Why wont she eat her pinkies?

[Jenlang_79]

I do not understand why all these people are telling you to feed your snake a variety of food. A variety is only needed IF your snake is not eating pinkies. Mice have all the nutrients your snake needs to be healthy. If you are feeding your snake worms, fish, or anything else you need to feed a variety. The best thing you can do is get your snake back on pinkies and quit feeding the worms. Most garters will take worms over pinkies more readily because that is what they eat in the wild and what they recognize as food, so feeding worms sometimes makes your snake not want the pinkies. I have had garters for years and this is the best food for them. Good luck with your new snake, garters are great snakes to have as pets!

[adamanteus]

Pinkies have far too high a fat content to be used as a stand-alone diet. They also lack certain nutrients (phosphorous for example) which are essential for long term health and growth.
Variety is needed.

[KITKAT]

Adamanteus is right... variety is needed. And in response to other posts, here and elsewhere, did you know that slugs contain calcium? Many slugs have a vestigal shell inside them... a little chip of calcium carbonate inside their tissues.

Who woulda guessed?

[Loren]

Pinkies have far too high a fat content to be used as a stand-alone diet. They also lack certain nutrients (phosphorous for example) which are essential for long term health and growth.
Variety is needed.

Just out of curiosity, in your opinion- what about garters that are large enough to eat half-grown mice? Do you think they can be fed mice only if the mice are half grown? Is the fat content thing mainly an issue in baby mice?

[adamanteus]

I don't really know, Loren. A half grown mouse would seem to be a better meal with fully formed bones and so on, and you would expect it to contain less fat than a pinky. I prefer to play safe and give me snakes as wide a variety as I can. I've never had a problem switching between pinks, fish and worms. Mine will take any of these with equal enthusiasm.

[drache]

my Sammy will down a fully grown mouse (f/t)
she's also the one who will eat everything
many of my garters have clear nutritional preferences and will not eat what's not their preference, but I don't offer them amphibians and rarely worms
hardly any of my garters like worms, but those who do, go nuts over them - well, it's Sammy and she goes nuts over every kind of food

[infernalis]

I cannot form an opinion, I enjoy feeding the variety.

My wild caught "Normal" garters (Spot, Princess and Zig) all eat the following.

worms, guppies, newts, tadpoles, small toads, slugs & salamanders.

They have been eating this no problem, it is the menu they chose from before I caught them.

My flames, Puget, melanistic and snows - no WC amphibians, I am not going to risk it with expensive morphs. However Garter snakes have "iron" digestive systems, and I don't think too many parasites will survive the acid bath. Think about it, they are about the only snake documented as eating rancid carrion.

Worms are sticky, so calcium supplements stick nicely, AND I mix FLUKERS high calcium cricket feed with my worm food.

Worms are almost pure protein and no fat & I have not met a garter snake yet that does not like guppies.

I breed my own mice for the milks, python and monitor. But I cannot bring myself to clubbing a live pinky, or any desire to watch them swallowed alive. (it's already difficult to witness the monitor slamming the little buggers into his rock pile, at least they are dead real quickly)

I know a lot of keepers prefer the mice, but my snakes have all grown and flourished just fine on the all natural garter diet. And I know that folks that do not live on a big old farm may not be able to obtain all the food items we can get, so city folks are best sticking to what is sold at stores.

Regards,
Wayne A. Harvey

[Jenlang_79]

The only thing that can be a concern about feeding fish and worms is that your snake can get parasites from either..even if they are store bought..which can make you snake very sick and even possibly die. It does not always happen but it is a risk. Also mice are nutritionally sound..I do not know where you get your information from..but you are wrong.

[Jenlang_79]

Ok..so I should apoligize since I have been looking on the web and different sites will tell you different things. The majority of the sites however will tell you that pinkies are the best choice. I have been feeding the pinkies to my snakes(the ones that will accept them) for years now with no ill effects. Here is one of the web sites.
garter-ribbonsnakes - Care Sheets Information about Garter Snake Snakes garter-ribbonsnakes ,characteristics and sexing, Description of Diet, Diet-Carnivorous,Supplements, Nutrition and Usage - calcium and vitamins, Lighting and UVB,Tempatures and Hu

[Jenlang_79]

Here is another good site.
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