question

[Reno]

umm for the past week or 2 ive been feeding my garter minnows... and today i tried to feed her a worm... but she wouldnt eat it... any tips on how to get her to eat it...

[drache]

are you sure it's the right kind of worm?
has she eaten worms before?
I know people say that worms are a garter's favourite food, but several of mine will not eat them

[Garter_Gertie]

I wonder, Rhea... The ones that won't eat them - CB? Winnie, WC, snaps them up and I had to tell an intern at the park NOT to feed her - Winnie, not the intern - EIGHT at one feeding!

I wonder if this will/won't eat worms has anything to do with if thye've ever had to find and eat them on their own?????

Reno, CB or WC?

[infernalis]

some Garter snakes will tend to favor certain foods.

Even though Garters are "Opportunists" concerning foods, whereas most other snakes are "specialists" and will target only one prey item.

Most Garter Snakes will consume many different things, even a dead bird.

But some will turn into a "specialist", if worms are abundant and the baby eats worms, it may choose to remain where the plentiful food is, eating worms..

Now along comes one of us, we pick up pretty little snakey and bring it home, we cannot assume right away it will just grab up a fish, fish may seem completely foreign, after all the snake grew up on those plentiful worms.

Another snake grows up on the waters edge, minnows galore, why leave the area? yum lots of great minnows to eat, then whee off to our new luxury condo and what is that wiggly thing that giant keeps throwing at me?

Captive bred snakes generally get started on different foods, variety, or trained into taking rodents, either way and no matter what, the first meal was chosen by man, not the snake.

How I got these non eaters to feed, I offered a full buffet menu, and let them go to the salad bar on their own, it works reliably.

[Reno]

ermmm im thinking CB means captive bred so yea that lol

[Snake lover 3-25]

yup sure does... and wc means wild caught welcome to the forum!!!

[jitami]

Welcome Reno. I wouldn't worry too much about yours not taking worms. They're kind of fun to watch, but from what I understand, they're not a highly nutritional meal anyway. Adding f/t pinkies or fish filet(salmon, trout, tilapia w/ added calcium) would be worth the effort, tho. Good luck!

[Garter_Gertie]

Reno, I'm sorry. I failed to see you're new. I should have typed it out.

Oh! It took me some hard noodling to figure out what a f/t pinky was. That's "frozen/thawed" pinky!

[Reno]

ok so worms not worth the while lol... ok and thanks for the welcomes lol

[Garter_Gertie]

Well, I wouldn't say worms aren't worth the while. I'm of the opinion a varied diet's best.

While it's true a worm hasn't the total nutritional value of a pinky, they're still a usual food for a garter. There's little difference between adding vitamins [calcium] to a worm and adding vitamins to a piece of talapia. If you properly feed fish for human consumption - skin, eyes, bones, flesh - you wouldn't need to add calcium as your garter will be getting the benefit of all parts of the fish.

As Rhea asked, what type of worm(s) did you use? Have you tried more than one time? Did you just toss it in, or put it in a dish, or hold it out to your snake in your fingers? Presentation seems to make a difference with Winnie.

But if captive bred s/he may have never seen a worm before. If you've got the correct worms, I'd keep trying. Variety's good. And the more things you can get your snake to eat the less dependent you'll be on a single food item.

Also, how long have you had your snake? If s/he's just settling in s/he may be more resistant to a change in food.