Cuddles & Scar - Updates!

[acovert]

It's been a while since I was last on the forums, and I figured that I would share some updates on Cuddles and Scar.

Cuddles is now two years old and as tiny as ever. When I am home later this week I'll take a few pictures and post them up. He just shed less than a week ago, so his colors are nice and bright. He's turned into a bit of a brat. He doesn't like it when I handle him and I get musked every time, unless I trick him into my hand. But he's still my baby and I love him.

Scar is very calm. He eats well (sometimes too much - there were multiple times when he regurgitated one worm if he decided to eat more than one (I used to give him three halves of night crawlers, since he is larger). Since then I have limited him to one worm and there hasn't been any regurgitation. Worms and safe, live fish are the only things he'll eat. He tried the slugs, but for some reason they really upset him and he can't get his mouth around them. He did makes friends with a few though, giving them rides and wearing one as a hat inside the feeding box. Cuddles has an easier time with the slugs, and he's smaller.

Scar's scar hasn't changed much. The scarring is around his vent (for those who are unaware). It doesn't seem to have caused any problems with the vent since he goes to the bathroom just fine. I've never seen him musk, but I assume that is fine as well. The part of his tail that follows the scarring is weaker than the rest of his body. I have noticed that Cuddles can wrap his tail around my finger, but Scar's tail just kind of flops around. It's not dead, because he can move it some, but it is weak. He also continues to have trouble shedding. The shed gets stuck on the scarring and has to be coaxed off. This happens every time he sheds. I keep an eye open for his shedding phase so that I can help him when the time comes.

As some of you may know, Scar lived with my boyfriend for a time. I managed to get my hands on Scar when my boyfriend broke up with me. We have gotten back together and are working things out. In the meantime, Scar is now a permanent resident in my miniature zoo. I acquired him after my boyfriend fed him potentially toxic worms, after having been told thousands of times not to buy anything but nightcrawlers. This was the second incident. The first was when he forgot to check Scar and missed his first shed. I'm not sure how long the shed was stuck to his tail, but I was angry at the negligence.

I wanted to pose a question to everyone here on the forum as well. For the time being Scar will live alone, since he is quite big for his tank (in my opinion). However, I was thinking that Cuddles might be a little lonely. Is it okay to house two garters together? I know Cuddles lived with his siblings for his first month of life, but since then he has only had contact with humans (I assume - there was that one time that he escaped). Would it be okay to get him a buddy (a male buddy, that is!), or should I let him be on his own?

And that's all for my update on Scar and Cuddles. They are healthy, happy little garters

[Stefan-A]

Welcome back.

[acovert]

Scar has been refusing food the last two or three feedings, which is very unusual for him. It's normal for Cuddles, and Cuddles has eaten recently. But Scar has always been very quick to snatch up whatever I offer him immediately. He's shown no signs of shedding and he's been refusing to eat for about three weeks now. Would there be any reason for me to be worried about this, or is it pretty normal?

[guidofatherof5]

It can be very normal. As long as you're not seeing a significant weight loss I wouldn't too concerned.

[sasmon]

pics!

[acovert]

Scar did finally eat about a week later. He's doing fine. He did have yet another retained shed today. As usual, it gets caught on the scarring around the vent, which has happened every time he has shed since we caught him. I helped a boa constrictor (a lazy one) with an entire shed once, and that was easier than getting the shed off of the end of scar's tail. Would he have been able to get it off himself in the wild? If he hadn't, could he have died from a retained shed covering his vent?

His tail is the same as always. It's not dead, but it lacks the strength that Cuddles' tail has. It flops around a lot when he's wrangling a worm, and I'm not sure that he has much use of it at all. I feel sorry for my little guy.

A while back I was having issues with him throwing up food. I figured out that it was because he was eating more than he could handle. If he eats one nightcrawler, he's fine. Two? He throws the second one up. I give him one each feeding now, to make sure that doesn't happen. Cuddles has only just graduated to eating a whole worm. I still have to cut it in half; he can't handle the whole thing on it's own.

As for pictures, I don't have a way to take them at the moment, but if I manage to get some decent ones at some point, I'll post them.

[chris-uk]

Both snakes eating and shedding - that's a good position to be in.
I expect Scar will always struggle with his shed though, but you know what to look for. Whether he'd cope in the wild I don't know, I suspect he'd probably not get all the shed off his tail. I wouldn't expect that to kill him quickly but I think he'd be more prone to injury and infection.

[acovert]

Cuddles' behavior has changed a bit lately. When I first brought him home from Montana he absolutely hated water. Lately I've actually watched him hang out in his water dish. It's a big change from a year ago. I can also tell that he's grown a lot in the two years I've been home. The container I had him in while I was in Montana now houses a goldfish that traveled with me just like Cuddles did. The container is soooooo small. It makes it easy to see how much he's grown, even if he is still tiny.