Baby Won't Eat. =[

[RoccoIsMyBuddy. :)]

Well i catch all my garter's outside by my boyfriends wood pile.
Yesterday we found a small baby. And i fell in love with it.
I'm not sure how to figure out the sex of it either. But i have 2 other garters in the tank with him. I know one is a male and the other one i'm not sure but it hides like all the time. I knew the baby eats smaller things so i put him in another container to eat. I put small worms in there with him thinking he would eat them and easy to find for him. He is still in there i'm not sure if it's something expected. Should i feed him something else? Is there a way to hand feed it or something? I'm not sure. Well any help would be great, thank you.

[Stefan-A]

You might have to give the snake time to settle in and that may take a few days or even a couple of weeks. It may also be a good idea to handle it as little as possible, preferably not at all, and to give him his own enclosure. Worms are okay.

[Didymus20X6]

From what I've gleaned from the real experts here, I'm gonna go with "He's probably going to need some time to adjust to captivity" for $100, Alex.

Either that, or he's just not hungry today. Either way, you might want to try again in a few days. There's also a possibility that he won't adjust, in which case, the common recommendation here is give him a week or two, and if no change, then let him go so he won't starve. But don't worry too much: these guys can go a couple weeks without eating and not starve.

Keeping him with the other snakes will help him adjust to the environment better, but pulling him out to feed him might cause undue stress on him and cause him to lose his appetite. Try removing the older snakes, who are more used to it, and feed the little one in the enclosure.

Another recommended course is to try a different food source. He may just not be in the mood for worms. Try guppies or other thiaminase-free feeder fish. (These guys can give you better recommendations on which species than I can).

Either way, good luck with the little booger!


Edit (because Stefan posted the answer while I was typing):
DING DING DING DING DING!! I win!

[RoccoIsMyBuddy. :)]

Yeah. I didn't have much luck with guppies with my bigger snakes. So i didn't bother with them anymore. I have been reading about it and maybe i have a wrong dish for them? I'm not sure. I just hope i don't have to let him go cause he is such a cutie.

[Mommy2many]

Good Luck with your baby. I finally got mine to eat fish and that was all she would eat. However, my little one passed away a couple weeks ago. I'm not sure why and I still have my suspicions about the fish possibly being bad (sick). So be careful where you get them from. On a happy note, she really loved her fish!!!

[adamanteus]

I wouldn't worry too much that the new baby hasn't eaten yet. They can take a little time to settle in to their new captive environment. I'm sure, given a few more days, he'll take the worms. Good luck!

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon and say Hi to Rocco for me