Scenting still not working

[RedSidedSPR]

I'm cool with dicing worms, I was just joking. But when would need to peel fur of mice?!?
I didnt think of craigslist. (I never think of craigslist for those kinds of things)

[kibakiba]

To feed the babies. Mine love chopped up fuzzies, but they can only really eat the skin and legs of them. The larger ones can eat other pieces too.

[ConcinusMan]

Well Chantel, If they are frozen really hard, and you dice them up small and fast before they thaw, little one's can eat almost every part of a fuzzy. Bones and all. At least mine do, even 10 inch little snakes.

They do have trouble with the mushy parts such as the guts though. It's hard to get their teeth into that, and it obstructs breathing if it's too soft and mushy since they breathe through a little hole in the bottom of their mouth while eating.

After thawing diced up frozen pinkies and fuzzies, I add chopped night crawlers to the soft parts and fluids left over. Sort of like bread to soak up the gravy. yum!

I peel the fur off of adult mice and hoppers only because my snakes that eat them, don't like the fur, and will drop the mouse if it's too hairy. It's one of those things where you get to know your snakes, and allow them to train you.

That's why I often say, I cannot give specific advice sometimes. Sometimes it's up to you as their human, to get to know the snake and adapt your care to the specific individual snake. Getting good at it takes time and experience with your snake and snakes in general.

[kibakiba]

I cut fuzzies in half and give most of it to Mama since she's pretty voracious, the other half and most of the limbs go to Tiny and Squirt. I have Snap and Ember eating whole pinks now. Runt sometimes eats whole pinkies, but prefers worms.

[ConcinusMan]

Another reason for peeling is to prevent undigested hair from building up and possibly causing an impaction or constipation. Garters aren't quite as good at passing hair wads as other snakes are.

[Stefan-A]

Garters aren't quite as good at passing hair wads as other snakes are.

I doubt that claim.

[ConcinusMan]

I knew you would

I can only speak for the few species that I have kept. They tend to get "plugged up" fairly easily if you don't include a lot of high water content foods in their diet.

The pueblan milk snake I had ate adult mice almost exclusively. Without fail, about a week later, the feces would come out (much drier than garter feces) along with a huge wad of hair. They are adapted to conserve water and pass such things while garters eat a much more varied diet, and it just seems like they are more prone to that stuff being part of an impaction.

I can feed some of my garters a hairy mouse, then feed them soft watery foods for several meals. Then all the sudden, like a month later, start passing the hair while straining to poop. The fact is, the hair doesn't digest well and it can build up in the lower intestine.

[kibakiba]

I haven't had a problem with "hairy" foods yet. I've fed Mama a hopper (cut in pieces) and she didn't have any problem. Of course, being a smaller garter snake, I cant feed her larger foods.

[ConcinusMan]

I'm just saying that unlike corns, kings, milks, that can eat hairy mice exclusively with no problems, it can cause problems in garters by making them more prone to impaction or constipation. Of course, this may not apply to all garters, especially those that tend to make rodents the main part of their diet in the wild.

[Stefan-A]

I'm just saying that unlike corns, kings, milks, that can eat hairy mice exclusively with no problems, it can cause problems in garters by making them more prone to impaction or constipation.

Do you know that for a fact?