Juvenile care?

[DrRose]

I recently got a juvenile female garter snake from a friend. She's very delicate, and quite tiny- no more than eight inches long.

First of all, I need to know what to feed her, how often, and if I need to prepare the food a specific way. The literature I've read says adult garter snakes eat things like fish, earthworms, and small rodents, but I'm concerned that she may have difficulty eating such things due to her size.

Second, I'm scared to death of injuring her because of how delicate she is. Just holding her, I can feel how fragile her little bones are. I would like advice on how to handle her safely, if I should handle her at all.

Any extra information that may be useful is welcome.

[Sid]

HI and welcome to the forum. For baby Garters I feed mine small or chopped up night crawlers and small guppies to start. Don't feed red worms as they are toxic and can harm your snake. Handling the baby shouldn't be a problem, just handle gently.

Here's is a link to the general care of Garter snakes, it will give you a go start.
http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets/index.php?title=Garter_Snake_Care_Sheet

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard. :)

I got my latest garters at an age of perhaps a couple of months. They' weren't newborn anymore, but not big by any standard either. What worked for them, was whole fish cut into suitable strips (no wider than the snake's head), but also pinkie mice cut lengthwise. For a neonate you might need to cut it first lengthwise and then across into four pieces. It's a bit messy, but it drove my snakes absolutely nuts and it allowed them to start eating mice early on.

As for handling, I'd keep it to a minimum for now. If you can get it to climb into your hand or over a finger, then you'll be able to lift it off the ground, but I wouldn't try to grab them like you would with an adult.

[infernalis]

Welcome to the forum:)

Sid and Stefan got it down good, not much to add.

Little baby worms are easy to find outside, stick with the brown ones, and little feeder minnows, Garters love little minnows.

Do you have a photo of your snake?

Handling babies should be kept minimal, and be gentle:D

[Garter_Gertie]

I've nothing to add to the excellent advise above but, Welcome! Glad to have you on board and a part of us.

[ssssnakeluvr]

Welcome to the forum!!!! they pretty much covered everything....any questions you have, ask a way! always glad to help...oh, and we love pics on here :cool:

[anji1971]

Hello, and welcome! :)

[jitami]

Welcome! One tip from someone here that I found really useful is that if you do end up needing to cut a pinky in half or quarters, do it while it's still frozen and then warm up the pieces in hot water(not in the microwave). Cutting them up while they're still frozen is soooo much less messy(and gross) than doing it after they've thawed out!

Good luck with your baby! We'd love to see pictures!

[Stefan-A]

Cutting them up while they're still frozen is soooo much less messy(and gross) than doing it after they've thawed out!
I beg to differ. :D When they're frozen, chunks of frozen pinkie will fly all over the room and you have to be really careful not to cut yourself. It's much easier and not very messy at all if you thaw them out first and then cut them with a pair of scissors.

[jitami]

Hmmm... I didn't try scissors... maybe my knife wasn't sharp enough, but when I cut through a thawed pinky it squished under the knife and while it did work, I had bits of guts stuck to my knife, etc... when frozen, I just put my hand over the top of the knife and the pinky and pushed straight down, no flying parts... lol

[crzy_kevo]

lol back to the welcoming part
erm
yes welcome to the forum they have already covered everything and as stated we love pics here so as soon as you can post us some pics lol :D

[Snake lover 3-25]

Welcome to the forum!!!!

i've found that if you take a decent sized earth worm and cut it up it works too.... and may be a bit easier than finding tiny worms!!:D:D

Good luck with the baby!!!!!!!!

[gregmonsta]

Welcome aboard :D ... I've personally had no problems offering pinkie pieces mixed with bite-sized pieces of trout before :)

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, DrRose :)

[DrRose]

To all of you, thanks for your advice. My snake only just started eating a couple days ago; so far she's eaten a fish, and a worm. I've found that, once she gets hungry, she'll eat anything as long as it's in water.

For those of you that wanted pictures, I do have one picture from the day I brought her home. I'm not sure how much bigger she's gotten since, but I'm going to find out.

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/9582/colubrakc9.png

[jitami]

Aw, picture won't show... glad she's doing well and finally eating for you :)

btw, I love this thread... had to cut a large fuzzy in half the other day and I'm convinced that cutting them frozen is the way to go <gg>