new to garters a few questions

[diane1888]

Hi I don't have a garter yet I have a corn but am seriously considering a garter as my next snake.just tryin to research as much as poss. Could u pls tell me how often u feed young and adult and how much and if the 48 hour no handling after feeding rule applys to them ? Thankyou all. Di

[Stefan-A]

Young ones about 2-3 times per week, adults 1-2 times. How much to feed is a tricky question and there are as many "recipes" as there are garter keepers. Some things, like fish and earthworms, you can almost feed them as much as they'll eat, but mice have roughly twice the energy content of fish, so I recommend that you be a bit more careful with that. Maybe one mouse with a weight of 5-10% of the snake's weight, per 7 days. Just a rule of thumb.

[infernalis]

Great advice from Stefan, Handling right after eating is a subject that will get many different opinions, I like to give them a day or two to digest so they don't regurgitate.

[diane1888]

Thanks to both of you. Glad to hear it wasn't just me getting confused about all the recipes lol

[ConcinusMan]

Diane:

Plenty of info here: http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets/index.php?title=Main_Page#General_Care_Sheets

I recommend reading as much of this as possible, then posting your questions to get feedback and individual experiences and opinions. There are lot's of different opinions and lots of different experiences with lots of different species. The above link is a great place to get you started off on the right foot.

The people here have a wealth of knowledge and experience to add in addition to the info provided in the link. (Not to mention, they are some darn fine people, with the finest garter snakes in the world)