New Albino Checkered Not Eating

bigsnakegirl785 · 10-14-13, 05:17 PM

I got a baby male albino checkered garter snake last Wednesday, and he has yet to eat. I know I haven't had him long, but I know garters are supposed to eat more often than boas or pythons. I was wondering how long he could go without eating before I should get worried? So far, I've tried feeding him twice. First, I cut pieces off of a Canadian worm, and today I tried to feed him some feeder fish. He showed no interest in either of them. I guess I'm trying to feed him too often, so I'll wait until this weekend or next Monday to try again if that won't be too long?

He's in a 5 gal tank with a few small box hides and paper towel bedding. The hides were the smallest I could find, but they are very large for him so I may cut them into flat pieces. I also broke off pieces of the styrofoam he was shipped in, and set them on top of the paper towels, to give him some tighter hiding places. So, roughly 50% of the ground is covered, but he spends most of his time under or between his paper towels, and usually moves "underground" if he travels around the tank. I recently took off the paper surrounding the tank as the paper was falling apart and brown, but I will be replacing it. He has a water bowl in the middle of the tank, but I'm going to replace it with a plastic lid if he won't be eating fish. His ambient temp is 75F, with an 80F hot spot provided with a heat lamp that is turned off at night for a night-time temp of 70F, and the temps stay very stable. The heat lamp is lifted about 8in off the top of the tank, and the basking spot gets up to 85F if it sits right on the screen. I had it set up like this the first 2 days, but he completely avoided the hot side so I figured it was too hot. He now switches regularly between hot and cool sides.

He does still have a dark spot from his last meal, so maybe he just isn't hungry yet? He's been pooping tiny, white, runny poos with dark spots, so I'm guessing that's a result of a fish diet? Other than removing him from the deli cup when I got him and switching out his bedding from a spill, I haven't handled him. Is there anything I need to change, or should I just give him some more time to settle in?

Here's some pics I took when I got him. (The date on the one photo is wrong...)

My hands are super tiny, so he looks a lot bigger than he really is in this photo. He's smaller around than a hair tie, and roughly 6 or 7 in (although I'm not good at guessing length).

You can see the bump near the tail, and it's moved further down since this was taken.

ErikBush97 · 10-14-13, 06:40 PM

Lol welcome to keeping Garter snakes... I'm no snake expert and I haven't worked with a ton of snakes, but from experience, garter snakes are the pickiest eaters I've ever seen. All of them. Just offer good every 5-10 days. If he doesn't take a certain prey item, try something else.

bigsnakegirl785 · 10-15-13, 07:30 AM

I'll try again with the worms, but I'll use smaller worms so they'll move around more. If he takes a few meals, I'll start trying some scented pinky parts to switch him over.

I got him from BHB, and I saw a video where they fed a garter sardines. Should I try to get him some non-salted sardines in water and see if he takes that? I don't know anywhere where they would sell them fresh, or even frozen.

infernalis · 10-15-13, 07:39 AM

No sardines... Please.

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bigsnakegirl785 · 10-15-13, 07:55 AM

Alright. I heard bad things about the salted sardines, but saw good things about regular ones. I figured I would make sure before getting any, though. So I take it scenting with it would be out of the question as well?

I guess I'll take my more specific questions to the garter forums, then.

drumcrush · 10-15-13, 07:55 AM

Beautiful snake, I have a female

mine has has to see that the food is moving. From time to time, I have to cover the tank with a towel. He also may be in shed to. It's kinda hard for me to tell with albinos. All I notice is that the skin gets a bit lighter. Here is mine eating a worm.

bigsnakegirl785 · 10-15-13, 10:26 AM

Well, good news! He took one of the fish today. I tried feeding him again during a break in my classes, and he took the second-smallest fish. It left a nice bulge, so I didn't feed him another. Instead of just sticking the fish in and seeing if he would go after it, I put just two of the fish in some shallow water in a lid. I picked him up and pressed his head against the smaller one. He didn't seem interested, so I moved to the other one. This time he struck and started whipping the fish around and then swallowed it! It was gone in a blink. lol Next I'll try fish-scented worms and I'll buy some mouse pinkies next time I get food for Bud and Cloud, to get him started on pinky parts.

drumcrush · 10-15-13, 11:00 AM

Awesome! Good to hear!

infernalis · 10-15-13, 12:00 PM

yes it is... very good news.

warehouse13fan · 10-18-13, 04:21 PM

I use to have a king with the same marking on top if it's head

ErikBush97 · 10-18-13, 07:00 PM

Super cute! Glad he's eating for you!

mistersprinkles · 10-26-13, 04:40 PM

I don't know if that species of Garter would take fish but I used to feed my ribbon snake live feeder fish when I was a kid. I'd just put an appropriately sized fish (guppy, feeder goldfish, minnow) about the width of the snake into the water dish. The snake would somehow pick up the smell, go to the dish and grab the fish. Never refused a meal on me. Definitely do not use packaged fish like sardines though. That's an un-natural meal for the snake.

bigsnakegirl785 · 10-26-13, 07:58 PM

Oh, yes, he eats fish.

Even though I've been told checkered garters aren't picky, he's being very picky. I was feeding him some feeder fish from the pet store, but they were identified as rosy red minnows, which are on the bad list. So are goldfish, so I wouldn't feed them to him. So, I got him some guppies yesterday and fed them to him today. The larger one died, but he took the smaller one with a lot of hesitation. I've tried mouse and worms with him, even tilapia pieces, but he only wants live fish. I had also tried a mouse pinky with him today. The pinky was slightly too large for him, so I cut some parts off, but they really freaked him out so I gave him the guppy instead. He acted like they were a predator or something. >.> He was rattling his tail and flinging himself through the air to get away. He was slightly interested when I scented them, but when he touched it he turned away. At least he wasn't scared of it anymore. lol The guppy was really small, so I'll see if he will take another guppy in 2 or 3 days.

Usually I pick him up and hold him over the fish. I get a better feeding response if I do this, but he'll take it sometimes if it's flopping around on the ground. He eats like a glutton if I give him live fish, but he refuses everything else. :/

drumcrush · 10-26-13, 10:06 PM

Mine only takes nightcrawlers. I've tried fish, she doesn't take it. My wild caught doesn't take them either. So I just feed them the supplemented worms every other day