I think my garter has hiccups...

[IndigoBug1987]

I bought him on 11/20/08 and he didn't eat until today. He shed his skin and has eaten 5 rosy red minnows today. Am i over feeding him?? I figured as long as he is still rooting around in his water bowl looking for fish that he must be hungry still, plus those lil fish are so tiny. anyway i was holding him earlier and i could swear he had the hiccups. o.O and he sneezed once yesterday. is he ok?

This is my first pet snake.

[infernalis]

Hello and welcome to the forum

First advice, No Rosy reds, they are bad for your snake.

Guppies are the easiest to find safe live fish.

Tilapia and Salmon fillets from the store, cut into strips and shown to your snakie should work, Any trouble just post and ask what next.

If you picked up your snake right after it ate, those "hiccups" could be an indication that your snake is about to throw up.

I've never seen a snake sneeze

Go to our care sheets section and read about all the great care information we have available to you.

You found the best place on the net to get help with your new snake, and we love to help folks just like you.

Take care

[Stefan-A]

I've never seen a snake sneeze

I've seen (heard) mine do it a few times over the years. Nothing spectacular. As long as they don't do it frequently, there's no reason to be worried.

[infernalis]

Now that I think about it, CY my corn snake used to make a slight chirp every once and a while when he was a neonate.

Not sure it was a sneeze or a hiccup.

He has not done it in so long, I forgot all about it until just now.

[IndigoBug1987]

I just bought a new batch of rosys for him to eat this morning. Will it hurt him short term or long term?? Should i let them go??? I don't intend to leave him on fish i was gonna try pinky mice but i haven't been able to find them.

Also he's eaten three minnows today and keeps laying in his bowl rooting around. Is he hungry still? I thought snakes only ate once or twice a week. He's eating like 5 minnows every day. His humidity 'meter' stays between 50 and 70 and its about 55 to 75 in degrees in his tank. He shed two days ago (very successful shed it came off all in one piece, i was worried about it at first.)

also (again) i bought him some red worms this morning too. I'm not sure what kind.

[infernalis]

I used to think rosy reds would be alright short term, I guess it depends where you bought them at.

I will never ever buy another feeder fish from petco, They sold me some rosy reds and I lost 3 Garter snakes by feeding them, Don't take that wrongly, it had nothing to do with vitamin deficiency. There had to be something WRONG with the fish.

Now on to the worms, do they have light coloured rings all up and down them? If they are red wigglers (bands all down them) please don't feed them to your snake, they are toxic and will harm the snake, maybe even kill it.

I used to buy worms from wal mart labeled panfish/trout worms, Bought a container last week, and they were RED WIGGLERS not the same worms that used to be in the same container, so I threw them away.

The safest bet would be get some Canadian night crawlers and cut them with scissors to a smaller size.

Garters will always act hungry, they like to eat! if you control the amount of food and don't give them too much, it's perfectly OK to feed them every day if you want.

I give my Blackneck girl a minnow a day, I could give her two at a time every other day, in the end it's the same amount of food.

Feel free to keep asking questions, Always glad to help out

[jitami]

Until you figure out if your worms are safe and until you find some pinkies or fish fillets the minnows are "ok" but really not good for your snake. If you decide not to feed them to the snake you can freeze them and use them to scent pinkies in the future. My garter survived on only minnows for about a year before I switched him to pinkies... I didn't know any better... rosy reds were the recommended fish at the time. Guppies are a much safer bet if he'll only eat live, but most are pretty easy to switch to mice with a little scenting and patience. Good luck

[infernalis]

Tami has a point, I let my bitterness toward petco interfere.

I kept 2 garters and a water snake on (eek) goldfish for almost a year before I was told to stop.

They are still here with me today.

[IndigoBug1987]

lol one of the minnows i got is actually too big for him to eat. he caught hold of it and decided pretty quick that he couldn't swallow it. I saved it and we decided to keep it as a 'pet'. the fish had a couple punctures on him. He is alive, but with battle scars. i didn't know garters even had teeth that were shaped that way. and the worm i have do look to be red wrigglers. all i do is buy him things he can't eat. first rosy reds, then crickets, more rosy reds, and now red worms. ( he hasn't eaten anything but the minnows because i havn't offered the others.) I let the crickets go after i read that he wouldn't digest the shell and now what do i do with these worms??

This is what my worms look like. (kinda, i really can't tell one worm from the next)
Google Image Result for http://thebigredbarniniowa.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/worm.152185552_std.jpg

[infernalis]

Then it's a good thing you found US

Give the worms away to someone who goes fishing....

where are you located? maybe able to direct you to a good source of food.

I would try a cut up fish fillet from the grocery store, Tilapia and Salmon are good economical choices, and most garters will eat it right up with little effort.

I have a few that require me to grab the chunk of fish in a pair of tweezers and show it to them.