New Snake Owner.

[Sarah E]

Hello! My name is Sarah E. I'm a 16 year old who happened to find a baby Garter snake in our garage. My cat was hunting something, and upon looking I saw the end of a snake tail. I caught it, and my mother let me keep it! Now I've been on a long journey (though I've only had him for two months) of breeding guppies to feed him, keeping earth worms, and researching.

I can not stand to feed him Pinkies, because he is so small, (about 8 inches long) I'd have to cut them up. *shivers* so I'm now feeding Feeder Guppies that I'm breeding. Sadly, right now all my guppies I need for breeding, and the store doesn't have any others in to feed him.... and the babies are less than a half inch big. I'm wondering what other types of fish I can feed him? I read you can feed them Silversides? I found some frozen Silvers that I'm going to be buying, at least so he can eat until my babies are big enough to actually feed him!

I also feed him pieces of live, Nightcrawlers which he loves! Is there any other type of food I can give him that isn't mice? Thanks!

[katach]

Welcome to the forum family! The care sheet has a lot of information on food choices. Would love to see pictures of your little one too!
Garter Snake Care Sheet - Caresheets (http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets/index.php?title=Garter_Snake_Care_Sheet)

[chris-uk]

Welcome to the forum Sarah.

As for food, you can feed small pieces of frozen (and obviously thawed) fish fillets when you have a lull in the guppy breeding. Ours eat a combination of f/t salmon and trout, and pinkies.
With the pinkies, if you cut them when they're frozen it is just like cutting a small block of ice and you get very little blood when you thaw the pieces in water. I don't know if that helps you consider pinkies again? Having said that, my wife will feed them fish but won't do the pinkies.
Other foods that people have used are things like chicken hearts and turkey gizards.

Let us know how you get on, I'm impressed at the commitment to breed guppies as snake food, we're you already breeding fish?

Do you know what sort of garter it is?

[katach]

I've fed chicken liver. Only 2 of the 6 went for it though. I also tried a fresh from the hen cooked egg white (not store bought). Some of the babies loved it mixed with night crawler chunks. Slugs work too, but may be hard to find.

[kibakiba]

I've been feeding mine eggs, mostly egg white with a little bit of the yolk slightly cooked. IMO, it's more nutritious if a little bit of yolk is added. Their poop is a little more solid when yolk is mixed in, while pure egg white is extremely watery

[katach]

I noticed that too with the eggs. It was similar to a just worm diet.

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you on the forum Sarah.

It would be helpful to know where(City/State) your snake is from for ID purposes.
Photos would be even better.

[PINJOHN]

Welcome Sarah from a mild and sunny Liverpool
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSaz93quM1Ay0V0d7uMRqvUm3CpZZtMC wWq2SdiSWB_eWH5brgjzghttp://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR4y1dPtN-EVPENg1BYYsLqoHg5jOJOmruRHFC-G6D7nGLBSxPphA

[Sarah E]

Thanks for the welcomes! :D I took a few pictures of (him? Can you tell me if it's a male or female?) today. I'm going to try him out with whole frozen pinkies. What I couldn't stand, was cutting them up... though I still have a little bit of a hard time with them at all...

Also, I'm in Southern NH.

I also want to get him a buddy because I hear they sometimes like company! A local pet store has Corn snakes his size that are beautiful! Would it be safe to get a corn snake for him? Would any bacteria from the other snake harm my snake? Would the Corn snake eat my little Garter? I talked to a petco person who knows a lot about snakes, and he said I could try it out with mesh between the snakes to see how they will get along and let them get used to the taste and smell of the others? I can return this snake within 15 days of buying it if it doesn't work out.... What do you guys think?

Pictures of Lucky:

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3276
3277

[kibakiba]

No, do not put a corn snake in with him. Garters (same species, size and sex) or dekay's brown snakes ( same size and sex) would be the only ones you should add. Even then, some snakes like being alone, some like having company.

[Sarah E]

Okay, no Corn Snake.... where could I find other Garters in NH? I've heard (word of mouth from other pet stores) that it's illegal to sell native Garters in NH...

[guidofatherof5]

I would say no to the corn snake. It will become much bigger then the garter.
NH list 2 garter species common to the State.
T.sauritus (Eastern Ribbon Snake)
T.sirtalis (Common Garter Snake)
Would like to see some other photos showing more of the snake, please.

[kibakiba]

Having more than one snake is a big responsibility. I thought it was hard doing everything for my 3, and then I got 5, then 7 and now 12. It's really expensive and thus stressful work ;) But, if you can take that responsibility, there are a lot of people that sell snakes, but you might have to wait until spring, because it'd be too cold to ship.

[Sarah E]

327832793280

Those are all the pictures I have at the moment... It's so hard to get a good picture of him. I almost got a good one but he lunged at the camera and I didn't want to drop/hurt him, so I let the camera get a blurry picture instead.

[kibakiba]

She looks kind of scared in the first pic, flattened head a little. Or maybe I'm seeing things.

[Sarah E]

Oh is it a female? She/he could have been, he/she always gets a little excited when I open up the top of the cage. Being wild, I'm working on taming her/him.

[kibakiba]

Based on the talk shape, I would say female. It's tapered, and there isn't a bulge where the hemipenes would be.

[guidofatherof5]

T.sirtalis (Common Garter Snake) female.
An underside tail photo will nail it down.
Here's a link to a thread that will show you how to sex her yourself or give you an idea of what kind of photo to take and post.
http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/breeding/5069-sexing-pics.html

[Sarah E]

How's this?

328132823283

[guidofatherof5]

100% lady.
Might be a good name for her.;)

[Sarah E]

Oh wonderful! So Lucky Lady. :)

[katach]

He looks a little small for whole pinkies. But if you cut them up while they are frozen, then let them thaw, there is no guts all over the place. You can mix it in with worm chunks too.

[Sarah E]

*shivers* in that case... I might wait until she's a little bigger. I can't cut them up.... Someone told me, the one I'd be buying the pinkies from that they're like 3/4 of an inch...

[katach]

Well, if this helps. My smallest adult I have to carefully choose her pinkie so it's small enough for her to eat easily. I have a baby from her that we kept and he is 3.5 mo old and about 9 to 10 in. Even the smallest pinkie would be too big for him. I really don't like mouse guts, but cutting frozen isn't as bad. Once they thaw I mix pinkie parts and night crawlers together on a little plate for him. You can't tell as much when it's mixed together. He gets the calcium he needs and lots of nutrients for good healthy growth too. If you have a hard time cutting pinkies I would suggest getting a supplement powder to mix in with the worm chunks every 3-4 feedings. Your little one is adorable!

[Sarah E]

Okay... Do you know any brands of supplement powders I could use?

[guidofatherof5]

This is what I use.

http://www.amazon.com/Rep-Cal-Calcium-Vitamin-Ultrafine-Powder/dp/B00076HTQA (http://www.amazon.com/Rep-Cal-Calcium-Vitamin-Ultrafine-Powder/dp/B00076HTQA)

[katach]

I use tetrafauna's reptocal. It has calcium, vit d3, vit b1, and lots of other good stuff.

[chris-uk]

If you start using powder supplements you might want to start introducing it in smaller amounts than the recommended. I've found that our girls are refusing food that has anything more than the lightest dusting, I hope that they will get used to the powder and I'll increase the dosing gradually. The other thing I found is that I can use uncoated fish to get them in feeding mode, then slip in a vitamin/calcium supplemented piece.

[Sarah E]

I went out and bought some of the tetrafauna's reptocal supplement powder.

Thank you Chris! I'll make sure to only lightly dust it the first few times. How often do you dust your girl's food? A couple times a week for a fish and worm diet?

[katach]

I dust every 3-4 feedings.

[Sarah E]

Thanks! I just dusted some on a mixture of cut up silver sides and cut up night crawler... she ate 1 piece of fish because it was stuck to a night crawler, then she pushes the fish away until she would find another piece of worm. I think I have a picky eater on my hands! Lol!

[katach]

They can be pretty picky.

[guidofatherof5]

Picky eater or not, she ate.
Good news.

[EasternGirl]

Hi Sarah..and welcome to the forum! Congrats on your new snake! She is a cutie!

[Sarah E]

It's so much fun to watch her pick through them to find her favorites first. :) I'm definitely glad that she's eating! It's a lot of fun to watch her eat.

Thanks for all the warm welcomes! :D

[Light of Dae]

Welcome, She sure is cute, My little girl is a picky eater too, just watched her pick through all the worm scented salmon to find the worm chunks lol My mom would made me eat everything on my plate! How is it these guys get away with it? lol

[kibakiba]

It's because they have the cutest little faces, and you just can't help but be okay with it.. ;)

[Light of Dae]

:eek:You saying I was n ugly kid?!?!?!

[kibakiba]

Of course not. I just mean that snakes are cute enough to get away with it.... :D

[Light of Dae]

lol :D sure sure... lol They are cute enough that is true. <3

[dieselbaby]

I still love watching my miss piggy eat and her more selective shy brother. They are awesome, and how can you get angry at those wittle faces when you are so excited that they did indeed eat something for you!! Thats the best feeling, seeing and knowing they ate something even if they did pick thru their dinner. Knowing they have something in their tummies. Garters are so awesome to have in the wild and in lil homes in our homes. so glad your lil one is eating, worms is probably all he did eat in the wild, but keep trying the other goodies too.

[EasternGirl]

Hey Sarah...how is that new snake doing?

[Sarah E]

She's doing great! It seems like every time I see her, she's a little bit bigger. She's still very jumpy, then again I suppose I need to handle her more than once every other day huh. She loves this new big wood thing I bought at the pet store that she wraps around, and climbs up to get closer to her heat lamp. :) She still won't eat the fish.... hmmm...

[EasternGirl]

Not necessarily a bad thing that you aren't holding her much...sometimes rushing them to get used to being held can stress them out. Just put your hand in her enclosure now and again and let her come to you...smell your hand, crawl around it...get used to you...ease her into it. I'm glad she's doing well and enjoying her new home.