New Garter owner!

[Melmo]

I just recently purchased a small Common Garter. First off, it is a beautiful snake with a bright, broken, orange stripe on each of its sides. It's about one foot and a half long. Being a Garter Snake keeper noob, I'm having "new animal anxiety". I know my stuff about keeping Easterns, but I've never actually owned one. I tried feeding an earthworm to it, but the Garter slithered away. It is probably just getting used to me being around it's cage (tomorrow, I'm putting black construction paper on the sides, so it will be more secure) a lot. I'd be sitting by the cage, then stand up, and suddenly the snake jumps a almost a foot high on the wall. I've put my hand in the cage after it settled down for a day, and slowly proceeded to picking it up, and it dashed away to the wall leaving musk on me. When I actually did get to pick it up it was slithering in my hands, relativley calmy, sometimes pulling back from a finger being too close. My main questions are: How do I get it to calm down around me, or is it a slow natural process? How long should I wait before feeding him for the first time? Thanks in advance.

[guidofatherof5]

For some it's a slow process and others it happens rather quickly. Be patient. It sounds like you're doing fine. Take baby steps with it. Try offering the food and then leaving the area. Put it in a dish the worm can't get out of. Put some dirt in with the worm and let nature take its course. Good luck. Keep us posted.

[Melmo]

Well, as a small little update: It doesn't freak out as much now when I tried to handle it, ad no musk. Once in my hands, it gets very calm. I'm going to leave it alone for a while, so it can get used to its surroundings.

[jitami]

Sounds like you're off to a good start. Welcome

[Melmo]

Alright, I don't want to post another thread. I do have some urgent issues with my garter. I've tried earthworms, but they have been refused. I recently found out that the store I bought it from was feeding minnows six times a week to the snake. I won't lie, I expected something like this to happen, but I tried to be optimistic. How should I fix this? I want to try to get it on earthworms supplied with calcium+d3. Maybe I should scent? Is there a way I can try to stop the thiaminase problem?

[GarterGeek]

How long have you had the snake? Sometimes it takes them a while to get used to the new surroundings. It may be a week or two before it eats.

You could try feeding it a minnow, then when it's all worked up in a feeding frenzy offer a worm that's been soaked in minnow water.

I hope this helps.

[Melmo]

I fed it a minnow. It was very eager to eat it, especially because that was all it's been fed for who knows how long. I've had it happen a lot, where I feed my animal one thing it's used to, and then it will eat anything. Hopefully this is one of those cases, but I'll try scenting. I will look for guppies to replace the minnows too. What supplement should I use to help reverse the effects of the thiaminase it has ingested? Thanks.

[guidofatherof5]

I use Rep-Cal.
Rep-Cal Rep-Cal Calcium - <i>Ultrafine</i> with Vitamin D3 - 4.1 oz

[Melmo]

I just managed to feed it a frozen thawed silverside. It seems to be very happy in its surroundings and is very willing to eat from tongs. Although I have one question, when I had the silverside in the tongs near the snake, it was digging its head into the dirt, and it looked like it was eating some of it. This is probably because little fish flavored water drops were dripping from the fish. What I'm worried about is the dirt it swallowed harming the snake. It is organic top soil mixed with Eco Earth, but it can probably still cause some problems I think. If there is any advice you can give, please go ahead and tell me. After swallowing the fish, the snake was opening its mouth occasionly, is this normal? It seemed to have stopped after the fish was far down its body. Thanks in advance.

[Mommy2many]

Welcome to the forum. My snakes all open their mouths after eating. My kids and I say it looks like the snake is saying "Yum". Probably pushing the food down more. Dace Minnows are ok for the snakes, no goldfish. The pet stores will pass off some goldfish as "minnows". You really want to find guppies if you can.

Try the frozen pinkies thawed or salmon. All of mine love salmon; even the W/C.

Good luck with your new friend!