I Have a checkered garter that is around 6 months old, I got it at about a month old.. For about 2 months it hasn't really been eating anything I've given it. I tried tilapia, trout, and pinkie mice. It will just sniff and slither away.

I was worried that it would pass away because it's a baby and so tiny, it can't afford to skip so many meals. So I've began to assist feed because that is really the only way it will eat. I hate doing that because it seems to cause it so much stress and makes it not like me, but if I didn't assist feed I assure you it wouldn't eat at all!

It has lost so much weight to the point that the skin is loose and will fold and you can tell it has no meat. At this point I'm not sure what to do! I keep a warm side with a hide at around 75F, and a cool side with a pool. Before this, it ate relatively well. it mostly ate tilapia, because that's what the breeder fed it before me. I'm not sure what to do to get it to eat normally. Could there be an underlying cause?