Ribbons and garters,, ^^

[kibakiba]

And also rubbing worms on them. It's overall just way easier and less costly to go for worms.

[Ringosmama]

yeah haha

[Selkielass]

ok ok so about parasites, are they common??

I got lucky with Abby- she had no mites (Or shed them and they were discarded along with the damp moss I had her in for the first couple days after I found her.) and tested clan for worms when I had a fecal float done by a local vet.

If you are keeping Ringo on white paper towel substrate, you will see black pepper like spots on the paper towel or in his water dish if he has mites- *then* you can look into treatment options.

He's just a bayby though- you *might* have found him before he had a chance to pick anything up. (We can hope, eh?)

Abby was about 13 inches long when I found her, and I got her to take a pinky mouse about a month after I found her- It had been thoroughly and repeatedly scented with worm slime, and I teased her with it by manipulating it on the substrate with a pair of black plastic feeding tongs that I'm pretty sure she sees as another snake. (She acts like she is stealing the other snakes food, and looks very satisfied with her cleverness.)

I've managed to get Abby to look forward to handling by feeding her only after a handling session. When we get her out, she goes into alert mode, and if hungry cruises around alertly but calmly, exploring our hands and arms. When returned to her cage, she immediately goes to the foilage 'where the food is' and hides in waiting until the food makes its appearance. (Sometimes just a tiny worm snack, sometimes more, as appropriate.)

When 'that other snake' (The feeding tongs) makes its appearance, she immediately comes out rearing like a cobra, sneaks up on her 'victim' and 'viciously' steals his lunch, looking very pleased with herself by the whole process. Its good fun for everyone, and she seems to enjoy handling more now that the associates it with hunting and food when she returns home.

[ConcinusMan]

Most common thing a WC northwestern can have is tapeworms and hookworms.(internal worms) I've never seen mites on WC reptile in the Northwest but in drier warmer parts of CA I have seen mites and ticks on lizards but not snakes. Tapeworms in WC adults are the only thing I've seen them have, that causes any problems, and even those have been few.

Mites are far more common a problem in captivity and if your collection gets mites, it usually comes from a new captive snake.

You don't have to worry about mites from that snake and the younger it is, the better the chance that it is parasite free. A northwestern that small, if it has taken a meal in the wild, it was probably worms or slugs so not really a problem. Best to leave the snake untreated in this case. He's too small and I wouldn't even treat an adult unless it was a bad infestation.


Sometimes the best method for getting them to eat pinkies is to just offer them some. My baby northwesterns ate chopped pinkies the first time I offered.

And to answer another question you had, northwesterns are usually born "grayed out" in color. What I mean is, the color of the stripes isn't really there right away. Especially red, orange, yellow develop over time as they grow. Chance are, your snake will change some as it grows. His stripe is very likely to change color but it could stay the same.