Baby garter advice (pic included)

[LyrisFlame]

well if its skinny i wouldnt release it, does it look healthy act normal? did you give it fresh water?

Well, I haven't been around it long enough to be able to say for sure what is normal, but today I noticed that its body just didn't look as round and toned as it was before (a week ago), it was kind of... I dunno... sagging? sunken? Which didn't seem good.

It looks kind of... depressed almost. Just kind of lays there listlessly. I'm hoping that maybe now that I'm back and can keep things the way they are supposed to be the snake will start to feel better.

I did change the water and it drank for a few minutes when it realized someone had finally given it fresh water to drink.

I seriously hate relying on other people to do this stuff.

[drache]

please don't worry just yet
one, two, or even three weeks is not long enough to starve a snake
obviously the snake is hungry, so it's likely to eat eventually
if the worm was largish, it may not have wanted to stay down
just keep it supplied with fresh water, and try feeding every other day or so, until it takes something

[anji1971]

The fact that it drank as soon as you changed the water indicates that it may have been getting dehydrated. It's a good thing you got home when you did!
As Rhea just stated, keep offering food every couple days, and offer smaller items at first.
The snake is probably extremely stressed out right now. Hopefully that's all it is, and it will perk up shortly under your care.

[bulrush]

Try offering a smaller worm or a small slug. They like soft-bodied things.

[LyrisFlame]

please don't worry just yet
one, two, or even three weeks is not long enough to starve a snake
obviously the snake is hungry, so it's likely to eat eventually
if the worm was largish, it may not have wanted to stay down
just keep it supplied with fresh water, and try feeding every other day or so, until it takes something

The fact that it drank as soon as you changed the water indicates that it may have been getting dehydrated. It's a good thing you got home when you did!
As Rhea just stated, keep offering food every couple days, and offer smaller items at first.
The snake is probably extremely stressed out right now. Hopefully that's all it is, and it will perk up shortly under your care.

Thank you, Rhea and anji. I'm feeling better about it today. The snake is moving around again and has gone back to watching us and cruising around the tank. She seems okay. I think she's sniffing out the worm I just put in there.

The worms we bought are just medium to small earthworms, but I'm cutting them in half anyway.

I think the water probably did have a lot to do with it. Just another reason to be happy that I'm home.

Thanks again everyone for listening to me fret about the baby snake. I'm driving my boyfriend crazy with my demands that everything be as clean as possible and done "by the book" I guess.

[anji1971]

Glad to hear she's doing better.
And we're always happy to listen and help if we can!

[LyrisFlame]

So here's an update:

I think my little garter is eating... I've never actually seen it eat, but the worms disappear and the snake spends time readjusting it's jaws so I assume that problem is solved.

Also, it shed while I was out doing errands today. I had noticed the eyes getting a little cloudy, but didn't expect to find snake skin out of the blue. So that was kind of cool.

It's hiding a little more recently, but it still seems to like watching me.

Good so far!!

[Lori P]

Very good indeed!! :-)

[anji1971]

Now that it's shed, it may be even more interested in eating. Sometimes they go off feed before a shed.
Sounds like things are going well-- thanks for the update!

[drache]

that sounds promising