Quote Originally Posted by KeyLa View Post
Can I ask what is the smallest you have seen an adult male T. Marcianus? I actually went into the rescue centre to get a King, Milk or Corn but the garters were so adorable, I am considering getting one instead or as well.
Welcome to the forum K! It's a sad state of affairs that those checkereds are so small at the age of 3 yrs old. I think most of their problem is that they are nutritionally deficient by being fed only pink mice throughout their lives. Do you know if they are receiving a vitamin supplement with that? Because that would be the appropriate thing to do if they are solely on pinkies. Another consideration would be to vary the diet with f/t fish, silversides cut up, live guppies, or fresh fish cut up. Pinky mice are about 90% fluid with 0 to 5% calcium. Calcium is needed for bone development and is a essential nutrient for young, developing animals and normal growth. I had a albino checkered garter that I received from a person who was only feeding the snake pinkies coincidentally. The animal was grossly underweight and nutritionally deficient, was somewhat aggressive due to the poor state of health. The person wanted to get rid of the animal bc every time she went to pick the animal up, the snake would bite. It was doing that in my opinion, bc the snake was being starved. This garter was only a year old but was about 9 inches and 14 grams. The snake also had a bad shed and had a retained tail tip that was already necrotic and black in color. I actually had to take the animal to the vet and it took antibiotics and a aggressive feeding schedule to get the snake back to health. Today he is thriving and feeding on f/t hairless hopper mice, f/t rat pinks and a varied diet. Recently he fathered a litter, and has grown to be a very well nourished , active checkered garter.