Greetings from Michigan

[Selkielass]

Hello, Thought I should introduce myself- this is the first reptile forum I've joined, but I've kept reptiles off and on for years (Turtles, anoles, chameleons and short-term garter snakes and toads.) Last week, while working my beehives, I found a young Garter snake under a hive I was moving. It started to run, but I picked it up and handed it to my son, who was enthralled. 'Aberforth' came home and was soon set up in an old 5 gallon acrylic aquarium I'm here for tips on keeping her(?) comfortable and *hopefully* coaxing her to eat soon. (Crickets, Guppies and worms have failed to impress so far.) Aberforth is an 11' common Eastern Garter snake who was caught in a meadow on the edge of a damp, swampy area that only has standing water during very moist times of the year. She's been a real charmer- calm and easy to handle, but the food thing has me concerned.

[infernalis]

http://www.thamfriends.com/mat.jpg

now we can talk YAY!

[mustang]

fixed it?!
welcome!!!!!
nice job of copy and paste (see above)

[infernalis]

Here is what you missed so far....


Throw out the crickets. Garters don't eat them.
Guppies and earthworms/night crawlers are good. A week without food is nothing to a garter snake. Give it some more time and it will probably start eating.
Tell us about your setup for your son's new buddy.
Almost forgot. WELCOME.


The first post was made in the wanted section so no replies could be made.
http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/wanted/7150-breeder-michigan.html (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/wanted/7150-breeder-michigan.html)


Steve- Did you have trouble replying to her thread? I did, so Ill post here...

Welcome from a fellow Michigainian Ellen! Steve is right, give it time and the little guy will probably be a great pet.
I went to the reptile show in Taylor last week, someone had a whole litter of checkered garters $15 each. And I think I know of someone who may be expecting blackneck garters in the future.

Welcome to your newest addiction! :D


crickets BBBBAAAAADDDD very bad idea trust me...(i have to repeat this many many times at petco now that the cool manager left and the idiots in charge of killn em)(no selkielass this does not mean your an idiot (only the idiots at petco are idiots))

[Hollis_Steed]

Welcome Michigan, from Utah!

[Selkielass]

Whee! Thanks for the fast replies! (I've been looking at all the pretty pictures around the site and reading lots of tips and fact sheets.) Current set up is a 5 gallon tank with paper towel substrate, 2 dishes (one for water and one for the food-du-jour.) and a chunk of wood to climb on and hide under. Tank has a custom lid and inner lid, which I've made reptile proof. Temp with just the light on seems to be in the 80's. She just molted a few days ago. (Found the skin when we cleaned out the starter sphagnum moss and rejected crickets) Could this be contributing to her lack of appetite?

[guidofatherof5]

She's been a real charmer- calm and easy to handle, but the food thing has me concerned.

No need for concern, yet.
Some need an adjustment time before they start eating.
Ditch the crickets. Keep the guppies and earth worm/ night crawlers.
Here's a link to the care sheet. A lot of good info. there.
Garter Snake Care Sheet - Caresheets (http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets/index.php?title=Garter_Snake_Care_Sheet)

[Charis]

Hello & welcome from Idaho! Sometimes snakes will refuse food while in shed. It's an individual thing & not all snakes will. But adjusting to it's new home & being in shed probably are the reasons it hasn't eaten yet.

[Napta]

Welcome !

[drache]

welcome to the forum

[Mommy2many]

Welcome from Connecticut.

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard. :)

[Selkielass]

Status report- She still hasn't eaten.
Have tried Crickets, guppies, minnows, garden worms, nightcrawlers, and she has a couple garden slugs sharing her vivarium right now.
Problem is all the slugs in my area seem to be monsters- found four tonight and they are all this size; http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/sluggy.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

Status report- She still hasn't eaten.
Have tried Crickets, guppies, minnows, garden worms, nightcrawlers, and she has a couple garden slugs sharing her vivarium right now.
Problem is all the slugs in my area seem to be monsters- found four tonight and they are all this size; http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/sluggy.jpg

Remember, Ditch the crickets. They don't eat them.

[Selkielass]

Ditched them the day after. I've been trying one new food a day.
Now if I can only get her over her shyness about eating.

[guidofatherof5]

Ditched them the day after. I've been trying one new food a day.
Now if I can only get her over her shyness about eating.

You are over a big hurdle. The scrub is eating. It's all down hill from here.
Before you know it you'll be eating out of your snakes hands(metaphorically speaking) Wait, I meant your snake will be eating out of your hands. No, I was right the first time:D

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, Selkielass :)

[ConcinusMan]

Hey selkielass, sometimes a garter wants to eat but is too "freaked out" by the giant offering the food. I have a northwestern garter that just won't eat most of the time unless she has privacy from me and other snakes. Sometimes I just take her out of her tank and put her in a (escape proof) box by herself with some food and give her 20 minutes or so of complete privacy. I come back and she has eaten all of it. The rest of my garters could care less and eat out of my hand.

Sometimes it can take a week or even three to adjust to captivity. If the snake seems sturdy and not thin you have time. Don't worry too much about a few weeks as long as there is no obvious rapid weight loss.

Best time to offer food is after the snake has started it's day, warmed up fully to about 80-85 degrees. That's when they naturally start foraging for food. Full spectrum lighting helps.

Keep in mind that if a snake is nervous or uncomfortable, feeding response may be inhibited. Concentrate on making sure the snake feels secure and comfortable. Perhaps make a little cardboard box hide for the snake and warm it up in the morning. Let it go into it's hide and place the food in there. I guess what I'm getting at is the snake is more likely to eat if it's warmed up and feels safe. If it's darting around and scared of you, it's not going to eat even if it's hungry.

[Selkielass]

thanks so much for your thoughtful reply!

We hanve a 10 gallon tank set up for her in the living room furnished with a well baked russian olive branch, a heavy crystal ashtray of water (Grandma would probably be bemused to see waterford 'wasted' on a snake, but this is a non smoking hose, so this is the first use its seen in years.) a small slab of slate for sunning and a homemade coconut shell hide. Reflector light over the rick brings the temperature on that side of the habitat up to 90 degrees.

She's definitely not darting around in a panic. She spent most of her time curled up in her hide with just her head poking out, watching. She came out for a while when the living room was relatively quiet, but retreated into her house when things got a little louder.

I've had the best luck getting her to eat by dropping a worm in, then leaving the room for a while- she doesn't seem to want an audience.

I'm very hopeful. She is very mild mannered and calm when handled- perfect temperament so far for a family pet.

I'll get out my jewelers scale and weigh her later, and see about another photo session. (The last photos failed to upload to the computer for some reason.)
She's quite plain colored compared to all the fancies I see people showing off around here, but her 'conformation' is lovely. She has a sweet face and a most elegant, delicate, smoothly tapering tail. (Thus my guess that its a she.)

[gartermorphs]

She's quite plain colored compared to all the fancies I see people showing off around here, but her 'conformation' is lovely. She has a sweet face and a most elegant, delicate, smoothly tapering tail. (Thus my guess that its a she.)


no garter snake is truly plain colored there all unique!

[Selkielass]

Pictures at Last!

A Boy and his First snake.
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/Jays_snake.jpg

A calm little Eastern Garter snake.
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/dcp_1322.jpg

Boy or girl you think?
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/dcp_1317.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

I think the one in the shirt and pants is a boy:D

Looks to me like you've got a pretty little girl Eastern there.

[Selkielass]

Well DUH!!! (/smirk)

[guidofatherof5]

Very nice looking snake. Seems to have calmed down nicely.

[Selkielass]

Calm yes, but still not feeding like I'd like her to.
She is eating, and pooping, but I want to see her eating more.

[guidofatherof5]

Calm yes, but still not feeding like I'd like her to.
She is eating, and pooping, but I want to see her eating more.

I think in time she'll be eating great.
The big hurdle is getting them to eat at all.
Relax, shell eat more when she's ready.:)
You're doing a good job.

[Selkielass]

She just at around 10 Small Guppies!
(Tank overpopulation problem solved!)
She won't go for them in a dish of water, but I tried your trick of letting them flip around on the substrate- she went for them like wow!
I'm using a bamboo skewer to 'herd' them toward her- I'm hoping she will learn to follow the skewer to dead food.

[guidofatherof5]

She just at around 10 Small Guppies!
(Tank overpopulation problem solved!)
She won't go for them in a dish of water, but I tried your trick of letting them flip around on the substrate- she went for them like wow!
I'm using a bamboo skewer to 'herd' them toward her- I'm hoping she will learn to follow the skewer to dead food.

If she's hungry enough she'll go for them in the water dish. Most garters love to go fishing.
I have some that bite at the water when I pour it in their water dish. I love to watch mine when it's fishing time.

[mustang]

oh lol waterford ?! ur snakes got a small home but stuff worth stealn!

[Selkielass]

Lol, yeah!
Its a gorgeous ash tray, and weighs a ton, so it makes an awesome snake dish.
Funny thing is I caught my snake not far from the town of 'Waterford' MI.