None feeding garter

[amaterasu]

Hi,
Yet again my san fransisco garter has stopped eating, I am really beginning to get worried as she hasn't eaten in around a month and this is the second time in quite a short space of time that she's refusing to eat. She is about 9-10 months old at the moment. I've tried everything I can think of, various types of safe fish, earthworms scented and unscented, scented and unscented pinkies, leaving the food in her hide during the night, leaving if dotted around the tank for her and wiggling the food in front of her to try and incite her to eat. I've also tried putting slices of fish in her water bowl with small aquarium pump to make the fish move around a bit.

The only idea I have left is trying her with feeder guppies but I'm really struggling to find them around here, I've been into my local aquatic shops but neither had feeder guppies and the tanks weren't well kept so I worried about feeding their fancy guppies to her. She does show some interest in the food, when ever I put anything near her, her tongue starts going ten to the dozen and she goes up really close to it then all of a sudden it's like she just completely loses interest and moves away. Apart from this she seems completely fine, she's always active and looks well.

At the moment she's in a fair sized tank with UV light above her which is on for around 16 hours a day, it has a hot end of about 80°F with the top of her branch at around 84°F (where she spends a fair bit of her time) and this is heated with a reflector bulb. The cool end is around 72°F. Here's a pic of her current set up:

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/8796/dsc2984s.jpg (http://img62.imageshack.us/i/dsc2984s.jpg/)

I would really appreciate it if you could give me any advice on how I could encourage her to start eating again.

[guidofatherof5]

Scott,
Have you been checking he weight? If she's not losing large amounts and her attitude is good I wouldn't worry too much.
Parasite check?
She may just be going through one of those times. I
have radixes do it from time to time.
Keep us posted.

[zirliz]

I have a plains garter that can be a pain to eat at times he goes off food for a month if not more,

Same thing he shows interest in food then turns away from it

My albino checkered is also that way at times

Crazy how they do that, it used to worry my mother who was looking after my garters while I was in university.

I think as said already if they don't loose weight or condition they are ok

[d_virginiana]

Hi,
Is your snake normally interested in fish? When mine was younger, he loved feeder guppies and then as he got larger (about a year old) suddenly would lose interest in them for long periods of time. We switched to bait minnows (this was before I knew about some fish being dangerous for garters! We just got lucky that these were apparently a good species) which he ate well because of their larger size.
Also, it was around this time when he would start to go longer without eating, so like other people have said, if she isn't losing weight you probably shouldn't worry.

Good luck getting her to eat!!

[amaterasu]

Thanks a lot everyone for your replies


Scott,
Have you been checking he weight? If she's not losing large amounts and her attitude is good I wouldn't worry too much.
Parasite check?
She may just be going through one of those times. I
have radixes do it from time to time.
Keep us posted.

I try to weigh her as much as possible, I don't do it regularly cause she really doesn't like handling and I don't wont to stress her. From the times I've weighed her she hasn't lost much weigh at all and visually she seems to be in good proportion.

I might get a parasite check for her, I have another animal that's in quarantine at the moment who's needing one so I might as well get it done at the same time.

I hope she is, it just worries me that she's still so young? I've heard it's very unusual for a garter under a year to go of eating?

Will do, fingers crossed.



I have a plains garter that can be a pain to eat at times he goes off food for a month if not more,

Same thing he shows interest in food then turns away from it

My albino checkered is also that way at times

Crazy how they do that, it used to worry my mother who was looking after my garters while I was in university.

I think as said already if they don't loose weight or condition they are ok

Thanks, it's good to know I'm not the only one then. This has really relieved me, I've really started to stress thinking I'm doing something wrong with her.



Hi,
Is your snake normally interested in fish? When mine was younger, he loved feeder guppies and then as he got larger (about a year old) suddenly would lose interest in them for long periods of time. We switched to bait minnows (this was before I knew about some fish being dangerous for garters! We just got lucky that these were apparently a good species) which he ate well because of their larger size.
Also, it was around this time when he would start to go longer without eating, so like other people have said, if she isn't losing weight you probably shouldn't worry.

Good luck getting her to eat!!

Yeah she used to happily take sliced trout/salmon, along with earthworms. That's something to think about, I'll try and give her slightly bigger prey items and see if that encourages her. That's reassuring, I feel a lot better now, I've been really worrying.

Cheers, hope she starts eating again soon.

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Another thing you could try is putting her in a plastic container with her favorite food and put in a dark place for a few hours sometimes that works.

[snakeman]

I agree with this.smaller enclosure,live food,and 12 hours of light.I would'nt use that enclosure until the snake is adult size.
Another thing you could try is putting her in a plastic container with her favorite food and put in a dark place for a few hours sometimes that works.

[RdubSnider]

I've got two of my garters that do this they do it every year in spring. I just do the cup feeding method with an appropriate container for two or three feedings and then there back to normal.

Good luck

[amaterasu]

Another thing you could try is putting her in a plastic container with her favorite food and put in a dark place for a few hours sometimes that works.

Thank, just tried that yesterday but she didn't take.


I agree with this.smaller enclosure,live food,and 12 hours of light.I would'nt use that enclosure until the snake is adult size.

She's been in that enclosure for a good while now, and it was what got her eating again in the first place after she'd been in a smaller enclosure. She uses every inch of it and I'd be a shame to put her in a smaller enclosure.


I've got two of my garters that do this they do it every year in spring. I just do the cup feeding method with an appropriate container for two or three feedings and then there back to normal.

Good luck


Sorry for my ignorance but what's the cup feeding method?

[PINJOHN]

i remember seeing a method put forward on the kingsnake site i think, which was to withhold water for about three days,and then provide the water and the food as well, they were claiming a high success rate.

[drache]

the "cup feeding method", I think, refers to a practice of putting the snake with the food item in a very small container, such as a deli cup transport container, and to leave them like that over night - in a temperature appropriate location of course
I have gotten snakes to eat that way a few times, so it's definitely something to try
I myself don't feed live rodents, but for those who do: this should never be done with live rodent prey

[ConcinusMan]

Seems rather dimly lit. This just may be a perfectly normal fast, but you might encourage your snake to eat by adding some more florescent light. Prefererably a natural spectrum such as a reptisun 2.0 or something similar. I've observed that this helped a lot with appetite and activity on more than one occasion.

Often times, keepers get overly concerned when their snakes go off of food. Most of the time it's nothing to be concerned about. perfectly normal. Hard not to worry though. My Amy (albino plains) has always been such a good feeder than one day stopped eating. After about 5 weeks I was starting to worry. About week 7 he started eating again. He didn't lose any weight during his fast. I worried for nothing.

One more thing, sometimes it's not that your snake isn't hungry. They do tire of the same food after a while and just want something different. Might give that a try. Amy does that to me all the time. Goes through periods when he only wants fish. Other times, he won't eat anything but worms or rodents. Try different foods.

[amaterasu]

the "cup feeding method", I think, refers to a practice of putting the snake with the food item in a very small container, such as a deli cup transport container, and to leave them like that over night - in a temperature appropriate location of course
I have gotten snakes to eat that way a few times, so it's definitely something to try
I myself don't feed live rodents, but for those who do: this should never be done with live rodent prey

Ah ok thanks, I've given that a shot a little while ago but I'll definitely give it another go soon.


Seems rather dimly lit. This just may be a perfectly normal fast, but you might encourage your snake to eat by adding some more florescent light. Prefererably a natural spectrum such as a reptisun 2.0 or something similar. I've observed that this helped a lot with appetite and activity on more than one occasion.

Often times, keepers get overly concerned when their snakes go off of food. Most of the time it's nothing to be concerned about. perfectly normal. Hard not to worry though. My Amy (albino plains) has always been such a good feeder than one day stopped eating. After about 5 weeks I was starting to worry. About week 7 he started eating again. He didn't lose any weight during his fast. I worried for nothing.

One more thing, sometimes it's not that your snake isn't hungry. They do tire of the same food after a while and just want something different. Might give that a try. Amy does that to me all the time. Goes through periods when he only wants fish. Other times, he won't eat anything but worms or rodents. Try different foods.

Cheers, I'll just get something ordered up for her then, it'll make the enclosure look nicer anyway.

It's hard not to worry though, but I'm not worrying so much now that a lot of other people experienced the same thing. I'll just have to keep an eye on her, hopefully it's just a random fast.

I've been trying her with a variety foods, but I'll try her with as many different things as I can.

[ConcinusMan]

Sometimes people forget that garter snakes are adapted to seasonal fluctuations. Sometimes 6-9 months is spent at cool or cold temperatures and not feeding at all.

They say this period isn't necessary but quite often what happens is that their are subtle cues that the snake is reading as time to stop feeding, shut down, and prepare for winter. It's really built into their physiology and a perfectly natural part of their life cycle. Sometimes they give you no choice but to cool them way down, let them go through their period of fasting and inactivity so as to "reset" their biological clock. Bottom line is, if you skip providing seasons, sooner or later, they are going to stop feeding. Garter snakes are infamous for this. If it becomes a long term fast and the snake begins losing weight and still won't eat, it might be in their best interest to cool them way down for a month or two and shorten their day. Upon warming back up, they'll usually start eating again.

Increasing the intensity of their light and giving them a more balanced color spectrum will often shake them out of it. I really think your snake is probably trying to prepare for winter. The light might convince him that winter is not coming on after all. In addition to adding a balanced spectrum florescent, you might also try increasing the day length by a couple of hours. If he still doesn't eat after a month of that, a cool down is likely in order.

If he finally does start eating, giving him a probiotic after a long fast sure can't hurt.

[amaterasu]

Just a wee update, around a week ago she took a trout piece and she took another bit yesterday so Im really chuffed, just so long may it continue... I did order a reptisun 2.0 but it didnt turn up until 3 days ago so I wasnt able to use that for her however I did increase the day length. I'm going to install the reptisun anyway cause it can't do any harm and hopefully it'll encourages her even more.


Sometimes people forget that garter snakes are adapted to seasonal fluctuations. Sometimes 6-9 months is spent at cool or cold temperatures and not feeding at all.

They say this period isn't necessary but quite often what happens is that their are subtle cues that the snake is reading as time to stop feeding, shut down, and prepare for winter. It's really built into their physiology and a perfectly natural part of their life cycle. Sometimes they give you no choice but to cool them way down, let them go through their period of fasting and inactivity so as to "reset" their biological clock. Bottom line is, if you skip providing seasons, sooner or later, they are going to stop feeding. Garter snakes are infamous for this. If it becomes a long term fast and the snake begins losing weight and still won't eat, it might be in their best interest to cool them way down for a month or two and shorten their day. Upon warming back up, they'll usually start eating again.

Increasing the intensity of their light and giving them a more balanced color spectrum will often shake them out of it. I really think your snake is probably trying to prepare for winter. The light might convince him that winter is not coming on after all. In addition to adding a balanced spectrum florescent, you might also try increasing the day length by a couple of hours. If he still doesn't eat after a month of that, a cool down is likely in order.

If he finally does start eating, giving him a probiotic after a long fast sure can't hurt.

Thanks a lot for the really informative post, it seems like everythings fine at the moment and cooling isn't going to be necessary. However it's got me thinking, I'm fairy sure it was due to winter that she stopped eating and I think brumation would be beneficial to her. It's definitely something to really considering for next year.