Emergency!

[Holly]

So I had managed to get a pretty large number of slugs and worms stashed away for Noodle and had been keeping them in the fridge while feeding him a small slug or half a worm every second day and I believe I had enough to last him until spring.

Well, my husband fed Noodle in the morning and forgot to put the container back into the fridge, he left it on the coffee table in our toasty warm apartment where it continued to sit until 2 days later when it was time to feed Noodle again and I couldn't find the container. When I found it everything in it was mush, nothing salvageable at all.

I've checked every bait shop around and they all tell me they don't get worms past October so I feel my only option is to brumate Noodle.

How do I go about doing this? I'm afraid I'll accidentally freeze him or something.

Or if anyone is around the Toronto area and knows where to get worms then that would be even better!

Help!

[Holly]

I've tried silk worms and butter worms and he had no interest in them

[guidofatherof5]

Walmart sell night crawlers. Do you have one of those near you?

[Holly]

Not one that has a fish or reptile department

[Holly]

I've tried every pet store and they said try a bait shop and every bait shop said no worms

[guidofatherof5]

Not one that has a fish or reptile department

It's in their Sporting Goods Dept.

[guidofatherof5]

Have you tried any salmon or tilapia?

[drache]

is worms the only food he'll eat?

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

walmart sells worms in their fishing/hunting/sports section... mine still has them here!!!

[Holly]

Do you think he would eat salmon or tilapia? How do I prepare it for him? He's a Dekayi though, not a garter. He eats slugs and worms, I tried snails on him and he wouldn't touch them. I managed to scrounge up 2 small worms Tuesday night just minutes before it snowed again but everything is pretty much frozen now. How long do you think he can go?

I might have to resort to ordering worms online, I just don't know that they could get here before Christmas.

[guidofatherof5]

Sorry, I forgot that he was a dekayi. Salmon and tilapia are out.
You didn't answer. Does your Walmart carry worms in their Sporting good dept.?
You may be forced to brumate. I'm getting ready to put all my dekayis down for the Winter.

[Holly]

Walmarts in Canada don't carry guns and ammo. They have a small camping section as far as I can tell, plus a bit of fishing stuff but no counter over there.

[guidofatherof5]

Walmarts in Canada don't carry guns and ammo. They have a small camping section as far as I can tell, plus a bit of fishing stuff but no counter over there.


Here(US) the worms are kept in a small self serve refrigerator. It might be worth checking into. Without a food source you will be forced to chill them down.

[drache]

here's something I just thought of, but I don't know dekayis, so I don't know . . .
my ringneck was willing to eat blackworms or bloodworms out of a water dish. they're very small, but they're usually available at aquarium stores, and it's protein

[Holly]

Here(US) the worms are kept in a small self serve refrigerator. It might be worth checking into. Without a food source you will be forced to chill them down.


I don't really think so but I could go check, my mom is going to go to her local bait and tackle and fedex me a couple dozen worms. She is 3 hours North of me and she said they usually have them year round, that they have there own worm farm, even if they don't sell the worms in the winter I know he will sell them to my mom since he's family. I guess the bait shops in the city just get them from suppliers instead of keeping there own stock going.

[guidofatherof5]

I don't really think so but I could go check, my mom is going to go to her local bait and tackle and fedex me a couple dozen worms. She is 3 hours North of me and she said they usually have them year round, that they have there own worm farm, even if they don't sell the worms in the winter I know he will sell them to my mom since he's family. I guess the bait shops in the city just get them from suppliers instead of keeping there own stock going.

Great, sounds like they will have some food, now.

[Holly]

Hopefully she can get them here before Christmas, poor little guy hasn't eaten since Tuesday!

[drache]

Hopefully she can get them here before Christmas, poor little guy hasn't eaten since Tuesday!
I'm so glad to hear you've got worms coming, and don't worry about him going without food for a couple of weeks or so - he's a snake after all - he'll be totally fine

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

wow, blackworms is a REALLY good idea... I am going to try those the next time I come across newborn redbellies here!

[stonyloam]

Where do you get your slugs in the summer, under bark and debris on the ground? Slugs overwinter as eggs, so you could try to collect some soil from where you know they hang out and try to hatch some out in a container with some lettuce or other greens. The eggs are little round gelatinous things, and you might be able to find some stuck to the underside of rotten bark and stuff. It might not work, but then again it might. You could become “Holly the slug queen” Admittedly not the most regal title but your snake would eat well.:D

[Holly]

Canada+December=Frozen tundra and frost

Far too late in the year to find anything at all. Luckily we had a late start to the winter and I did have quite a few slugs and I had scooped some eggs as well, but the whole container went to mush.

[Holly]

Worms have arrived! 2 dozen in the styrofoam containers you get them in for fishing. They look a bit sad, they've used up most of the dirt in their little containers. How should I set them up so they last me a while? Is there anyway to gutload them?

[drache]

I've been meaning to read the worm book I got
perhaps by tomorrow I can give you useful info, but somebody else here can probably beat me to it

[ConcinusMan]

Gutload? I don't know of anything worms would live on that would be good for garters. In fact, I always fasted my worms before I fed them to the snakes, or else I just force push the gunk out of their insides first.

[guidofatherof5]

Gutload? I don't know of anything worms would live on that would be good for garters. In fact, I always fasted my worms before I fed them to the snakes, or else I just force push the gunk out of their insides first.

Keep in mind, what is in their gut can also be beneficial to the snake. The worm has already broken it down into more usable size. The calcium they need comes from the ground and the worm delivers it.

[ConcinusMan]

Yeah, whatever. All the worms I ever fed them were full of rotting leaf litter. But anyway, if you're feeding them pinky's they're getting some calcium. Also fed adult concinnus whole, live (or frozen thawed) pacific tree frogs. Got calcium in them bones too. Worms weren't a staple for my adult concinnus anyway. Just a treat when I happened across a fat night crawler. Neonates got a dusting of calc. supplement on their chopped up worms every now and then. When they got a little older and stronger, they got tree frog legs occasionally. Again, them bones got calcium. Of course, I would "snap" them up a bit, making sure the leg bones were busted up good.

[drache]

I would "snap" them up a bit, making sure the leg bones were busted up good.
you probably never had a problem with this, but I thought I'd mention that it's better to leave the long bones long and let the garter figure out how to arrange them. I almost lost a snake to a bone segment lodged side-ways above the lungs. Fortunately a snake friend got it worked up and out.

[Holly]

Do you think it would be good if I switched their dirt? It looks like they've used it all up and I want to make sure they live as long as possible and are actually healthy to feed to my snake. I don't want to feed him worms void of nutrients.

[ConcinusMan]

probably. You can also keep the worms very cold (but above freezing) and they should require less food to stay alive that way. I'm wondering if it would hurt to just freeze them and thaw as needed.

[Holly]

I'm keeping them in the fridge right now.

[stonyloam]

Holly, try this stuff: www.MidwestHuntersOutlet.com: Magic Fishing Buss 0002 Worm Bedding 2Lb Bg (http://www.midwesthuntersoutlet.com/item.aspx?PID=140620&w=PQ%2BJDyOLrQE%3D) you should be able to find it anyplace they sell fishing stuff.

[drache]

yeah - these people have some too - not sure how it compares
Cabela's -- Frabill Fat & Sassy&#8482 Worm Bedding (http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0030418120191a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntk=Product_liberal&QueryText=worm+bedding&sort=all&Go.y=0&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form23&Go.x=0&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1)

[Holly]

Hhmmm. I have organic pesticide free potting soil, cocofibre and sphagnum moss on hand right now as part of my frog and gecko supplies. Do you think that would do?

[brigirtru]

I love alligator lizards! Here is my favorite sighting for 2009! It's a Shasta Alligator Lizard (Elgaria coerulea shastensis) from Denny, CA in Trinity County

[ConcinusMan]

Maybe you meant to post that in another thread? ^^^