Clumsy baby

[Mommy2many]

Yeah for your snakies wanting something easy to find and feed! Makes going thru the winter alot less stressful!

[kibakiba]

Yes, I figured I'd keep it to one very small piece every other day with the other snakes would be good until he starts putting on some weight. I'm not sure if I'll change his name, Runt's not so "runty" anymore, she's pretty big now but I'm going to keep her name the same. Once Tiny starts colouring up I'll probably think of a new name to match. They're born grayed out, I'm really curious to see what Tiny will look like

[guidofatherof5]

They're born grayed out, I'm really curious to see what Tiny will look like

Remember, we want updates so we can watch, Please.

[kibakiba]

Of course I'll update you! When he sheds he should have a little colour at least. Either way, I'll post more pictures when he does.

[kibakiba]

Well, Tiny has stopped eating and is looking extremely skinny and he's been a lot more lazy. I'm worried about him and I hope the little one makes it. He doesn't particularly like me anymore, after harassing him with food more than once but he was doing pretty well with eating when I was feeding the others. He rejected all attempts of feeding today. I wish he would come to his senses and realize how tasty the worm, fish and pinky is.

[guidofatherof5]

Best wishes to Tiny.

[kibakiba]

Thanks Steve, maybe he'll eat tomorrow. He's such a little sweetie. Any time I hold him he curls up and sleeps in my hand.

[Floof]

My first thought when I read through the beginning of this thread was to separate him from the others in case he was being "bullied" out of the food, or just wasn't being given the opportunity to eat before it was all gone.

Not sure if that idea's still applicable, though. I'm sorry to hear Tiny has stopped eating again. Hopefully he'll make another turn for the better and decide food is good again... My fingers are crossed for the little bugger. Best of luck!!

[kibakiba]

He's not being bullied and I have separated him to see if it'd help but he seems to reject the food more when he's not with his buddies. They all seem to like him and he follows them around and sleeps with them. He's a weird little snake. I've also tried feeding him in separate containers, with different food, with my hand, with some tweezers, etc. I feed them all by hand so no one gets left out, I absolutely will not feed the babies with a dish because I don't want any fights breaking out. My adults are the only ones who I really trust with eating together because, well, they always do. The babies, namely Snap and Ember, try taking food from the others after I give them a piece and they don't get one right away, I cant imagine what would happen if Runt or Tiny tried taking one of "their" pieces of food.

[Floof]

Good to know that he's not bullied. And that's a very interesting observation--at least to me... I've always believed housing any snakes, garters included, together was bad (not an unfounded belief with other species), so evidence of a snake doing better when housed with others is intriguing to me. Maybe I have to rethink my opinion, at least concerning garters!

As for getting Tiny to eat... Let me say first, that I have NEVER dealt with garter snakes. I have, however, worked with nonfeeders in a couple other species (rodent-eaters, and always big enough for at least a whole pinky), and I have a few ideas for you that worked for them and may just work for you.

First is to leave the snake overnight in a tiny tub with the prey item. The smaller the enclosure, the better. If you can find one small enough that the snake has to lay on top of the prey item, that's even better. I had a sand boa at one time that, much of the time, wouldn't eat unless I trapped him in such a small tub that he had to coil twice, one coil on top of the other, to fit inside. This put him in such close quarters with his pre-killed mice that he would eventually give in to temptation and eat it. Or maybe he just wanted it out of his way... Who knows, really; the point is, it worked for him!

There's also assist-feeding. In other species, this is considered among the last resorts (right before force-feeding and lizards). Basically, this entailed holding the snake (gently!!) behind the head and working the head (or smallest end, I guess, in the case of a slice of filet or a chunk of worm) of the prey item into the snake's mouth. Once it was in their mouths, they'd often just start eating from there.

You might also try a form of scenting. The main "scents," at least with corn snakes, are tuna water, chicken broth, "braining," and even lizard scenting. Not sure chicken broth would have an effect on a garter since they don't exactly eat birds (AFAIK, anyway). However, tuna might work. Braining is basically exposing the mouse's brain fluid... In a larger snake, you would poke a hole in its head; in such a small snake as Tiny, maybe cut a pinky head in half?

Then is lizard scenting. It's effective in corns because they're known to eat anoles and the like as hatchlings in the wild. Not sure if the same rule applies for any age garter, but I do know the Northwesterns that ranged through where I lived in WA were plenty big enough to eat the native Alligator lizards, so maybe it would work. If you do want to try lizard scenting, all you really need is a bit of shed skin. You could easily walk into a pet store or call up a friend with a pet lizard and ask for a chunk of shed skin... Or, if they're really nice, take a piece of tilapia or something and rub it on the lizard itself while you're there...

I'm not sure if any of these would work for a garter snake, but they might be worth a try. My fingers are crossed for the little guy/girl.