Feeding issues

[untoucheclipse]

i have a question. My garter hasent ate anything for three weeks now, he shows interest at the flopping fish but he only strikes once then kinda does his own thing and ignores the fish. He wont eat dead fish either??
can anyone shed a little light on what i should be doing :D
thank you

[Selkielass]

Some people have said their snakes go off food for a while in late summer-others have snakes that eat like pigs until cool weather hits.
A lot seems to depend on the individual, and the type of garter it is.
It will probably help the experts if you let us know what type of garter you have, its size, history (Wild or captive bred.) and if it is acting otherwise normally.

[guidofatherof5]

Some people have said their snakes go off food for a while in late summer-others have snakes that eat like pigs until cool weather hits.
A lot seems to depend on the individual, and the type of garter it is.
It will probably help the experts if you let us know what type of garter you have, its size, history (Wild or captive bred.) and if it is acting otherwise normally.

Great reply. ;)

[ConcinusMan]

Exactly.

I've never had any of my snakes routinely go off of food in the summer. Heck, most of them don't even go off of food when they're gravid until a few days before giving birth, and for about a week after.

[untoucheclipse]

sorry guys, im from british columbia canada i think its a Thamnophis sirtalis

[guidofatherof5]

sorry guys, im from british columbia canada i think its a Thamnophis sirtalis

If you are in a seasonal change that might explain it. Maybe your snake is coming into a shed.
It hasn't been off food very long so I wouldn't worry too much.
Keep offering food on a regular basis and he'll start eating again soon.
3 weeks isn't a very long time for him to go without food.
We usually panic when they do this but as long as he's acting normal and his weight isn't dropping of quickly I would just mark this time down and start tracking his eating habits.
He'll probably do the same thing next year at this time.
Best of luck.
Keep us informed.

[Mommy2many]

I have posted recently that all of my snakes have shown little or no interest in food for the past few weeks. It has alternated between being very hot & humid to nice and cool (right now). I know that my big girl did this last year, so I am not completely surprised. It can be alarming, especially to a new snake owner. Just continue to offer food every few days. They will eat when they want to.

[kibakiba]

I'm a newer snake owner, but being on the forum for a few months prepared me for it pretty much ;) Snakey's off food now and Mama is eating a little bit. They went kind of off and on with food. Mama went off for 2-3 weeks and then ate, then went off for another 2 then ate again and Snakey did too.

[untoucheclipse]

so he ate a zebra danio today im thinking hes use to those

[ConcinusMan]

If we were talking about a newborn I'd worry about 3 weeks. But a well fed adult garter in good condition sometimes will refuse food until it's been 2-4 weeks, then just pig out. It's really not unusual. My anery girls seem to prefer rodents and they do that and yet are my "fattest" strongest garters. They routinely go 2-3 weeks between meals of fuzzy mice.

[Lovok]

Scylla's doing the exact same thing!! She shed a few days ago, but hasn't taken food in weeks (and I mean weeks). She'll go over & investigate the worm, fish, pinkie, or whatever else I'm offering (that I know she's loved in the past), "smell" it, then turn away as if saying "oh, that's not what I want..."
I still offer food, though what's really annoying/kinda scary is that she seems to be hungry & interested, but once the food item is in front of her, she changes her mind. :mad: Do I have to take her to a movie or show too so she'll accept the offer of dinner?? :p

The temp in her tank hasn't fluxed (it's pretty independent of outside temps), she still enjoys being taken out & handled (as much as she's able to "enjoy" I suppose :D), she doesn't appear to have any mites (no idea where she'd get them anyway, since I haven't put in any new tank furniture from outdoors), though her weight's been dropping slowly. She's still way active; cruises and explores (hunts?) in the tank, and watches me when I'm moving around in the room. Everything appears normal & unchanged except that she's not eating. I'm even considering the possibility that she might've gotten internal parasites somehow, though I'm not sure how that could've happened.

One of the guys at PetSmart--who seems to know more about snakes than the average employee--said that he's had other breeds of snakes that've done the same thing, as far as changing food preferences. They'll be hot of one type of food, then almost overnight get the shits of it ("of" it, not "from" it) and turn it down for something different.

The last thing she did eat was a pinkie, and that was back like, the first or second week of August.

Is there an "almost point of no return" that I should watch for? Maybe consider force-feeding at some point? If it gets to that extreme, I'd just as soon let her go than jam something down into her. I'm trying to not even consider that option.

[ConcinusMan]

The temp in her tank hasn't fluxed...

I still say that sometimes that is the problem. It's simply not natural for garters to have "ideal" temps 24/7 and never ending summer year 'round.

Whatever lattitude your snakes are from, I think if they are healthy and otherwise do not need any special medical care or anything like that, you should give them seasons by putting your lights and heat on a timer to match the day length for the time of year and no matter what time of year, cooling at night. It establishes a natural rhythm of day/night and seasonal rhythm that they have evolved with and it helps to trigger their natural responses including feeding. I'm not saying you need to brumate your snakes every winter but what I am saying is shorten the day in winter, cool things off at night a bit.

I'm starting a fall like thing for them. I've been letting it get cooler at night (65-68) and not as warm during the day (80 max) in addition to a shorter day. This seems to have triggered a feeding frenzy with all NW garters and concinnus. They are trying to "fatten up" for the winter I guess.

This is about as cool as it's going to get for snakes I don't plan to breed but the days will get a bit shorter still. The breeders will be going into the fridge soon and will stay there at 50 degrees for about 13-14 weeks. I'll miss my blue anery's while they're in there but they are in prime condition and I'm hoping for anery babies next year.

Anyway, my point is, the nightly cooling and even giving them seasons has big effect on their feeding habits. Sometimes just giving them never ending summer and not much cooling at night causes their appetites to eventually stagnate. Sometimes fluctuating temperatures, especially at night, can break them out of their non feeding mode.