garter question

[red-side1]

How do I get my snakes eating anything other than leeches??

[guidofatherof5]

Mix nightcrawlers and/or pinkies with your leeches. Make sure the pinkies /worms make good contact with the leeches. Hopefully when you offer this mix to your snake it will grab some of the non-leech items. You can slowly reduce the amount of leeches and before you know it you've got your snake converted off leeches.
Your snake is a T.s.parietalis(red-sided), right?

[justme]

For switching over to f/t pinkies, I slice the pinkies into thin strips. As your snake is devouring his favorite food item (leech), slip the "thin" pinkie strip over the tail end of the food item going down your snakes mouth.., so it overlaps slightly. The trick is to get some of the pinkie strip into your snake's mouth before he shuts it. He will soon learn that "Hey, pinky flesh tastes good after all!" and will soon accept it on it's own. I have used this method with a wild caught who was a problem feeder (only accepts frogs) and did not take well to scenting. Goodluck!

[justme]

Sorry, forgot to add, that the method I'm suggesting, is if all else fails. ;-)

[drache]

welcome to the forum
where the heck do you get leeches?
I know so little about them, I wouldn't know whether they have a strong enough smell to use for scenting other items
but knowing that they're full of blood when they're gut-loaded would lead me to try giving them a pinky that's been sliced open to expose the blood