Hey! How's it going?

[Martinz21]

Hello all,

I am new to the forum and wanted to say hello. Also wanted to ask a quick question. I am just getting my first snake here pretty soon (hoping it's born soon) and I have been doing a lot of reading up prepping for it and am a little confused about live fish feeding. My ultimate goal is to get my little guy on mice but until then is it ok to feed red rosies or what would you all recommend? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Zach

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard.

[chris-uk]

Welcome aboard.

Regards to feeding. I'd suggest that you don't even consider live fish until you have gone months without success getting it to take other foods. Most of the time you won't have any problems getting them to take frozen/thawed fish fillets, or frozen/thawed smelt, or even pinky parts straight off the bat. And worms are usually a good food to get them started to.

My view is that live fish are a food of last resort for a number of reasons.

What species of garter are you getting? Favourite foods vary from one species to another, so we can give you more specific advice if you give us a bit more information.

[Martinz21]

Thanks Chris. I am getting a anery plains.

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you with us.
Here's a link to the forum care sheet which is always a good read.
T.radix -Plains garter snake loves worms and takes very readily to pinkies. They also like tilapia(fresh not re-packaged frozen) I would avoid live fish if possible and if it's not possible I would use guppies in place if rosy reds.
Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet

[Martinz21]

Thank you Steve I took a look at it and has a lot of good information. Do tempers differ from species to species?

[guidofatherof5]

I would say yes. I have found T.radix to be very docile especially the females (females in general) Males tend to be less social. They live more on a," if you don't have food or a lady for me, leave me alone" attitude.

[Martinz21]

Haha... good to know

[gregmonsta]

Greetings

[Foxrun402]

Welcome to the Thamily, As Chris said fish aren't the best source of food. While they can be devoured by garters live or f/t, they still may contain bacteria or parasites that could cause problems... Some (most) fish species have Thiamine which breaks down and dissolves vitamin B1 over time... A snake on a strictly fish diet may suffer from vitamin b1 deficiency (thiamine poisoning). Granted it does take a while for this to set in and take over, it is still a possibility I stay away from. I only feed Nightcrawlers, F/T pinkies, and Slugs since I just recently found a bunch of those!

Pinkies are more of a complete nutrition though and are a very good source of food, they can be fatty though as well and should not be over fed. I got my snake home when she was about a month or two old. Readily accepted nightcrawlers and then without scenting hi-jacked pinkie parts before I could get them on the terrarium floor! It's very fun to watch them fishing though, and my advice would be stray away from that and let the little one adapt and grow for a while. Let him/her get their nutrition up from better food sources, and trust in their enviroment. Then get some guppies / Zebra Danios and see how well he/she can pick em off!

Excited for your new arrival and some pictures! Hope everything goes well for you!