Rethinking Food; Eartworms are not native to Northern US and Canada

[ConcinusMan]

I think that mother nature figured out how to have healthy garter snakes long before we came meddling around. We need to look at a bigger picture here. Bottom line is, no single food is "the best" or "complete". Garter snakes eat a wide variety of foods. (There are exceptions as some garters will only eat worms and slugs) It's up to us as keepers to figure out a wide variety of foods that our snakes will eat. My concinnus love night crawlers and they do get them but it's only a small part of their diet. It would be far too expensive (and just not right) for me to feed them exclusively on night crawlers since they also love mice and fish.

If your snakes take something besides night crawlers or any worm, for cryin' out loud, give it to them. It can save you money and cleanup time, AND make your garter healthier.

[Kevinh583]

In my opinion a food item's merit has more to do with its content and not much to do with where it may be from originally.

I found the folowing data on the usda website. Based on my (admittedly limited) research I am feeding my snake a varied diet trying to cut down on the high fat items since her activity level will be lower than in the wild. But maybe some of the expert forum members can help translate the nutritional information. I'd also be interested in seeing the nutritional information on some of the other feeder fish (the usda study excluded fish for some reason).

[ConcinusMan]

In my opinion a food item's merit has more to do with its content and not much to do with where it may be from originally.

Exactly what I meant when I said "it doesn't mean a dang thing to me or my snakes" (that worms aren't native)

That chart there illustrates my point. No single food there should be considered better than an other, and that you should offer a variety whenever possible.

[ConcinusMan]

More nutrition analysis info:

http://www.house-of-reptiles.com/fee...ertebrates.pdf

http://www.house-of-reptiles.com/feedervertebrates.pdf

[ConcinusMan]

Aha! Earth worms are native to northern US and Canada after all...


Giant Palouse Earthworm

At lengths of up to one foot, the Giant Palouse is the largest earthworm on earth. It’s quite harmless, but unfortunately it’s endangered all the same. It lives in Eastern Washington State and Idaho and was thought to be extinct until 2005, when a student discovered a living specimen. Previous sightings hadn’t happened since the 1980s. Part of the reason it’s so hard to find the Giant Palouse? They burrow 15 feet into the ground.

Here it is, pictured next to a night crawler:

[Stefan-A]

At lengths of up to one foot, the Giant Palouse is the largest earthworm on earth.

Not. Even. Close.

Microchaetus rappi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[ConcinusMan]

Yeah, no kidding. I was tempted to edit that part out but It was quoted from a news source, not a scientific one.

I know it's not necessarily the absolute truth, but wikipedia says two more specimens were found in March of this year.

from wiki:

"Little is known about the giant Palouse earthworm. The worm is believed to grow up to 1 m (3.3 ft) in length. Modern specimens, however, have been observed up to only about half that length."

I guess my point is, in a different time and climate, these worms could have surfaced as juveniles no bigger than a large night crawler, and of course, been eaten by garter snakes.

[ambertastic]

I've been reading through this thread...
One thing that a lot of people have mentioned (and I agree with) is that whether a food source is native or not is less important than how its nutritional content compares to what the snake's needs are.
It seems worms, for the most part, were not as readily available to garters as slugs back in the day. So it's not a comparison of native v. nonnative food, but original v. new food source/critter.
Nobody compared nutritional components of slugs (European or otherwise - in Washington at least, the native slugs stick to the forest and the European slugs are common - make that invasive - in suburban areas)... to those of earthworms (... European or otherwise).
They are both squishy invertebrates and may be essentially the same so maybe it's a moot point but still. Isn't that what we should be looking at first?
My gut (/newbie) feeling is that, as many garters are opportunistic feeders, the most "natural" diet may simply be a varied one. That certainly sounds like the best way to cover your bases.

And back to one of the OP's early questions -
has anyone bred slugs successfully???
I have collected a bunch of eggs and various adult slugs and am trying my luck in my salamander terrarium.
I've been able to find surprisingly little info on slugs as food sources online, other than that they are food sources.