Post any feeding tips (needed for WC adult)

[Calift]

The dog-injured garter is still with me, and has yet to eat. It's been three weeks. I've offered f/t pinkies, rat pups, and fresh worms. I also have mealworms available and can try to catch any other native insects outside.
I'm willing to try a fish recipe too, though I doubt he's eaten fish in the past.


I've never had a garter not eat for so long for me- any tips on how to coax him to eat? His tank is spacious, and the proper temps/humidity. :confused::)

[Calift]

Oh, and the snake is otherwise normal and active. Injuries are looking the same, as he has not shed yet.

[Tyrel26]

put some live dace minnows in the water dish or some live tadpoles and just leave him alone for a while. That usually works for me.

[infernalis]

Please NO insects.... Tadpoles or newts will usually get a feeding response.

Garters do not eat insects.

[Tyrel26]

NEWTS??? Ive been trying to find just 1 and you have enough to feed a snake? lol I wanted one as a pet

[infernalis]

NEWTS??? Ive been trying to find just 1 and you have enough to feed a snake? lol I wanted one as a pet

I am spoiled, I own several acres of swampy wetlands, so these food items are plentiful.

[charles parenteau]

Frogs ,toad,worm ,fish are the only food for wild adult garter snake!!!rodent are not in their diet!...

[Stefan-A]

Frogs ,toad,worm ,fish are the only food for wild adult garter snake!!!rodent are not in their diet!...
They are, if we're talking about T. sirtalis and T. elegans, or some of the other generalists.

[Jeff B]

Yeah I would agree, many adults of many species/subspecies of garters will eat rodents if they happen across a nest of babies or youngsters in the wild, granted they aren't likely to subdue an adult mouse although I have heard of that happening as well with a captive radix I believe. Frogs, toads, fish, worms and other amphibians make up the majority of the diets but you can't completely discount mice as a natural prey item.

[guidofatherof5]

Yeah I would agree, many adults of many species/subspecies of garters will eat rodents if they happen across a nest of babies or youngsters in the wild, granted they aren't likely to subdue an adult mouse although I have heard of that happening as well with a captive radix I believe. Frogs, toads, fish, worms and other amphibians make up the majority of the diets but you can't completely discount mice as a natural prey item.

I know that my large females(radix) would take a live or dead mouse. The fight would be on.
I would never try a live one for fear one of my girls would get injured.

I would think that my suburban radixes have ample opportunities to get young mice. I've had wild caught radixes refuse fish but take pinkies in a heartbeat. No scenting, just pinkies.

[infernalis]

My big eastern gal.......

http://www.danceswithreptiles.com/PG1/images/di2mouse.jpg

[bkhuff1s]

My tip would be to go with live fish, but don't put them in the water, just let them flop around. After I got my first pair of puget's, I tried to feed them for weeks, even fish in the water. I was close to giving up when I put them in the cage,with the fish flopping around the garters went nuts. I'm pretty sure I saw the male twitch a few times, because he didn't know which one to eat first. :)

[ConcinusMan]

So, are we talking about a WC eastern or red-sided? If so, go for live fish in the water dish like bk said. Or a small frog or salamander if you can get one. you could even cut up a large frog if need be. Also, might be good to put the food in a hide for privacy. Some snakes just won't eat when you're all in their face, making them nervous. It's just with WC snakes, sometimes you just have to find the right food. The food that they are used to. You can gradually get them to eat other foods eventually, by mixing with their regular, familiar food. In the mean time, you need to find out what their favorite food is, put it in there and give them time and privacy.

Insects and mealworms are out of the question. Even if they did eat them, it's not good for them at all. In fact, it can cause a fatal impaction.

[charles parenteau]

I know that eastern eat rodent sometime ....but I think the best way to start feeding adult especially if it wild caught ...you should star with their main diet...

When I was 12 ,I caught a huge female eastern 110cm(my biggest of all time)
I put the snake in a container with a smaller one,few minutes later beleive or not this snake was eating the other one,I tried to pull the snake out of her mouth ,she grab my thumb and ate it completly i was unable to do anything,didnt want to kill this snake.Finally she release me,I bleed for at least 2 hours and had scard for few years!!!I had 2 friend with me and they still remember it..
I kept the snake for a while and I never encounter a eastern garter like her...
I caught I mouse in my neighbour house,but the mouse alive in the vivarium,the snake jump on the mouse and eat it alive and crush it everywhere in the cage like Indigo snake do...it happen few time.When small bird knock out in the windows i give the bird to this garter and without any hesitation jump on the bird and ate it....insane

I put few red belly snake(storeria occipitomaculata o)in the cage and one by one she ate it just like they were worms!!!!!she ate a small garter snake also.
I though that it was normal for garter snake to act like this,but it never never happen to me again to experience things like that...(most of my friend still remember this snake it was over 18 years ago).
I think when garter snake reach this size it become more and more open to any food source they can overpower ....this is an old story but that make me love garter snake and honestly I will love them forever!!!

[Holly]

I think if they get big enough they would eat anything they could take down. When I was a kid we kept rabbits and we had a big snake get into a hutch and pick off a couple new babies before the mother rabbit took it down. I'm pretty sure it was a garter.

[ConcinusMan]

Frogs ,toad,worm ,fish are the only food for wild adult garter snake!!!rodent are not in their diet!...

I wouldn't quite go so far as to say that. I used to think the same thing not so long ago. I have a red stripe gravid female ordinoides, you know, the worm lovers. Now granted, she's been a very enthusiastic eater from the start and must have ate a dozen night crawlers in 10 days but after a 5 day fast, I took a frozen pinky, made a few cuts in it, then thawed it in a bag. I offered her this bloody pinky yesterday and she chowed, practically taking my finger with it, then she begged for more.:cool:

My male hypoery concinnus has also accepted pinkies, as well as silversides and night crawlers. Shannon reported to me that the anery concinnus pair I sent her, chowed down on fuzzies.

Bottom line is, when you have a wild snake that is refusing to eat, you need to offer many possible foods until you find one that it will take. A good place to start, is where the snake was found. Find food items from that area. You can always slowly wean them off of that food they take, and on to other foods. My Amy (radix) refused to eat pinky parts so I first scented them with fish, which she loves. Slowly but surely, I fed her more pinky parts. Now she chows on unscented pinky parts, no problem.

[redspot]

I was out herping in Spokane WA and herd a mouse squeeking like crazy, figuring something must have it so I checked it out. I figured it was a Gopher snake but low and behold It was Thamnophis. Sorry the pics suck as the snake was dragging the mouse away.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb201/tokaysrnice/herping/DSC01614.jpg

I also encountered a concinnus the other day that regurged a carrion rabbits foot, I should have kept that one as maybe it ate a lucky rabbits foot...and was going to drop all wierd babies.

[charles parenteau]

very nice picture its awesome!!!
My friend have over 20 years experience reproduce eastern garter snake
sirtalis sirtalis and he fed his garter exclusively with rodent for a while,long term it's not good ....he and i don't use trout jellow exclusively also...

When he start at first he was feeding with their natural diet and this for few years everything was fine.But he start feeding them with rodent because it was easy for him to provide food ...too many problems that take time to notice I mean few generation to understand what going on ....
And he dont use rodent anymore and thoses problem are gone.
Smaller litter,birth defect,as they grow up bones don't developpe as they should(will find pictures),I will ask him more infos about it.If you have only few garter snake maybe it will never happen ,but when you have over 50 garter the problem become easy to see.

we return to frogs,toad,fish,salamander,worms...
Do you own experiences ....

[Snakeknot]

A have a wild caught garter and she's a voracious eater of salamanders. ( Can't wait to get her on SOMETHING ELSE! ) But watching the show of her snatching the sal and retreating backwards into her hide is better than watching a movie! I live in the woods and sals like to hide under rotting logs.

Devon

[bkhuff1s]

I think feeding on a broad basis helps. I get salmon (from wal-mart) and cut it up to appropriate lengths, then take a couple of scopes from the reptile vitamin mix i buy, and two pinkies. This makes sure that my pair each gets a pinky, along with enough calcium and vitamins. Now I own 3.4 I'm sure I will have to increase that, but you get the general idea. Variance helps keep their diet under control. I know I couldn't live off of hot dogs. Although it would be cheaper :)

[redspot]

I would venture to guess Garters could live a full life off hot dogs.

All my concinnus took quail, salmon, mice and rats tonight.

[infernalis]

A few of my bigger female garters just love rat pinks.

[ConcinusMan]

Great photo of a gorgeous T. s. fitchii you got there, Redspot.
I agree with you bkhuff1s, variance in the diet is very important. I wouldn't feed a garter an all-rodent diet any more that I would feed them just salamanders. Yes, the fish, frogs, worms diet is fine as a staple but if your snake will take them, scented or not, give them pinkies too. Rodents should be just a part of a good diet.

A wild-caught garter will have food preferences based on what it finds in it's immediate habitat. I noticed that the concinnus I've kept that I got from basically a swamp, flat refused to eat rodents their entire lives. They preferred frogs worms and fish. Another concinnus from a different area, more heavily wooded with streams passing through it, readily took pinkies but only occasionally accepts fish.

I try to vary the diet as much as possible. I know some garters can be picky and hard to find a variety of items they will eat. I try to avoid supplements, especially "multi" formulas since it's too easy to throw off the calcium to phosphorus ratio. Too much of certain vitamins CAUSE vitamin deficiencies by blocking absorption of other vitamins. For example, just one vitamin, phosphorus, is often too high in multi supplements. Too much phosphorus and it won't matter how much calcium and D you give your snake as it won't be absorbed. Fatty vitamins such as E, are stored in the liver and released as needed. Supplements for those non soluble vitamins should be avoided.

If you're feeding pinkies once a week, or even just once a month, your snake is getting enough calcium, and E, and a lot of other vitamins. There's no need to supplement. Be careful with those reptile vitamin mixes. I've seen people love their reptiles to death with supplements.

With a varied diet including rodent food, you don't need supplements! They should only be used sparingly, about once a month, and only when you know your snake's diet is deficient such as an all-fish, or all-salamander diet would be.

Some nutritional info:

http://www.house-of-reptiles.com/feedervertebrates.pdf

[charles parenteau]

When I have a good deal on pinkies.I buy it and yes swometime I do feed my garter snakes with pinky but its a very small part of their food!!!

[drache]

A few of my bigger female garters just love rat pinks.
a few of my bigger garters chow down rat pups
does that mean my bigger garters are bigger than yours?
wow - I hardly ever end up in the "bigger" realm; this might be the first time ever

[guidofatherof5]

a few of my bigger garters chow down rat pups
does that mean my bigger garters are bigger than yours?
wow - I hardly ever end up in the "bigger" realm; this might be the first time ever


Oh yeah, well
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/bumper_sticker1.jpg

[ConcinusMan]

And, they are highly trained mind-control ninja's. ^^^ Beat that.

[Laura]

Taken the advice of many and am mixing up Lola's food. On a salmon feed how much should I give her? Like how many 1cm cubes would be sufficient :)

[bkhuff1s]

I cut mine into slices, about as thick as the middle of their body a couple inches long.

[bkhuff1s]

1. Insert food into mouth
2. Chew
3. Swallow

*That joke has been haunting me for about a month I finally cracked

[Laura]

Lol oh dear, that joke was terrible :P

[bkhuff1s]

Agreed. A little cheese is good every now and then.

[Laura]

especially if its brie :D

[ConcinusMan]

"Chew" ? I don't think the snakes are listening to that advice.

[bkhuff1s]

Believe it or not, but one of my new snakes will not take a piece of salmon, unless it's in small pieces, as in I have to shred it. So it looks like she like's to chew her salmon

[ConcinusMan]

What looks like chewing for snakes, is actually swallowing. I've been told my snakes stink, among other things, but never have I had one accused of "smacking" or chewing with it's mouth open.:p