Weird, I think!

[guidofatherof5]

I have a baby Plains(3 months old) Very small. Was a "Failure to Thrive". About a day before I put her down I dropped a very small earthworm in front of her and she started eating. She won't take it from my hand and is limited to only eating earthworms. To clarify "earthworm". To me that's the small lightly colored, pale looking worm. Never very big in diameter or length. I catch them along with the "nightcrawlers" in the backyard. Two distinctly different looking worms. She's been eating for about 3 weeks now and is gaining weight and size.
I have offered her baby nightcrawlers and she turns her nose up at them. If I drop one of each in for her she immediately strikes the earthworm and ignores the other. Guppies and salmon are of no interest. My concern is the window of opportunity for earthworms is fading here in Iowa. Our first hard freeze is tonight. I expect to get a couple of other opportunities to collect some free food but then it's over until spring. Have any of you had this type of finicky eater before? Any suggestions. I don't what to lose little "Lynn" and I'm concerned.

[jitami]

Guido, I'm curious... what happens if you cut the earth worm in half? I know it's not necessary for size, just curious if you could perhaps get away with cutting up pieces and sneaking something else in with the pieces to get her started on other things... maybe a pinky leg? Does she just eat one worm at a time or will she eat two or three? Again, wondering if she'll start with a worm and maybe follow it up with something scented with worm. Often once they're in feeding "mode" they'll go after a second and third item. Once she is eating an earthworm, could you post something in behind it as she's swallowing or will she freak out and spit out the earthworm? Force feeding is stressful to everyone involved but may be necessary if you can't get her to accept something else before your worm supply expires. I'm looking forward to everyone else's ideas as well. There is so much experience here that surely something can get her eating better for you.

[guidofatherof5]

Haven't tried pinkies with any of my Garters, yet. Going to but cost of shipping and hassle of raising are conflicting with each other. I've got to make a decision, soon. I haven't been able to trick her with the two types of worms. She knows the difference. Even when she's eating multiple worms she won't take anything but earthworms. I love her but she's driving me crazy. Wait, I've said that before. Sorry, we were talking about the snake. Back on task.

[NetBSD]

im having a hard time getting my garter to take pinkies, he eats everything else tho, lol. you might wanna try a reptile show if theres any near you soon, they always have frozen pinkies for sale real cheap or do what im starting, raising breeder mice to get some pinkies and freeze them yerself

[jitami]

I think I read somewhere that plains are supposed to be easy to switch to mice and may actually prefer it. There's no where to buy pinkies locally? For one snake the price is manageable even if you're paying pet store prices. Try asking around or running a free ad on craigslist or something similar looking for suppliers. That worked for me and cut my price to less than half of what I was paying at the pet stores.

[guidofatherof5]

Local pet store wants $1.49 each. Way out of my league. Too many mouths to feed. I will give Craigslist a try. Thanks for the idea.

[mtolypetsupply]

Guido,

I can get you 100 xs pinkies for $50 shipped, if you're interested. PM or email me if you like at customerservice@mountolympuspetsupply.com.

[drache]

yeah - I'd say get a supply of frozen - the shipping will be the most expensive part

[TheBeansprout]

You might want to check this site out. I've been buying from them for years. Good prices and everything is packed nicely with insulation and dry ice.

rodentpro.com,llc - buy frozen mice at wholesale prices

TheBeansprout

[infernalis]

Rodentpro ROCKS!

I got 400 mice for a hundred bucks, shipping and all.

Location is everything, my shipping was $35

There had to be 20 bucks worth of dry ice there.

Even my fussiest eater, Oreo (Pueblan Milk Snake) was an easy switch over.
and he was raised on live prey!