Switching to dead food? How to?

[count dewclaw]

I keep reading about feeding garter snakes fish fillet or pinkies instead of minnows or other live food, but how do you go about getting them to accept dead/pre-killed food? I have one snake that went after an earthworm scented pinky, but spit it out (because it didn't move?). Do you have to move the food with forceps or can you just leave it in a dish? These questions have probably been answered before, but I must not be picking the right search words . Thanks for any help you can offer.

[drache]

I had a snake in the past who would not eat anything other than live minnows
I was truly surprised when after setting it up a bit, she did go for a dead pinky floating in the dish with her minnows
right now I'm trying the same with another snake and so far, she's gotten the pinky out of the water a couple of times, but not eaten it
so right now, she's just going to get used to the taste a bit
but in a few weeks, she's going to miss a couple of meals
and then the minnows are going be skimpy
and that rodent washed to inoffensiveness . . .
we'll see . . .
if not - I'll try again another time
fish strips too
it's all I can do
sorry - I'm rambling
what I meant to say is that you try different things, go slow, be patient
feeding tongs work really well with some snakes

[ssssnakeluvr]

I just cut up the fish into little pieces and leave it in the cage....they take it no problem. garters have a varied diet....in my gallery there's a pic of a garter eating a road killed bird, and have seen a pic of a plains garter eating a flattened toad. not hard at all to get them to take pre-killed food.

[anji1971]

Sometimes it's just a matter of time, too. If you haven't had the snake for very long, it will most likely take a while to be comfortable enough to try new things.
Just be patient, and keep offering, and scenting, and hoping...........

[count dewclaw]

and that rodent washed to inoffensiveness . . .

Please explain...

Thanks for the tips.

[drache]

sometimes it helps a little to wash a rodent with a little dish detergent, rise well and dry, before offering it to the snake - just in case it's the rodent smell that's an issue

[count dewclaw]

Ah, so perhaps if they don't eat it plain, try washing to see if that makes a difference. This is good, any tips will help. Thanks.