What should I feed her and shedding Questions- Please Help!

[Sarah E]

Hello!

Lucky, my female Eastern Garter snake is AMAZING! She's grown so much since I caught her back in October! When I caught her she was 4" long, now she's a foot and a half long, and about a half inch wide.

She has shed her skin 3 times, and she's seeming to have trouble with the last one... she's had the tail half of her old skin still on her tail for around a week and a half. Is this a problem for her? Is there any way I can help her along?

Also, when we caught her, she would only eat earth worms, now I've got her on live fish ((I can't get her to catch her own fish... she's quite skitish and nervous around me and people, so I hold her, and she opens her mouth for me to put the fish in... only problem is, now and then when I"m just holding her she will nip me now... is there any way I can fix/change this?)) Feeder Guppy diet, which I breed myself. I'm hoping to advance from feeding fish, but I'm worried about feeding her food that is to big for her, that she might choke on...

Would Pinkies be to large to feed her? ((I will not cut the pinkies up, which is why I have held off, I only want to feed them to her when she can swallow them whole)) Are frozen, then thawed pinkies alright to feed her?

Thank you in advance for the help!

Sarah

[Selkielass]

Its cool that she likes to eat from your hand, but yeah, nipping is a bit out of line.
Handle fish with hemostats or tweezers so your hands don't smell like food.
Guppies are good, but you may want to mix it up with earth worms and perhaps pinky mice or rats. (Look for feeders about as big around as the largest part of her body.)
You may need to scent them by placing them in a small bowl with guppies or worms to slime them well so they smell familiar, until she realizes how good they are. )My snakes go nuts for rodents.

You should help her get that retained shed off her tail. Let her sit in a box with a warm, damp towel for a few minutes, to soften up the skin, then gently rub from where the retained shed starts toward her tail with a damp washcloth or towel. (Running water may help too.)

[guidofatherof5]

You can buy extra small pinkies which should be safe.
I will give my snakes food item that are a little wider then their head width but no bigger.

[EasternGirl]

Easterns are wonderful garters! I have two and I love them more than anything. The nipping probably has to do with her associating your fingers with food. My female also nips at my fingers since I started feeding her by hand. Make sure your hands are clean and do not smell like food and like Selkielass said, you should probably start using tongs or hemostats to feed her so that she doesn't associate your fingers with the food so much. Frozen/thawed pinkies are exactly what you want to feed her...garters do not eat live rodents. Like Steve said, you can get extra small pinkies that she should be able to swallow whole with no problem. Garters can actually swallow pretty large food pieces.

[Sarah E]

Okay, thank you! I'll be running out, most likely today and buying some Pinkies to feed her. I'm looking into other bedding material for her, because the echo carpet I use, she goes under and I NEVER see her! I think if I had a type of bedding, she wouldn't at least be able to hide under the carpet.... any suggestions on what to use?

I used to use that coconut fiber, but she kept getting it caught up in her mouth, so I don't want to use that.

[chris-uk]

Aspen isn't a bad choice of bedding. There was a thread fairly recently discussing substrates to use, there's a couple at least in the "Enclosures" section.

[EasternGirl]

Aspen is good and carefresh is good. Another thing to consider is that if she has plenty of hides in her enclosure, she won't burrow as much. You don't want to take away her ability to burrow though...I know it's frustrating when they hide all the time, but that is a natural instinct with garters...it makes them feel safe. I have noticed though, and have heard other members say this as well, that once I put lots of hides in my enclosures, my snakes stopped burrowing so much...they do still hide though...it's just something they do...but she will do it less as she gets used to you.

[Sarah E]

Alright. Is there anything I should do to help her get used to me?

[Sarah E]

Also, I like the look of the Repti Bark. Would that be acceptable?

[mikem]

i don't like it because it can stick to their food and be swallowed.