Baby Garter Diet Question

[05brandon50]

Hey guys and gals!

Today I fed Rita some f/t whole silversides that I had chopped into small pieces for her. My question is: are chopped whole silversides an ok food to feed baby garters? Since they are a whole fish, they have small bones, and I'm just worried about her having a hard time digesting them or getting injured from eating them.

Thoughts?

Also, I was reading a thread about the dangers of overfeeding baby garters due to their developing digestive systems, but also read contradicting information on the care sheet for baby garters saying that they should be fed everyday or every other day. Obviously I'm not stuffing my munchkin like a Thanksgiving turkey, but I am feeding her enough to see small bulges in her belly. I've had her for 4 days now and have fed her 3 times. Should I back off a bit or continue?

Thoughts?

Thank you so much for your continued answers to my (probably redundant) questions. >.<

[katach]

Night crawlers and earthworms are excellent for baby garters also. As far as over feeding you have the right idea it sounds like. Feed until you see a little bulge then stop. Depending on what you are feeding you can do every day our every other day. The babies I had last summer ate night crawler chunks and pinkie parts, I would mix them so they got fed every other day sure to the high nutrition and fat content of the pinkies. If the babies only ate fish or night crawler then I fed every day.

[Invisible Snake]

I currently have several babies and I feed them live guppies every other day.

[ProXimuS]

I don't have (and haven't had) babies, but as far as the bones go, think about the wild. No one would "de-bone" their food in the wild. Or even cut it up They'd have to find whole prey small enough for them to swallow. So I think they will be fine (Just my views)

[kibakiba]

Well, My pinky bits have bones in it, and I have the throw the bits out that do, mainly the spine and brain area... My babies have cut their mouths on them. Personally, since I've had that issue, I'd pull out any sharp bones, or ones tthat stick out. They do need to have bones in it so they can get some calcium but anything sharp should probably go.