Little help... new snake

[Squeaky10199]

Hey i posted about how i wanted to get a baby garter for a new pet and i did.. Found him/her about a week ago. Anyways, i figured i would try and feed it a worm two days later but it didnt eat. I wasnt worried because i know it was probably stressed. So yesterday i thought i would try to feed it a couple of rosy red minnows and it wasnt interested either. So my question is, how do i get this little fella to eat? Another thing, it is only about 8 inches or so. Thanks for any and all help.

[guidofatherof5]

Guppies are safe. Rosy reds are not a good food for Garter snakes. Check out the forum homepage and look at the care sheet about thiamin,thiaminase,& Goldfish
Be patient, some take longer than others to start eating. Offer food often. She/he will eat when they get hungry. 8 inches sounds like a young one. Have you identifies what you have? Can you post a photo. As a rule Garters aren't shy about eating but my experience is with T.radix only. Posting a photo might help with some feeding options.

[gregmonsta]

Do you know what it was feeding on before or is it a wild caught snake?

[drache]

I'd try worm again, but make sure it's not a red wiggler or relative

[snakeman]

You CAN feed your snake rosy reds if it is all it will take.Eventually you can get it to switch to pinks.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

You CAN feed your snake rosy reds if it is all it will take.Eventually you can get it to switch to pinks.

to some extent I will agree with this. If there is absolutely nothing else available, and ALL the snake will eat is these, 1 or 2 feedings of these to get it switched onto something else will save their life in the long run. I'd rather see it this way, than a dead starved snake. Joanna actually started her blacknecks on rosies because they would not touch anything else, and I had to use them to switch them over to other foods. No other fish worked, it had to be the rosies. Eventually All I needed was one dead rosy in the freezer to rub other foods on. Now they take their salmon gelatin pinkies and trout strips eagerly.

[k2l3d4]

Hey i posted about how i wanted to get a baby garter for a new pet and i did.. Found him/her about a week ago. Anyways, i figured i would try and feed it a worm two days later but it didnt eat. I wasnt worried because i know it was probably stressed. So yesterday i thought i would try to feed it a couple of rosy red minnows and it wasnt interested either. So my question is, how do i get this little fella to eat? Another thing, it is only about 8 inches or so. Thanks for any and all help.


My lady was very picky when I first got her '(what am i talking about she is still picky) She likes to haver fish alive when she eats.. I get a couple from the store and just throw them in her water bowl.... I guess she just likes to go fishing. :D

[snakeman]

I started pretty much every garter I have ever had on rosys.I have had over a hundred.Yes they are a bad long term food source.If your snake is on rosys for three months I would not worry about it.Before I even knew about the vitamin problem.I have had them on rosys for six month spans with no ill effects.Except for one blackneck.

[drache]

pretty much all of the garters I had, except some born to my females, have most reliably responded to rosies
switching them to f/t pinks is not so hard
the method I found most consistently successful is the one whereby one puts the minnows in very little water along with the dead rodents; even with my most stubborn live food eater, it took only about five feedings before she ignored the live fish in favour of the dead pinks, and the first two times I was so disheartened, because she'd grabbed the rodent and spit it out
with her I had to split brain the pink and serve them with salmon strips for a few feedings once I took the minnows and water away

[Squeaky10199]

well the snake is wild caught, so i tried a worm yesterday and no luck. If she/he doesnt take food soon what should i do? Im going to try to change the substrate to carpet because right now it is on coconut brick. I will try to get a pic but the little one is shy. Thanks.

[gregmonsta]

You'll just have to perservere and try and work out what she was eating locally. Amphibians might be worth a shot :) but she might also still be stressed by adjusting to the captive environment. Best to disturb her as little as possible until the feeding picks up.

[ssssnakeluvr]

it can take up to a couple weeks for the snake to adjust to captivity....

[guidofatherof5]

Guppies in a shallow clear glass bowl. Just enough water to let the fish splash around seems to work wonders on subborn eaters.
As Don stated, it could also take a couple of weeks for them to settle in and start eating.

[Odie]

it can take up to a couple weeks for the snake to adjust to captivity.... Yes 2 to 3 weeks they seem to calm down :cool:

[bkhuff1s]

Here is what I do... Take a bag of guppies (about 10) and drain all but about a tea spoons worth of the water out, stick the thawed pinky into the bag swish the pinky around in with the fish, then dump all of it in the cage. The jumping fish should attract the snakes attention, and the snake will accidentally attack the pinky or smell the pinky and eat it because the pinky smells like the fish

[Squeaky10199]

thanks for the help!