Please help me with my garter snake!

[d_virginiana]

Good to hear he's starting to take worms. With fall coming up it'll be getting harder to find slugs.

[ConcinusMan]

Say what? Speak for yourself. The only time I can't find slugs is if it's bone dry and 90 degrees or if it's frozen solid. In other words, I can find them 9 out of 12 months. Fall is peak season around here for two things: Slugs and mushrooms. Nice and wet and cool.

[amcutem]

I guess I should try and feed him without scenting soon.

No Slugs!!you got me woooooried again:-(

[ConcinusMan]

It's not difficult to collect a lot of slugs ahead of time before a big freeze or other expected shortage. I did so last time we had a deep freeze coming. It wasn't hard to keep them alive at 42 degrees F, in a refrigerator. They just went dormant and didn't need food. That gave me a supply of slugs to feed them during the few weeks when it was way too cold outside to find any. Just an idea. You can stretch that supply by not hurting them, but using them to "slime up" other stuff like pinkies.

If all else fails, cooling the snakes down to 45-50 F works too. Same thing happens. They go dormant don't need food.

[amcutem]

Um.

U want me to freeze Michaelangelo?

[RedSidedSPR]

No. Sort of brumate him... worry about that later. When it's cold out.

For now, I'd try and get him on worms, so the slugs wot have to be a main source.

Try cutting (chopping, dicing) the slugs up into little peices, and cut up a worm into tiny peices too... mix those together, and put them in dish I'm the cage.

Or just keep scenting like you did. He'll take them.

[amcutem]

I've been feeding him a few slugs every day becuz i want him to get bigger.

Can snakes over eat and become obese.

[RedSidedSPR]

Yes they can. Easily. It can be fatal...

I feed every day. Do do a few other people. But you have to do it right... I feed really little peices, and not many...

[d_virginiana]

If you feed every day, I think it's best to give mainly 'snack' foods like worms or fish pieces; stuff that digests quickly. I feed my adult every other day, but he probably gets only about one to two pinkies a week, the rest is worms and fish.
My baby gets fed every other day as well, but in reverse. She gets mostly pinky organ meat with only a few worm chunks.

I wouldn't worry about overfeeding right off the bat. Isn't it just babies that can eat themselves to death? I'd think obesity in adults would be more of a chronic problem. Right now it's probably best to just focus on getting him to take different or unscented foods.

[RedSidedSPR]

True, don't worry too much about that yet, but adults CAN get obese. They just wont die in one sitting, like you mentioned babies doing.