wild baby albino garter snake care advice

[Eddie]

Nice red spot!!

[Albert Clark]

Thanks for the updates! Always happy to hear about the Northwesterns. Grats.

[AlbinoSquiggle]

Ahhhhhh!!!! That looks so much like mine. Found him in 2012 in my garden near Eugene! Still alive and well. 😊

[user]

Ahhhhhh!!!! That looks so much like mine. Found him in 2012 in my garden near Eugene! Still alive and well. 😊

Wow, they do look very similar. Your guy has really nice patterning and a nice dorsal stripe. We did find them kinda close to each other.

[user]

Okay I have a question about my snakey here.

She was eating slugs, very readily. And I started her on frozen thawed pinkies, about a month ago, but 2 weeks ago she shed and since then has not really eaten at all, totally uninterested in pinkies. She struck a tiny slug once about a week ago but didn't take it and ran away right after striking it. She did eat that tiny slug overnight though, but hasn't eaten anything since.

I took her to the vet (who aren't really as experienced as the users on this forum TBH) just to get a second opinion on if she had an impaction, which me and the vet don't think she has. To check for this the vet just looked at her and for a bulge and said she did not, which I also did. Also, when I checked I pinched her very gently between my fingers and felt her belly as she slithered through. I also used a very strong flashlight to shine though her body and look for dark spots, I didn't see any dark spots that I thought were not organs.

Could also be parasites but I have no feces to get tested since she has stopped eating.

Her temps are 80-85f hotspot heated by a pad, and ~60-70f cold spot. She does not have a lamp, she has paper towel substrate and a hide, as well as water. She's in a tub setup.

She seems more timid than she was before she stopped eating but I still notice her crawling around her cage sometimes exploring.

I read on another thread here, a comment made by gregmonsta in 2010:

You have two options -
Some garters do snap out of it with raised temps and
persisting to try a variety of foods. You can order lobworms here - Worms Direct UK - worms for fishing, fishing bait, worms for bait, Dendrobaena for fishing, fishing bait wholesalers

Or put here down for a month to help reset her appetite.

With a juvenile I would see brumation as a last resort. But then, I've not had a juvenile go off food at this time of year before.

Another thing is that I've felt the season change here as it's raining and getting colder. Maybe she feels that too and is refusing food because of that.

So I'm pretty much thinking I will raise the temps a little, maybe offer her live fish, and add full spectrum/heat lamp lighting to her enclosure (even though I've read it's not necessary, I've also read it actually is very beneficial). I will also get a actual glass cage for her. I think it's probably time to invest in a more naturalistic garter setup with light and fake plants, etc, I've read of that helping their attitude and appetite as well.

So if anyone has any advice or thinks I'm doing anything wrong, let me know.

[Eddie]

I would slowly drop the temps over the next couple of weeks then turn it off completely for a month or so. Then bring the temps back up and offer food. Usually doe the trick.
Good luck!

[user]

I would slowly drop the temps over the next couple of weeks then turn it off completely for a month or so. Then bring the temps back up and offer food. Usually doe the trick.
Good luck!

Interesting, thank you for the reply. I will do this in a few days if she continues to refuse food. She ate like 1 tiny slug since I last posted, but has been stingy since. Also, it's weird that when you leave slugs in there for ~24 hours they quite literally smell like fish. It makes me think about how they are literally mollusks. But yeah, thanks man. I'll try your advice if her stinginess persists for 2-5 more days. I fed her a lot of food before she started to refuse, and she is still active and exploratory, so a couple more days couldn't hurt I don't think.

Edit: Would you continue to offer her food during the month of brumation or would you simply leave her be?

[Eddie]

I would not offer food during brumation