Hello everyone,

my son found a garter outside and we have been keeping it... we do this every summer. We find one, keep it, and release it in August.

This one, however... it turns out she was pregnant! We have 19 little babies now- SO CUTE!

I have read that they won't eat until their first shed. Is this correct? Should I offer food? Before I read about this, I did spend some time trying. Two of them ate. The others couldn't care less.

Please let me know. I don't want to mess this up.

Oh, I guess some details are in order:
They were born 8/4, in the morning.
They are, I believe, Eastern Garters (checkered morph)
I have them separated in three tanks... three with 'mom', and the two eaters by themselves (so I could keep track of who's eaten) and the rest in another tank.

Any advice or input would be most welcome!

Thank you!