Hey guys, new to the forum here and wanted to get some opinions on feeding live mice. About a week an a half and a half ago we had some unseasonably warm weather for Colorado(mid 60's) and my kids an I caught a garter snake in our yard. My wife wants to get rid of it but it has since snowed and we still might have more coming so I was going to keep it until spring. I have been trying for a week to feed it live fish and nightcrawlers with no luck. Today I went down the local reptile store and got a live small hopper mouse and threw it in. After I left the room for 10 minutes and came back it was eating it. I know that dead mice are recommended, but I don't want it to get used to that if we are going to release it. Does anyone else feed live mice and have you had any problems with them?

The snake is about 2 or 2 and a half feet long, and roughly the diameter of a nickel. I have it in a 10 gallon terrarium with a 100 watt heating light running about 12 hours a day. Its about 80 degrees in the day and about 68-70 at night in the tank.