Food Fight Etiquette

[guidofatherof5]

I have notice that myT.radix (Plains Garter Snake) population has a much different food fighting etiquette then some of my other garters.
My radixes will fight over the food but very rarely will they lock up on their mouth. They even seem to take great effort to see that it doesn't happen.
My T.s.concinnus (Red Spotted Garter Snake) population has no rules. It can be a blood bath if not controlled.
My T.ordinoides(Northwestern Garter Snake) are aggressive and will chase other snakes down and attempt to steal the food.
Having many different species is wonderful as it allows me to see so many different behaviors.

[RedSidedSPR]

I've noticed different amounts of aggression and stuff with my snakes. (that live together, not my solitary adult and quarantined checkered)

My anery red sided is very aggressive to the food.. but not to other snakes. He's never made a move to another snake with food... he's agressive and calm all at the same time. He focuses more on killing the food than the others who just wanna eat it. (not that that's not his intention lol) But seriously, he'll go up to Red who has a chunk of worm, and he really wants it, but he won't steal it..

My flame is just so psyco when food's involved, he'll go for the food just because he smells it. He doesn't even realize it's in another snakes mouth, he smells it, whips around and grabs it... BUT he always let's go... so it's not about stealing, it's just his psyco-ness. I usually feed him out of the cage for safety reasons.

My concinnus, i think becuase of how aggressive concinnus are, they're insticts aren't only stealing, but about about keeping it from being stolen... Rooster is very, very protective of his food. Takes it away from the others, and even covers his swallowing head with his tail, protecting it from being stolen. He's such a calm, sweet snake, though, that he's never tried to steal anything.

OK, my checkered is alone but I'll say that i've offered him ever type of food ever in my possesion, and he's treated them all the same, same aggression, same love, never refused anything.

[d_virginiana]

That's pretty neat.. It'd be neat to work with a lot of different species and compare. I've never fed mine together, but I don't think it'd be a good idea, even once Harley is big enough not to be swallowed easily. I don't think they'd ever steal from each other on purpose since they're both very finicky and will stop eating if they accidentally bite my hand, but I'm not sure I trust Houdini to realize that the food he's smelling is currently being swallowed by another snake!

[guidofatherof5]

My radixes seem to do very well with group feeding. I still monitor them but have very little to do.
About the time I think a fight needs intervention, it's over.
I allow most fights between babies occur. I think it's a good learning experience for them.
I also think it's an important part of triggering feeding responses in some other snakes.

[zooplan]

From my observations, I would tell not only the big differences in species, gender, and individual but also
very distinct signs of learning.
When I started feeding snakes in my outdoor all snakes came to the dish at once, but then the smaller males (especially radix) waited untill the big female were fed up or grab a fish and the hurried to get some feed away from the buffet.

[annulataarethebest]

It definitely varies between species. I have a decent sized enclosure with a couple pairs of 2011 garters in it, there's a pair of santa cruz garters, a pair of eastern blackneck garters and a Scotts garter snake. The santa cruz garter snakes go CRAZY when fish are thrown in the bowl, the last time I fed them one of them was filled up to it's neck with fish and ended up throwing up one. The other santa cruz garter ate the thrown up fish. The blacknecks tend to keep to themselves, they get a fish and get away from the chaos, same with the Scotts garter, they just get bullied if anything.

I also keep a trio of Blackbelly garter snakes together, the 2 females are twice the size of the male, but I've never seen any of them fight over fish or pinkies.

[chris-uk]

I can see variation between individuals and species. We tong feed most of the checkereds,

T marcianus -
In viv 1... Binky and Lightning just eat where they are. Lightning will launch a strike at food from a distance, she's a good one to watch eat. Binky sidles up to the food and takes it slowly. Both have got close to the other while eating, but Binky at least doesn't show any interest in food in Lightnings mouth, I keep Lightning at a distance from Binky as I consider her to be less predictible.
In viv 2... Esk will both strike and take food slowly depending on her mood, then drag her food all over the viv and hold it up high if she "thinks the tongs are going to steal it back". Bethan will only eat on her own in a RUB and isn't actually eating all that much.

T eques cuitzeoensis - The female is about 98g and the male about 68g, so she's significantly bigger than him already. When I put the food bowl in their viv if he gets there first he'll eat until she arrives, then he'll withdraw and wait for her to eat and come back when she moves away. These guys just haven't got used to us enough to tong feed yet, I'll try them with tongs for the next feed.

[EasternGirl]

My Eastern Garters, Selena and Cee Cee, both eat from a dish...they do not like to be fed from tongs, as they are both skiddish about that and will hide from me if I try to feed them that way. I have always separated them when feeding them to avoid any possible fighting over food...and both prefer cut up pieces of fish to live fish...the one time I tried to feed live fish they had no idea what to do with them. They will eat worms occasionally, but they are going through a off-worm phase right now. Both girls eat the exact same way...they just slowly slide up to the dish and gently nose around and then gulp the fish pieces down...no striking involved at all. Neither are very hearty eaters...they always leave some on their dish. The one time I did put them in together for a feed...Selena attempted to gulp down Cee Cee's much larger fish pieces (Cee Cee is quite larger than Selena)...and sat with one large chunk of fish half way down her throat for a while looking quite odd....and I thought I might have to pull it out of her mouth for her. She finally gave up and spit it out realizing it was too big for her!