I have been reading a lot about garter care and housing. Just wanted to make sure that I'm doing the right things since this is my first experience with keeping a snake and mine isn't eating.
Here's my story:
As I mentioned in my intro, my son and I found a garter in our yard, hiding under the grass, on 11/01/06 in Philadelphia, PA. The temperature outside has been variable lately - generally anywhere from 50's to low 70's by day and 50's to mid-30's at night. I have no idea what type or how old it is. The snake is approx. 13 inches long and 1 cm diameter. It is grayish brown with black diamond spots. At first we placed it in a dry plastic "planet frog" habitat that I had on hand so my son could show his friend. At that point, we weren't sure we were going to keep it as a pet. I placed a plastic plant saucer of water in there and tried to feed it small worms I harvested from our yard. I never witnessed the snake eating them so not sure it did. This past Sunday, we went to the pet store and purchased a 10-gallon tank, aspen bedding, grapevine branch, thermometer and humitity gauge, under tank heater, half log, and water bowl. I also picked up some rosy red minnows and frozen pinkies. I can't say the snake has been very active (although I don't really know what's normal) and still have not seen it eat anything yet. I've continued to try feeding small worms (wiggling in front of the snake) as well as a minnow (placed live in a jar lid w/ water), and two quarter pieces of defrosted pinkie (tried wiggling in front of it as well as left it sit in the cage). The temp in the cage is 75 F on the heated side (I have the gauge attached at the top of the cage not at the bottom were the heat mat is though) and the humitity is at @ 67. I keep the room temp anywhere from 66 - 70F. Since yesterday it's been hiding under some fallen leaves I have in the middle part of the cage at the edge of where the heat mat is. I think that covers everything. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Chrissy