First successful litter of babies

[KephrenJorgensen]

Hi, My name is Kephren. I'm a 17 year old male from Vancouver Island. I recentely obtained a melanistic T. ordinoides female. She was gravid when I got her. She had 9 offspring on august 1st. I have them in a 10 gal with paper towel for substrate, a water dish, paper towel tubes, moss, and shredded paper towel. I have not tried to feed them yet as I have not been into town, though I a m picking up pinkies and fish tomorrow. Today is august 3rd. I would appreciate any advice for a first time "breeder" like myself :P I will post pictures when a camera finds its way to me.

[thamneil]

Congratulations! Husbandry sounds to be spot on. Just make sure they always have somewhere cool and moist to go.

Garters in general are easiest to start on either worms or feeder fish. Im guessing that ordinoides should have a preference for worms or even slugs if possible. There are quite a few members who have plenty of first hand experience with ordinoides, im sure that a few of them will chime in.

Nice to see that you are in Canada! If you plan on rehoming any of the little guys, let me know. I would welcome a couple of ordinoides in the snake room. By the way, welcome to the forum!

[KephrenJorgensen]

I will be looking for new homes for some. I will keep 1 pair most likely, depending on how ma ny homes a re found and how many survive my first run at rasing them. I seem to be better with babies and juveniles of all species though, so luck should be on my side. I have some questions too. What par ts of the pinkies are the safest to feed to the young? I dont watto fed them a ny thing that could harm their developing digestive tracts. I dont think I a m going to use fish, the feeder fish available here are wha t I believe killed my last pair of ordinoides, who were extremely red. I had planned on breeding the male with my melanistic female, in hopes of producing solid black color with red stripes. I don't have access to a trout farm, and I can't trust any salmon from the BC farms, or the grocery stores. Worms are hard to acquire this season, and I've heard that pinkies can induce healthier growth; I've also heard that growth enhanced by pinkies can cause wea k hearts. Should I avoid feeding the babies certa in parts of the pinkies?

[kibakiba]

Variety is the best in their diets, pinkies, earth worms or night crawlers and safe fish.

[KephrenJorgensen]

I plan to feed them a variety, but getting them to eat in the first place is my concern right now, and before I mentioned that there are no safe fish in my area.

[kibakiba]

No grocery stores carry anything at all? Have a pet shop that carries silversides?

[mikem]

Congratulations! Do you have any pics of momma and/or the babies? Try to offer them worms until you find some fish and pinks. Good luck!

[KephrenJorgensen]

It is 32 degrees here on avera ge, worms are ridiculously hard to find. No pet stores here carry any overly exotic animals, well no big na me petstores. Silversides have not been in any pet store I've ever been too. The BC fish hatcheries are going through troubles right now with infected fish, so I don't want to use any unsafe salmon. Tilapia doesn't exist where I live :P I a m going to start with some guppies and/rosy red minnows to see how they take to those. Does any one know any thing about rosy red minnowsÉ If not, I will have to look for a fishing store with nightcrawlers this out of season. With the pinkies, they are 5.49 for a frozen 4 pack. Is this a deal of some sort, or would I be losing money . . . I am also still worried that I might feed the babies portions of pinkies that may be harmful, a s I ha ve never dealt with pinkies before.

[KephrenJorgensen]

also, every piece of fish in my grocery store is cha lk full of sodium tripolyphosphate, which I`ve heard is a killer.

[guidofatherof5]

If guppies are available don't use rosy minnows.
That pinky price seen normal for pet shops. Seen them for more and less money.
Here is a link to the care sheet which has a list of safe and unsafe fish. It also talks about thiaminase which rosey minnows have.
Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet