Why wont she eat her pinkies?

[jeanette]

Ok many of you know ive had a pair of Garters for about a month and a half, When i got them they were feeding primarily on pinkies. after some advice ive also added earthworms into their diet. the male wont touch the earthworms at all. he refuses to even be anywhere near them .
the female however, loves the earthworms she especially loves it if i drop them into her water bowl where they wriggle like crazy so she can play at hunting. the female now though, is refusing to eat pinkies, im so confused. what am i doing wrong?

[Stefan-A]

Oh that sounds so familiar. I can't say what you're doing wrong, but about a year ago, I fed my female worms once and she refused to eat anything else after that, until about 6 months later. She ate three or four mice during that whole time, most of them during the first couple of months and later one mouse I had covered with worms in a futile attempt to get her to eat mice again.

Had to brumate her to get her to snap out of it.

[jeanette]

OH!!! will she eventually go back to eating pinkies then? as it is every pinkie shes refusing is being fed to my Pyxie frog, hes getting a bit spoilt lol

[Stefan-A]

She might. I got the impression that it's not guaranteed. In my case, I was ultimately left with two options: brumation and force feeding. Of course I can't say if your snake will be as stubborn as mine was, maybe scenting is enough for yours.

More about my little charlie foxtrot over here:
http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/husb...ed-advice.html

[jeanette]

i did think about trying scenting, i will try that option i think before brumating her, shes only young and i dont want to risk putting her through a brumation. If she wont eat pinkies then she has other foods she can be fed i guess. Thanks stefan

[adamanteus]

It is odd how some Garters seem to do this.
I feed all my Garters on trout (60%), pinkies (30%) and earthworms (10%)... they will take any of these with equal enthusiasm.

[Stefan-A]

My tetrataenia and my deceased parietalis male had no problems switching between worms, mice and fish. My vagrans were temporarily off feed when I offered them worms, so I can't draw any conclusions about them. But the female sure did get addicted to them.

[jeanette]

It is odd how some Garters seem to do this.
I feed all my Garters on trout (60%), pinkies (30%) and earthworms (10%)... they will take any of these with equal enthusiasm.

So i guess Celie is just an awkward snake . must take after her owner

[bulrush]

I did feed my WC garter a couple worms, then I tried feeding him a pinkie. I even sliced open the stomach skin to entice him. He wouldn't touch it. I even warmed it up in a baggie in warm water. Nothing, he didn't even notice it. But he loves nightcrawlers from the store. I'm just worried he is getting enough calcium. Which is the reason I was trying to get him to eat pinkies.

[dashnu]

I did feed my WC garter a couple worms, then I tried feeding him a pinkie. I even sliced open the stomach skin to entice him. He wouldn't touch it. I even warmed it up in a baggie in warm water. Nothing, he didn't even notice it. But he loves nightcrawlers from the store. I'm just worried he is getting enough calcium. Which is the reason I was trying to get him to eat pinkies.

Same exact issue here.. I bought some calcium and sprinkel it on the worms.. I wish I could get them to eat pinkys. I tried thawing out a pinky cut in two long ways in the worm container. Then at feeding time put out one worm and one half pinky... No takers on the pinky, lol even the one who didnt get the worm!!