Hello!

[Lowstorm]

I live way up in Northern MN. Nice to meet ya'll. I've been reading tons, trying to learn more about my T. mericanus. She's such an interesting snake! I can't wait to learn more. And I have so much more stuff to ask about. Can't wait to learn more.

I have a bunch of pets. Rabbits, rats (food for humans, food for snakes) an american bulldog, 2 cats (barn cat and Bengal) and a reef tank. Saltwater, you horrible minded people.

[Albert Clark]

Welcome, and it reads as if you are a zookeeper like most of us here.

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you with us. I'll post a link to our care sheet. Ask all the questions you might have.
Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet

[Lowstorm]

Yup, I've read it all. My issues with my girl are:

She won't eat anything BUT worms. She was sold to me by someone saying she'd eat anything. Yeah, well, anything=worms. I got her to eat ONE pinky mouse after bopping her nose with it for 15 minutes. Her nutritional needs aren't being met. Can I inject a supplement into worms for her? (lol yes, seriously!)

And two: She's jumpy. For 5 minutes after we take her out she throws herself around, we have to hold her so tightly its almost scary. After 5-10 minutes she'll settle down and chill, but those first 5 minutes are horrible. AND she's an in-the-cage striker. Won't eat pinky rats or mice, WILL attack your fingers. Little snot. Okay, fingers=hand, and little=2 and a half feet or so.

Albino checkered garter. Will post pics of her soon too, by the way!

[Lowstorm]

Oh, and I have tried:
Cut up fish, both skin on and skin off, with bones and without (Northern Pike mostly)
Pinkie rats/mice, Fuzzy rats/mice (She's taken ONE pinkie mouse, 2 weeks ago. Refuses since then)
Worms (Only nightcrawlers) She'll eat them at any time, but its NOT a complete diet.

Tanks is 20 gallons. Temp is kept up with a heat lamp. High of 86* in the day, 65-70 at night (ambient room temp.)
Yes, she has hides. The person I got her from kept her in a small tub, no hides, rack style. She freaked out when first put into the tank. Now she's a pretty happy snake
HUGE water bowl, she can completely (and does) submerse herself. She soaked in it for the first week we got her.

[guidofatherof5]

Nothing wrong with night crawlers. Try scenting a pinkie with worm slime, my guess is it will be gone. Use the worm slime to scent about everything except fish. If she accepts something within a week or so you probably won't have to scent.

[acovert]

It took me years to get Cuddles, my little northwestern, to take anything outside of worms or (if I could get the right kind) live fish. I've had him since 2011 and it was only just the last year and a half that he started taking frozen fish and pinky mice. I don't really know what changed, I just got tired of keeping worms in my fridge and them going bad before he would eat them all, so I tried it again. I used to add slugs to the diet, too, when he was only on worms. Worms will work, since it is their normal diet in the wild (at least for the northwesterns around here, who don't have access to much else), they just have to be fed more often on them.

As for the jumpiness, some snakes just are. My ex had a corn snake who was horribly mean as you were taking him out and settling him, but after a few minutes he was the calmest thing in the world. Some snakes are just more nervous than others. Cuddles tries to eat my fingers, too, though he's too small to be able to actually bite me. I think it's all for show, because once I'm holding him he's content to wrap himself around my fingers and look for any nearby escape routes (I had to modify the little jerk's tank so he couldn't escape it). It may be that she'll calm down the more you handle her. If her former owner didn't do a lot of handling then she may not be used to it.

[Lowstorm]

Sorry, I have been working 2 jobs. She's so pretty, I love her to death! Did I mention that yet? lol.

She's on a hunger strike. No worms eaten. Little butt. May be going into a light brumation or some such. I know not to freak out over a snake not eating for a while, at least! She'll eat when she's good and hungry!

Thanks everyone. I won't worry about her not eating pinkies. Pretty sure she's almost full grown, so won't sweat the 'eating only worms' thing. We fish a LOT so keeping worms in the fridge is no big deal. (Especially since I'm the wife of the family, and its my fridge lol)