Baby garter advice (pic included)

[LyrisFlame]

So this is my little snake:



Sorry about the size - for some reason the resized pic I'm trying to use just goes back to the normal, gigantic size when I post it here.

I’ve had it for about 3 days now. It was found in the woodpile next to our house along with a mature female and a couple dozen more babies. It was cold and the sun was going down, so they were all moving pretty slow. I decided to keep this one and we left the others alone after covering them back up.

A couple of things I’d like advice with, if anyone knows:

1. I’m not sure how old it is, or if it has shed for the first time or not. It’s very tiny.

2. It hasn’t eaten the guppies I tried to give it, so I’m thinking either it’s too stressed to eat or is too young to eat. But I don’t want to just assume either way and risk the baby not getting food when it really needs it.

3. I’m going away for a week on Thursday, and I will probably have my boyfriend's brother look after the snake when I’m gone. What should I tell him to do?

Any advice on how to take care of a baby snake would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[adamanteus]

Nice looking radix, Freya. I wouldn't be too concerned about her not eating just yet... it can often take them a while to settle in.

[Zephyr]

You may want to get some larger guppies or some worms. From experience, motion along with smell motivates eating responses fairly quickly.

[ScimitarX]

Very pretty little snake you have there

[anji1971]

That is a beautiful snake!
And don't worry about the food too much, she'll eat when she settles in. Just keep trying different things every few days, until something sparks her interest. My garter Deejay wouldn't touch guppies at all, but she loved small worms, and now that she's grown she eats everything.........right out of my hand.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

if she was still around her mother, then she was literally just born when you found them all. they don't really nest, the mom gives birth and the babies make their way off on their own. baby garters shed right after they are born, and then you will see another shed sometime soon. Sometimes it takes them a few days to eat, maybe even over a week. make sure that she has a place to hide where it is also warm, and try leaving a fish or two in the water bowl and leaving her in the cage undisturbed for a day or two.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

oh yes, and as james mentioned, you have a Radix, commonly known as the Plains Garter

[jeanette]

very pretty snake

[LyrisFlame]

Okay, so I just got back from a really crappy road trip, the snake hadn't eaten any of the fist I left, apparently no one gave it fresh water, I just gave it a worm which it ate (much to my joy) only to throw it back up a minute later, it's starting to look a little skinny and sunken and I'm starting to get a little peeved. Not with the snake, but with the people who aren't helping by telling me it's "just a snake" and not to worry about it.

Why would it throw up the worm it just devoured? It seriously just inhaled this worm, and I thought it was all good, but then it threw the whole thing up again and now I'm feeling quite frustrated.

If I can't get it to eat I'm just going to free it because I don't want to accidentally kill it, you know?

[EdgyExoticReptiles]

well if its skinny i wouldnt release it, does it look healthy act normal? did you give it fresh water?

Okay, so I just got back from a really crappy road trip, the snake hadn't eaten any of the fist I left, apparently no one gave it fresh water, I just gave it a worm which it ate (much to my joy) only to throw it back up a minute later, it's starting to look a little skinny and sunken and I'm starting to get a little peeved. Not with the snake, but with the people who aren't helping by telling me it's "just a snake" and not to worry about it.

Why would it throw up the worm it just devoured? It seriously just inhaled this worm, and I thought it was all good, but then it threw the whole thing up again and now I'm feeling quite frustrated.

If I can't get it to eat I'm just going to free it because I don't want to accidentally kill it, you know?