means,
you should definitely have no problem with pinkies now!
Trying the bunny was a good idea to see how the snake reacted..........now you know she'll take F/T food. One less worry off your mind!:)

[Snake lover 3-25]

oooo sorry.... i'm slow today lol that's great!! where did you get them from??? :D:D

CONGRATS!!!!!

[Garter_Gertie]

"I'd read on here last nite about 'drumsticks.' So today I asked Dave if I could have two of the legs from Ripley's baby bunny."

Ripley gets a f/t baby bunny every Sunday. Because I'd read about problems sometimes when converting to f/t pinkies, I wanted to make sure Winnie was on f/t before I truly needed her to be, i.e., in the winter when I'm not able to get worms and fish from the river.

So, Sunday I asked Dave if he would cut off two of the baby bunny's 'drumsticks' for me to try giving f/t to Winnie. She hesitated but just a maybe a minute and then snarfed both down. :D

It's not the 'rabbit' part that excites me but that Winnie accepted f/t ANYTHING and I can now buy f/t pinkies for her and not have to worry about her not accepting them.

[Snake lover 3-25]

lol ooooooo wow i'm really slow!!!!:eek: awesome!!!!! lol but unf... sometimes they go into brumation by themselves...... don't be too sad if she stops eating.... mine do that every year.... even the cb baby??? idk why... but they do....:(

[Garter_Gertie]

I can't tell if Winnie ate at all last year since she wasn't eating from my fingers at that time. Ripley does every year and from oh, I guess starting off and on in Oct through sometimes as late as March, he won't eat.

I'm not going to be worried as I'll be feeding her by hand. If she eats fine, if not, I know why.

They slow down, even if they don't totally brumate like Winnie and Ripley, because the length of the days is getting shorter. The hours of daylight tell them - along with the temperature if outside - that it's time to brumate.

But, if she should decide to eat once in February (which Ripley's been known to do) I need to be able to feet her f/t and now I know I can!

[Snake lover 3-25]

lol i'm very happy for you!!!:D:D:D