Need Feeding/Exercise Advice

[zendragondrew]

So I'm obviously a novice at garter snake care, but I'm pretty sure Matt is starting to get a bit chunky. The pet store I go to (a Petco in NYC) has several feeding options, but no safe feeder fish (they have frozen pinkies, goldfish and worms). Is there any feeding and/or exercise advice you guys could give me to help slim her down? Especially if any of you live in Manhattan and know of another store (preferably near Central Park) that has good fish or other diet options.

I feed her around once a week and she usually poops twice during that week. I take her out of the cage to move around a bit and sometimes swim in the sink, but I don't think it's enough exercise. She has a 10 gallon tank, would be a stretch to fit anything bigger in my small apartment, though it is possible.

First few weeks I had her - Was eating minnows and goldfish until I found out that these were dangerous

Since then (about four months) - eats three pinkies a week, once in a while I'll give her some fish fillet during the week, but just a bite (would be equivalent to around 1 or 2 goldfish in size).

I've never fed her worms since they always seem like they're dead or the wrong kind at Petco and my wife would probably stab me if I kept worms in the fridge anyway. Thinking of feeding her two pinkies a week instead, but don't want her to be hungry and uncomfortable.

Should I feed her more often but smaller portions? Maybe a pinkie every few days? Thanks for the help.

[chris-uk]

What's her age, length and weight?
You said you changed how you fed her at 4 months, so I assume for now she's around the same age as our checkereds (one around 6 months, the others born 2 August). Our largest is about 25g and 35-40cm, her sister is about 19g and around 35cm. They get 2 feeds a week now (Mon and Thu), the biggest one gets rationed because we think she's putting a bit of weight on round the hips, so she only gets enough chopped pinky to make up a whole one (she will keep eating everything offered to her) or an equivalent amount of salmon fillet. The other two tend to take as much as they want, but usually only take a couple of pieces (I chop pinkies so that the pieces are all about the size of the pinky head, which are a good size for our girls to swallow easily).
Our cuitzeoensis pair are 17 months old and eat once a week, plus whatever the little ones don't eat midweek. They get a whole pinky each and a pile of fish fillet equivalent to another pinky. For comparison, they are 95g and 68g and the female is around 90cm, the male around 80cm.

Exercise-wise, swimming was recommended in a thread about exercise recently. So I try to give each of ours a swim in the bath each week, maybe 10-15 minutes depending on when they start resting more than swimming. Have you got vines or plants to climb up in the viv? I think that's extra exercise compared to slithering on the flat.

[EasternGirl]

I would really consider getting a bigger tank for her if you can swing it in your apartment...I managed to fit three 20 gallon tanks in my little house...you can probably find a way to do it...it will be tight but much better for her ;). I don't know if this helps at all but I buy fish from the supermarket...salmon, steel-head trout, tilapia...you just have to make sure it's fresh and American or Alaskan caught. I get it from the seafood counter and freeze it. I alternate that with pinkies, and worms. The worms I buy from a marine/bait store. My family was a bit grossed out at me keeping worms in the fridge at first too, but they're in a plastic container so... I have to be careful about plants and vines in my vivs as my snakes like to look for ways to use the plants to escape. I put low plants though, and they climb around in those.

[Light of Dae]

Mine loves to climb, swear she thinks she's a tree snake! :rolleyes: just be sure like REALLY sure that your top is secure n put in some dollar store fake vines n such for your snake to climb. should enjoy it :)

[chris-uk]

salmon, steel-head trout, tilapia...you just have to make sure it's fresh and American or Alaskan caught.
I'd argue that you want to be looking for Scottish salmon, as that's what I look for ;)

The degree to which ours climb varies quite a lot. The larger ones still climb, but not so much because the plants don't take the weight so well. The 4-6 month old checkereds love to climb, one of the in particular enjoys climbing and falling out of plants. Lucky for us that there is no way out through the tops of our vivs, they are all firmly clipped in place. The other day I saw one of our girls had climbed the vine to the top corner and was leaning back and checking the top of the viv for about a third the length of her body, like she was slithering on the ceiling. Normally the camera is nearby, but it was upstairs after transferring photos.

[EasternGirl]

Isn't it so funny to watch when they climb and then plop out of the plants? Lol...

[zendragondrew]

She wasn't four months old, it was around four months ago that I got her. I found her in the wild (well, in the city, on the streets of Harlem). It wouldn't surprise me if she was less than a year or five years old, I have no idea. I might take her to a vet soon to find out more logistics (I'm not even 100% sure Matt is a she). As far as length she's around the length of the cage, so maybe two feet. How would I weigh her?

[chris-uk]

If she's around 2 feet s/he could be around a year, depends on the specied I think. I don't think at that size s/he needs feeding more than once a week. Have you posted a photo of his/her tail, that allows some of the experienced guys to sex a snake fairly well if the photos are good.

Weighing - I use our kitchen scales, put a RUB on them, zero with the RUB on, then pop the snake in the RUB. The scales are supposed to be accurate +/- 1g, which will have to do because I can't justify a set of lab scales just to weigh a snake - maybe I need to find out where drugs dealers buy their scales from, I can't imagine they pay £75 for a set of scales.

[PINJOHN]

If she's around 2 feet s/he could be around a year, depends on the specied I think. I don't think at that size s/he needs feeding more than once a week. Have you posted a photo of his/her tail, that allows some of the experienced guys to sex a snake fairly well if the photos are good.

Weighing - I use our kitchen scales, put a RUB on them, zero with the RUB on, then pop the snake in the RUB. The scales are supposed to be accurate +/- 1g, which will have to do because I can't justify a set of lab scales just to weigh a snake - maybe I need to find out where drugs dealers buy their scales from, I can't imagine they pay £75 for a set of scales.

Are you kidding Chris i imagine drug dealers can afford gold plated ones :D

[chris-uk]

Are you kidding Chris i imagine drug dealers can afford gold plated ones :D

I just had a quick search and found some on Amazon. Interesting that the little pocket scales that weigh down to 0.1g are less than £10, problem is they only weigh up to 100g. The other interesting thing was the "People who bought this also bought".... Pack of 100 1.25"x2" plastic bags... Pack of 200 1.5"x2" plastic bags...
There were some accurate scales that went up to 3kg for about £20, but I'll stick with the kitchen scales for now.

[EasternGirl]

Allows experienced guys..and gals...to sex the snake...ehem....;).

[chris-uk]

guys
I use the word asexually, without gender, neither male nor female. :)

[EasternGirl]

I figured that...just teasing! :). I think I'm getting pretty good at sexing by pic so I'm interested to see the pic and see if I can make a guess...

[zendragondrew]

Yeah, I posted some pictures before and almost everyone said Matt was a girl, though there were one or two people that said she might be a dude.

She's an eastern garter snake. You guys don't think she's full grown at two feet?

[EasternGirl]

Probably...they get up to three feet around here but that is the biggest they get from what I understand. Cee Cee is about 2 1/2 feet. I have heard that Delaware has the biggest Easterns...that is what I have heard...I don't know if that is correct or not. I have seen them at 3 feet here and pretty thick. If she is two feet chances are she is female...male Easterns do not usually get that big from what I understand also. My male is much smaller than my female. Post a couple more pics if you can and we can be more definite about sex.

[chris-uk]

Sexing gets easier as they grow more. I didn't realise Easterns were so small, not really read up on them as they don't see to be widely available here.

[PINJOHN]

Sexing gets easier as they grow more. I didn't realise Easterns were so small, not really read up on them as they don't see to be widely available here.

Sir in reference to your recent obloquy about the eastern garter and i quote "i didn't realise eastern's were so small" i serve you notice that any further calumny's against that honorable [and large ]race of garters and you will hear from my legal team,... messers nasty, suedem & grabbit. attorneys at law.
you may consider... this a final warning.
yours, Horace Pugsley pinjohnson secretary, eastern garter appreciation society

[d_virginiana]

Yeah, I posted some pictures before and almost everyone said Matt was a girl, though there were one or two people that said she might be a dude.

She's an eastern garter snake. You guys don't think she's full grown at two feet?

I seriously doubt it if it's a female. Depends on where you are though I guess. The further south you go, the larger they get. My adult male eastern is around 26 inches, and the wild females I've seen tend more towards the 3 to 3 1/2 foot range. Of course, these were Florida Blue easterns (like my male) spotted in a swampy area with a great food supply. Blues have a tendency to get a bit larger than some of the other morphs from what I've heard...