Pheobe my Eastern Garter

[Mrs N1ntndo]

Honestly, it's not normal for any snake to slither on it's back. Some of mine will slither slightly on the side after falling off a branch, but they should be slithering right side up.

Its not often just somtimes coming off my hand onto the papertowel. He doesnt do it any other time. He eats fine and slithers fine and is fatting up like the others and acts fine. lots of tongue flicking like normal.

[Mrs N1ntndo]

Well here it goes. The other day I posted either in here or in another thread that I hadnt gotten bitten by Pheobe yet. Well Im here to say that yesterday I was bitten by her. It was feeding time and I was getting ready to hand her her 3rd worm and when I lifted the lid to give it to her she launched and got the tip of my middle finger. I dont remember who said that it felt like sand paper but hers didnt at all. Maybe when the snakes are smaller they do but hers sure didnt. I got bit but her good. Just a small amount of blood and it scared the crap out of me,lol. Only cause it shocked me. Im not afraid of her all but man it still stings. Ive been bitten by smaller garters before and yes those felt like sand paper but man she deffinately stuck a fang or 2 in me and when she realeased it her fang drug on my skin. I dont understand why it would still stings though. to me it feels like I had a splinter and when you take it out it still stings. I just had to tell oyu all that news.

Well I also want to update you on the babies. There all doing welll from what it looks like. Still lots of tongue flicking and lots of moving around. But i do have some questions though. I know that a few are eating cause ive seen them eat but when I leave the worms in the tank after to make sure that all do theres always a few extras gone when I come back but Im no tsure who is eating them. last night I saw 1 baby eat and then I decided to put all in dishes and a piece of worm and left them there for a while and none ate any. Im trying to figure out which ones i need to watch more for eating but I cant figure out all that are for sure eating to watch. How long am I able to leave them in the containers before putting them back into there encloser. Also how much do I feed all them, like when do I actully say stop. even with Pheobe do I let her eat til she decides to stop or what do I do. I believe I had more questions but at this moment Im not able to remember them...lol so If I figure them out I will come back to post them.

[Mrs N1ntndo]

Here is the other question I had. I am looking around to find a good nice spot to buy pinkies so that I can start feeding these to my snakes. I havent found one that sells them frozen or anthing yet but I found a spot that sell them live and they are $1.10 a peice. A) Is that a good price cause I trust this place but Ive never bought pinkies before. B) when I get them live do i just stick them in the freezer or what I dont what to do for any of that. I dont know how to prepare. I know for Pheobe I would juse defrost and give them to her but what about for the babies. how do I do any of that. I would like to know step by step if possible cause I dont wanna mess this up and if some of these babies just dont want worms and will eat pinkies Im going to do it. Ive done awesome so far and my hubby thinks its cool that Im not only having a blast with raising these guys but that Ive done so well and havent lost any. Im happy too cause this is the first time raising babies and yes they are more work them Pheobe but I think also thats a reason why it is so much fun. Please help ... thank you and I hope to here something soon. Also to remind you the babies were born the 29th of July.

[guidofatherof5]

A- That's a good price compared to some Pet Shops. I usually buy them for around .08-14 cents a piece ordered from Mice Direct. Then the shipping has to be factored in per mouse. That cost all depends on how many I order.
Sorry if this isn't very helpful.

B-You will have to freeze them first or feed them alive. Frozen/thawed is the best way to go, if your willing to do that.
I thaw pinkies in hot water. Then I use a good sharp pair of scissors and cut them into small chunks. It can get messy but after a few times it's much easier.
I thaw in hot water to up the moisture content of the pinkies. I have tried to air thaw but found the pinkies were sometimes too dry. Some of my snakes didn't like the feel of the dried feet and legs.
I then feed the parts to the babies with a pair of hemostats. After a few times they jump right in and feed themselves, other then the ones who want to be hand fed.

[Mrs N1ntndo]

A- That's a good price compared to some Pet Shops. I usually buy them for around .08-14 cents a piece ordered from Mice Direct. Then the shipping has to be factored in per mouse. That cost all depends on how many I order.
Sorry if this isn't very helpful.

B-You will have to freeze them first or feed them alive. Frozen/thawed is the best way to go, if your willing to do that.
I thaw pinkies in hot water. Then I use a good sharp pair of scissors and cut them into small chunks. It can get messy but after a few times it's much easier.
I thaw in hot water to up the moisture content of the pinkies. I have tried to air thaw but found the pinkies were sometimes too dry. Some of my snakes didn't like the feel of the dried feet and legs.
I then feed the parts to the babies with a pair of hemostats. After a few times they jump right in and feed themselves, other then the ones who want to be hand fed.

First how many do you buy to get them at that price.

Second.. How long do they last in the freezer and how/what should I store them in?

3rd.. I have a pair of those kinds of scissors that cut thru bones and things like that that are really sharp and Ive been using them to cut the worms cause its not as messy as using a knife. How big should the pieces be especailly sence the babies are still so young.

[guidofatherof5]

First how many do you buy to get them at that price.

Second.. How long do they last in the freezer and how/what should I store them in?

3rd.. I have a pair of those kinds of scissors that cut thru bones and things like that that are really sharp and Ive been using them to cut the worms cause its not as messy as using a knife. How big should the pieces be especailly sence the babies are still so young.

For me they don't last very long. Never had any here longer then 8 months.
I store them in the same bag they come to me in.
Maybe another member can comment on how long they will stay usuable in a freezer.

I cut the head in about 3 pieces. I remove all 4 legs at the shoulder a try to include as much muscle as possible. The tail is one piece.
Then I just dice up the rest into a bunce of small chunks.
Hope this helps.

[Mrs N1ntndo]

Thank you so much and I will deffinatly try this when i get them. I thank you again for the help. You are usually the first person I think about when wanting a question answered. Everyone though is so very helpful and again I love that about these forums. My check will be coming in soon and that is when I will be ordering some. They order there stuff every tues. and get them on Wednesday so itll probably be next week.

Have you gotten live ones and then froze them or have you only gotten frozen ones. I know I will feel kinda bad at the beginning just taken a live creature and sticking them in my freezer but I know that its for my snakes . I know it will get easier but Ive never done it before so thats why the feelings. I wont cry or anything...lol but I know you all should understand. Thanks again

[ConcinusMan]

First how many do you buy to get them at that price.

You have to spend small fortune and buy hundreds. For example, $16 at mice direct for a bag of 100 mice sounds great and you save a few pennies per mouse when you order more. However, go to calculate shipping and that $16 bag of mice would cost me about $132 or $1.32 per mouse. Local mouse breeders here charge around $1 or little less for each pinky I'd have to order a heck of a lot of them online to close that price gap. It's pretty much the same story anywhere. Nobody is paying 12-16 cents per mouse that you see online. Unless you need about a thousand of them and can pay all that at once, forget about it.

[katach]

Second.. How long do they last in the freezer and how/what should I store them in?

Mice direct says they last about 12mo in the freezer as long as you keep air out of the bags as much as possible.

[ConcinusMan]

"as much as possible" really translates to "almost none". Air is the enemy when freezing any food. If they're vacuum sealed with no air pockets, they'll last 1-2 years. Bottom line is, if it isn't under vacuum, then there's air in the bag and there's no way they will last a year. Simply squeezing excess air out of the bag won't do. It has to be negative air pressure.

I use a foodsaver system. That removes virtually all the air from the bag. With soft foods (like pinkies) you do that when they're frozen so they don't get squished.