How do I switch to f/t mice?

[Hornets23]

I get tilapia from the grocery store and cut it into appropriate sized bites.

[EdgyExoticReptiles]

that worm kinda looks like a red wiggler, is it?

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I saw a lot of good advice in here, but i didn't see anyone give a full description and healthy diet plan consisting of a balanced varied diet.... so I'll do that now

I see you asked a question pertaining to fish. live feeders are fine as long as they are guppies. The more commonly sold goldfish and minnows you often see contain Thiaminase which is an enzyme that prevents your snake from absorbing his vitamin b1 and will in the long run, kill him. If you have a picky eater, start feeding live feeder guppies (please make sure they are guppies), and switch to thawed out salmon, tilapia, or trout, all available at the deli section in the supermarket. You want it to be raw, unsalted... you get the idea. Buy a portion, cut it into little fishy sized pieces and store in the freezer, much cheaper than feeding live feeders and perfectly healthy.

For worms, I cut up larger worms into pieces for my baby garters to eat. I personally use night crawlers, many people have a problem with them being too thick, but I have a little trick to remedy that. Take a night crawler and hold him with tweezers or tongs under the hot running water of your sink. The hot water washes the worm off, provides a quick death and straightens and stretches him out as thin as he gets all in one shot. I never have a problem getting my babies to swallow these pieces. If you have small earthworms you can use them instead, but don't feed the red wrigglers, they are usually sold at stores as trout bait, they are reddish in color and they have visible light colored rings that earthworms dont have. THey secrete a bad smelling (and I would imagine tasting) yellow liquid when provoked.

As for pinkies, you can start using pinky chunks (affectionately called "plunks" by me) right now. Some baby garters will give you real trouble, but no need to worry. What I do, is I feed all the babies alternating meals of worms and fish for their first month of life. Once they are very used to the eating routine, I start to add in the pinkies. I usually add them in with the worms. I cut up about 3 night crawlers after running them under the hot water and I have all those worm chunks on a little tupperware lid, with just the tiniest bit of water. I then cut up a whole pinky, exculding the skull, and mix those pieces onto this dish and once all teh pink parts are thouroughly covered I just let it sit for about a half hour to let the smells really soak in. Then I feed, and I place each baby onto my hand and after getting one or two worm pieces, I follow it with a pinky piece. 9.5 times out of 10.... I see absolutely NO hesitation. Occasionally, you will have one that detects the weird texture of the pinky and gets freaked out by it. Little by little, the snakes get used to the flavor and texture of pinkies and I have to use less worms. Since you just have one... I suggest cutting the pinky while it is still frozen and leaving the rest in the freezer for another time.

Now, when you do get your garter eating pinkies, just be sure to still feed other things. You want a good varied diet, since pinkies are pretty fattening. My garters all get about 50% pinkies, 25% worm and 25% fish, both large and small. My garters also get the occasional treat of little salamanders from my yard, some people don't feed amphibians but I do when the opportunity arrises. They ATTACK them.... they seem to be the caviar of the garter world.

I hope this helps you and you garter out a little bit. Feed your baby garter at least every 3-4 days, I feed every 3 days, many feed every other day. And i think you were just a tad bit confused on the garters "natural" diet. If you truely are aiming to feed your snake a realistically natural diet, you would be feeding exclusively fish, worms, and amphibians, seeing as garters would rarely eat mice in the wild, if ever at all. There should never be a need to use pre-killed rodents to switch onto f/t... garters are not primarily rodent eaters.

[jitami]

Awesome post Shannon! Tons of great info there! Can't wait to try the nightcrawler tip!

[Topaz]

Thanks everyone for all your advice. I have no idea what type of worm that was, just that I bought it from Petco for the water dragon and opossum. Well, tonight we bought some nightcrawlers and yesterday she ate some feeder guppies. AT first she acted like she didn't know what it was, then she dove right in.

Thanks so much Shannon for your post! It's very useful info that we're putting to use!

[GartersRock]

NICE post Shannon! And great tip with the nightcrawlers!

[Zephyr]

I see you asked a question pertaining to fish. live feeders are fine as long as they are guppies. The more commonly sold goldfish and minnows you often see contain Thiaminase which is an enzyme that prevents your snake from absorbing his vitamin b1 and will in the long run, kill him. If you have a picky eater, start feeding live feeder guppies (please make sure they are guppies), and switch to thawed out salmon, tilapia, or trout, all available at the deli section in the supermarket. You want it to be raw, unsalted... you get the idea. Buy a portion, cut it into little fishy sized pieces and store in the freezer, much cheaper than feeding live feeders and perfectly healthy.

Very nice post Shannon, I only have a problem with this little part.

Although both goldfish and rosies CAN cause thiamine-absorbtion problems after feeding them exclusively, there's nothing wrong with feeding them as an occasional treat or as part of a carefully scheduled dietary plan; I give my smaller garters rosies about once every two weeks and the larger ones goldfish on the same schedule. Both of these food items contain, especially goldfish, high levels of xanthines, which are natural color enhancers, which will bring out the reds and oranges in your garters. Also, "fishing" is a good form of stimulation for your garter.

So you can feed them, just vary the diet.

[jitami]

Btw, used the nightcrawler tip and it works like a charm!!!

Still moving away from nightcrawlers asap, tho. Just too messy... one of the baby boys was practically swimming in nightcrawler guts and his brother was giving him the evil eye, so mealtime got interrupted and both boys got baths yesterday. Was a nice chance to handle the little guys, but had planned on letting them settle in a bit more first.

[Zephyr]

Also a tip on nightcrawlers, it may sound a little nasty but it's better than guts all over; "Wring" the dirt out of them before you cut them up by firmly grabbing below the clitellum (the "band" on the worm) and sliding your fingers down to the bottom of the worm.

[GartersRock]

Another good nightcrawler tip Zephyr!