My injured snake..

[Hankj]

Here is a picture of her taking down a big earthworm. Don't worry, she didn't get that bark in her mouth.

Few questions. She shed again yesterday, almost completely for the first time. Today she still had maybe a few centimeters of skin on her tail. I took her out and get some water on my hands and had my buddy spray her tail with water and I worked it off. She produced a very very foul smelling musk. I thought I smelled the musk before but now that she is eating it is way worse but when I was getting the skin off her tail started bleeding a little bit. Was I too rough getting the skin off? Anything to worry about it?

Also, do garter snakes need UVB light or is it beneficial to them at all?

[ConcinusMan]

Your last question is debateable. We don't really know if it's beneficial but we do know that low to moderate UV exposure does no harm. Quite frankly the answer is no, they don't really need it. Lizards and tortoises need it in order to synthesize vitamin D in their skin. Snakes are quite capable of getting D from their food (rodents are an excellent source) and do not need to synthesize it. I believe that balanced visible spectrum lighting that somewhat simulates natural daylight has positive psychological effects on appetite and activity levels in garter snakes and might play a role in reproductive behavior as well.

I've experienced a little bleeding on the tail when removing stuck skin. It's usually nothing serious if it occurs the tail. Any healing that needs to be done will usually take care of itself as long as the enclosure is reasonably clean of fecal material and bacteria and substrate is dry. I wouldn't worry about it.

[guidofatherof5]

Great to see her eating.
Have you considered naming her?

[Hankj]

This is true for all kinds of snakes?

When I first got her a friend started calling her Lewis and since she turned out to be female I have named her Lois.

[guidofatherof5]

This is true for all kinds of snakes?

When I first got her a friend started calling her Lewis and since she turned out to be female I have named her Lois.

Nice.

[ConcinusMan]

That pic reminds me of...

:-P

[Hankj]

Of...

[Hankj]

Oh yeah another question I had.. I was at a fishing store and I saw some worm bedding called SuperGro or something, to keep their bait worms alive and/or growing. Do you guys know if this would be decent gutload or not?

[guidofatherof5]

I looked it up but couldn't find out what was in it.

[kibakiba]

Personally, I'd stay away from it unless it was 100% organic with absolutely no chemicals. I use a mixture of calcium powder, bone meal, and organic cricket food (I raised crickets for a while) and the worms go crazy for it. It's high in calcium, which is a good gut load in itself.