Checkered garter?

[jamromhem]

I will keep that in mind. I was considering buying some talapia fillets from the local grocery store seeing as they are so low in cost for the amount of food it would provide. I will giv ethem another look later. I still have to make a trip over to the local reptile store it is about a 30 minute drive in good trafic.

I'll be getting her in to the local reptile doctor when she gets back in country on the 20th. she was refered from a couple other vets in the area that do not have specialized doctors for reptiles. I am hoping her knowledge is as good as these other vets proclaim.

[jamromhem]

Oh, and as a note. It would seem that these snakes are harder to catch in the wild than I had to put in effort. I am reading many articals about the area and the last one seem in the wild by people looking for them was about 2 years ago. Though this may just be due to lack of documentation.

[jamromhem]

Just a little update on this lil girl.. She is spoiled already. The past two days she sat covered up in the pine bedding hiding in her hollow. She even made me bring the food to her to eat rather than come out to get it. she poked her head out long enough to grab it, swallow and hide again.

I am working on a good way to get some better pics. I'll have to use something other than my phone :P

[jamromhem]

Here is a newer pic of her. I have a couple more I will put up later. these are still a little grainy.. I am going to see if I can size them right to make em look better :P...

She successfully ate a strip of trout.. had to make her think it attacked her though :P she bit it and then ignored it then I accidentally dropped it on her and she went crazy LOL

[jitami]

Nice job with the trout I'm a big fan of "whatever works" and it worked <gg>

She looks great!

[MichaelSmith]

ahh ok good call. I'll get rid of the frozen feeder fish I put up. I am still looking for a good vet for reptiles. I'll have to find an alternative for feeding minows, With hope I will have a tank set up with a breather, so the fish will live longer :P

Hi - looks like you're doing great with the little checkered. In San Antonio you are lucky to have a great reptile vet - Dr. Cord Offerman.

For what it's worth, I have not typically taken mine to the vet unless there is an apparent need. It's true that wild garters can carry a parasite load, but if kept well and not overstressed they seem to do OK without showing ill effects.

I just came back a couple of months ago from a trip to south Texas and brought a couple of checkered garters with me (they were very common on the roads at night). Both now take pinkies after the first one or two feedings were frog-scented. Just put the pinkie in after rinsing it and sliming it with a little minnow. Offer it on tongs and I bet she/he will take it. that's assuming the garter is big enough and/or the pinkie small enough (about as big around as the snake, roughly).

[jamromhem]

Yeah she is a decent size around. thickest part non fed is about a dime's width. her head is about half the width of a penny. but I have seen her take fish the size of the pinkies I have. it might just take more convincing.

[mustang]

nice tease feeding i had to do that with my old flat head and sometimes to my checkered

[jamromhem]

She is going through her first shed here at the house.

Probably related to the injuries she received (mentioned in another post)

Eyes grayed out yesterday. Never been through a shed so I don't know how long that takes :P.. I do know that with her recent injuries I need to monitor the shed to make sure she doesn't get stuck in her old skin... So that is my task the next couple days to watch her like a hawk (she hates that phrase) and make sure the shed goes well :P.

[jamromhem]

well shed complete. a small injury on her side was confermed with the shed as the scab from it came off with the shed.

since the shed I have been keeping her on a diet of earthworms with the occasional calcium powder. While not the healthiest diet it was for the purpose of convincing her to venture onto other foods.

After about two weeks on this bland diet I put a pinky in her enclosure last night and it was gone within an hour.

So she is eating pinkies now. I am going to continue to keep her on a similar bland diet to allow further attempts to convince her to eat fillet.