I think my garter has hiccups...

[IndigoBug1987]

I bought him on 11/20/08 and he didn't eat until today. He shed his skin and has eaten 5 rosy red minnows today. Am i over feeding him?? I figured as long as he is still rooting around in his water bowl looking for fish that he must be hungry still, plus those lil fish are so tiny. anyway i was holding him earlier and i could swear he had the hiccups. o.O and he sneezed once yesterday. is he ok?

This is my first pet snake.

[infernalis]

Hello and welcome to the forum:D

First advice, No Rosy reds, they are bad for your snake.

Guppies are the easiest to find safe live fish.

Tilapia and Salmon fillets from the store, cut into strips and shown to your snakie should work, Any trouble just post and ask what next.

If you picked up your snake right after it ate, those "hiccups" could be an indication that your snake is about to throw up.

I've never seen a snake sneeze:eek:

Go to our care sheets section and read about all the great care information we have available to you.

You found the best place on the net to get help with your new snake, and we love to help folks just like you.

Take care:D

[Stefan-A]

I've never seen a snake sneeze:eek:
I've seen (heard) mine do it a few times over the years. Nothing spectacular. As long as they don't do it frequently, there's no reason to be worried.

[infernalis]

Now that I think about it, CY my corn snake used to make a slight chirp every once and a while when he was a neonate.

Not sure it was a sneeze or a hiccup.

He has not done it in so long, I forgot all about it until just now.

[IndigoBug1987]

I just bought a new batch of rosys for him to eat this morning. :( Will it hurt him short term or long term?? Should i let them go??? I don't intend to leave him on fish i was gonna try pinky mice but i haven't been able to find them.

Also he's eaten three minnows today and keeps laying in his bowl rooting around. Is he hungry still? I thought snakes only ate once or twice a week. He's eating like 5 minnows every day. His humidity 'meter' stays between 50 and 70 and its about 55 to 75 in degrees in his tank. He shed two days ago (very successful shed it came off all in one piece, i was worried about it at first.)

also (again) i bought him some red worms this morning too. I'm not sure what kind.

[infernalis]

I used to think rosy reds would be alright short term, I guess it depends where you bought them at.

I will never ever buy another feeder fish from petco, They sold me some rosy reds and I lost 3 Garter snakes by feeding them, Don't take that wrongly, it had nothing to do with vitamin deficiency. There had to be something WRONG with the fish.

Now on to the worms, do they have light coloured rings all up and down them? If they are red wigglers (bands all down them) please don't feed them to your snake, they are toxic and will harm the snake, maybe even kill it.

I used to buy worms from wal mart labeled panfish/trout worms, Bought a container last week, and they were RED WIGGLERS not the same worms that used to be in the same container, so I threw them away.

The safest bet would be get some Canadian night crawlers and cut them with scissors to a smaller size.

Garters will always act hungry, they like to eat! if you control the amount of food and don't give them too much, it's perfectly OK to feed them every day if you want.

I give my Blackneck girl a minnow a day, I could give her two at a time every other day, in the end it's the same amount of food.

Feel free to keep asking questions, Always glad to help out:D

[jitami]

Until you figure out if your worms are safe and until you find some pinkies or fish fillets the minnows are "ok" but really not good for your snake. If you decide not to feed them to the snake you can freeze them and use them to scent pinkies in the future. My garter survived on only minnows for about a year before I switched him to pinkies... I didn't know any better... rosy reds were the recommended fish at the time. Guppies are a much safer bet if he'll only eat live, but most are pretty easy to switch to mice with a little scenting and patience. Good luck :)

[infernalis]

Tami has a point, I let my bitterness toward petco interfere.

I kept 2 garters and a water snake on (eek) goldfish for almost a year before I was told to stop.

They are still here with me today.

[IndigoBug1987]

lol one of the minnows i got is actually too big for him to eat. he caught hold of it and decided pretty quick that he couldn't swallow it. I saved it and we decided to keep it as a 'pet'. the fish had a couple punctures on him. He is alive, but with battle scars. i didn't know garters even had teeth that were shaped that way. and the worm i have do look to be red wrigglers. all i do is buy him things he can't eat. first rosy reds, then crickets, more rosy reds, and now red worms. ( he hasn't eaten anything but the minnows because i havn't offered the others.) I let the crickets go after i read that he wouldn't digest the shell and now what do i do with these worms??

This is what my worms look like. (kinda, i really can't tell one worm from the next)
Google Image Result for http://thebigredbarniniowa.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/worm.152185552_std.jpg (http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://thebigredbarniniowa.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/worm.152185552_std.jpg&imgrefurl=http://thebigredbarniniowa.com/&h=738&w=800&sz=46&tbnid=Yb-9D8eqY8sJ::&tbnh=132&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dred%2Bwigglers%2Bphotos&usg=__G7EUk2BjrRoYQmizwQpYJ5jbkno=&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=3&ct=image&cd=1)

[infernalis]

Then it's a good thing you found US:D

Give the worms away to someone who goes fishing....

where are you located? maybe able to direct you to a good source of food.

I would try a cut up fish fillet from the grocery store, Tilapia and Salmon are good economical choices, and most garters will eat it right up with little effort.

I have a few that require me to grab the chunk of fish in a pair of tweezers and show it to them.

[IndigoBug1987]

I live in Benton arkansas. i will just let the worms go in the yard. no one i know is going fishing. it seriously took me a couple of days to find a site dedicated to garters. thats why i've bought all the wrong things. :)

How can i tell what breed of garter i have? I 'think' he's a texas garter but i'm not sure. its the one that looks most like him.

[infernalis]

Can we get a good picture?

If you cannot post it on your own, My email is motovet@gmail.com send me your snapshots, I'll crop and size them, upload and post for you.

No problem:D

[IndigoBug1987]

I will as soon as i have a camera. I have photos of hiim but they are on my phone and i don't know how to transfer them. My avatar is pretty much identical and the pic of that snake says its a texas garter.

[jitami]

Indigo, you're doing fine :) Most of us go through a trial and error period with our snakes. Of course it's nice when all the research is done beforehand, but I know that's not how I started out :) My kids said, "Can we keep it? Plllllleeeeaaaase?" Then the learning began. That first one is still here 6.5 years later and I've added a couple more recently :) Stick around, you'll get the hang of it!

[infernalis]

Ditto what Tami said:D

[adamanteus]

Glad you've found us, Lila. You're in the right place now, to get all your questions answered (except the one about what type of Garter you have.... I can't see it in the pic!:D)
Welcome to the forum.

[IndigoBug1987]

http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k216/AkaAkima/?action=view&current=P1010033.jpg

I hope the pic shows up

[IndigoBug1987]

Image of Slithers3 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting (http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k216/AkaAkima/?action=view&current=P1010033.jpg)

Well i can't figure out how to insert a picture but here is a link to my photobucket. It should take you directly to a picture of Slithers (as I have dubbed him.)

[adamanteus]

Have you tried this, Lila?
http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/site-feedback-suggestions-questions/1008-guide-posting-pictures.html

[reptile3]

Image of Slithers3 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting (http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k216/AkaAkima/?action=view&current=P1010033.jpg)

Well i can't figure out how to insert a picture but here is a link to my photobucket. It should take you directly to a picture of Slithers (as I have dubbed him.)


Slithers is a nice looking snakie!!!!:)

[IndigoBug1987]

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/P1010033.JPG ??Yay it worked!

[adamanteus]

It worked! By the way, your snake looks like a parietalis to me. Very nice.:)

[IndigoBug1987]

aw thanks! He's gotten a lil chubby since i bought him a week ago. Can snakes get fat? Maybe the pet store didn't feed him enough, or maybe i'm over feeding! I hope not.

[adamanteus]

Yeah, snakes can get fat.... but not in a week! Don't worry about that yet!

[IndigoBug1987]

He is a tiny bit heavier than he was. He was definately thinner. Anyways I'm not any good at telling what he is, He looks like a few different kinds of garter even if i look at pictures i can't tell. Lol i know its bad but he eats right out of my hand. He never strikes and is very calm.

He's very active as well, always moving around in his tank and climbing around. When i open his cage he slithers really fast into his hide box but he turns right around and pokes his head out to watch me. Does anyone elses pet snake exhibit personality, or is it all in my head?

[snakeman]

I have always started my babies with rosys.Only had a problem once out of countless snakes.Anyway,Your snakes looks a little big to be feeding her that anyway.Can you get a hold of a frog?You could make a frog shake with a blender.you dip the rodents in the juice and try feeding them like that.You can freeze the leftover slurry in a icecube tray.I used this technique on a adult W/C blackneck I had a couple of years ago.

[adamanteus]

It sounds as though you've got yourself a really great little snake there! Garters certainly do appear to exhibit a lot more character than many snakes.... that's just one of the many reasons why we all love them so much!

[IndigoBug1987]

Yeah I thought that too about the rosys i got at petco but when i bought some more at the bait shop (horrible i know) They were MUCH bigger. One was too big for Slithers to eat. Most of them are 1 1/2inches long and are thick too. At first Slithers ate about 5 of the smaller ones in one day, the next day he ate four. The petco rosys were less than one inch long. I ran out of the tiny ones so now he's eating two of the bigger minnows a day. He doesn't have any problem with them when he eats. (except for that one particular minnow that actually survived, lol)

[jitami]

Gorgeous snake :)

[IndigoBug1987]

thanks! :)

[IndigoBug1987]

Hey James, you said you thought my snake was a parietalis. Is that the same as a red-sided garter? I looked some up but they all have bright red scales on their sides. I can't see any red on Slithers. Does that make he a she? I'm confused., i only see the yellow stripes and the greyish black in between.

Oh, I don't know if you can see in the picture very good but after Slithers shed this week his head turned an olive color instead of black. :)

[ssssnakeluvr]

Hey James, you said you thought my snake was a parietalis. Is that the same as a red-sided garter? I looked some up but they all have bright red scales on their sides. I can't see any red on Slithers. Does that make he a she? I'm confused., i only see the yellow stripes and the greyish black in between.

Oh, I don't know if you can see in the picture very good but after Slithers shed this week his head turned an olive color instead of black. :)
looks like a parietalis to me to...yes, parietalis is the red sided garter....they have varying amounts of red...from minimal to lots!

[IndigoBug1987]

Mine has only the slightest hint of red if the light hits him just right, but does that make any difference in boy or girl?

[ssssnakeluvr]

sex makes no difference in the color of the snakes

[mtolypetsupply]

Hey there! Congrats on slithers, he/she's adorable! :)

[infernalis]

Slithers looks very much like a she;)

[guidofatherof5]

Great looking snake.

[IndigoBug1987]

Thanks! But how can you tell just by looking? Like what gives you the impression that Slithers is a girl? I'm really curious!

[infernalis]

The overall shape and size:D

If you go back and read what others have said, the word "she" had been used by "Snakeman";)

My girls are nearly twice the size of my boys.

[adamanteus]

I also think Slithers is a girl. As to the degree of red in a parietalis.... very misleading common name 'Red Sided'. I have two with no red at all!:)

[IndigoBug1987]

huh cool! :)

[IndigoBug1987]

I have another question! How old does Slithers look to be?

[infernalis]

I have another question! How old does Slithers look to be?


Adult:)

Seriously, One cannot tell exact age by size or color.

If I were to guess I'd say at least 18 months... And that is not anything more than a guess.

[drache]

very nice snake - congrats
I'd missed this thread (been busy, sorry)
and I too think, just from the photo, that it's likely to be a female red-sided