Questions about new garter

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, Patrick

[GarterNovice]

I think this is the best I have of his face

[Snake lover 3-25]

kind of hard to tell.... but it looks like he does have the ribbon trade mark!!!!! congrats on discovering it's ID lol they love fish o yeah but if you could just look at him and tell us if he has a small white mark in front of his eye that would def. prove it's identity but i'm afraid to say idk it's subspecies...... not too firmiliar with ribbone myself

[adamanteus]

It's an Eastern Ribbon Snake, Thamnophis sauritus (possibly sackenii).

[infernalis]

Ribbons love fish, Ours also crave bloody pinky parts..

Just take a frozen pinky out of the freezer, wait a minute for it to LIGHTLY soften (about like stiff ice cream) and press firmly down with a heavy knife.

Then thaw them for a few minutes more, and hold one half in a pair of tweezers, hemostats or reptile tongs, and show it to your snake.

No promises, but our ribbons eagerly grab that right up.

Nice looking snake Big ol "Betty Boop" eyes.

[GarterNovice]

Yes he has the small white marks in front of his eye's. Are ribbon's diet's different then Garters? Just want to make sure he is being taken care of properly. I wish the pet store had not tried to pass him off as a Garter. Pet store workers can be really stupid. I am very much a snake novice so all the help is appreciated.

[Stefan-A]

Ribbons are garter snakes, too, so they weren't strictly speaking wrong, unless they were trying to pass it off as a some specific, incorrect species. You can probably expect it to be less interested in worms and mice, ribbons are more specialized in amphibians and fish.

[GarterNovice]

Is it okay for him to eat just the live minnows that he is on? Do ribbon's have the same problem's with vitamin deficiency as the others?

[adamanteus]

Yes, the vitamin problems still apply.

[Lori P]

I've had very good luck getting my ribbons to eat pinkies by putting chopped up pinkies in with the minnows. When they dive for the minnows, at some point they'll get a pinky in their mouth instead, and generally eat it. After a while, they'll take them right along with the minnows... good luck, he's very cute!