Garter snake, weird behavior or R.I.?

[Albert Clark]

Why don't you get a pack of frozen pinkies in the meantime and offer those cut into the appropriate sizes for her on the next scheduled feeding. Petland, PetCo and Petsmart all carry them. They will have to be thawed and soft prior to offering. You can lay any food offering into a shallow dish.

[bigsnakegirl785]

3-4 worms seems like a lot, I highly doubt she's eating all of that. My adult male eastern garter can eat a single whole worm, but can't get a second one down. He's only 35 (or 37) grams last I weighed him, though. My bigger 50 gram one could probably get 2-2.5 down, but he eats whole rat pinks and as a baby refused worms and fish filet, so I'm sticking him to a diet I know he'll eat.

Worms can be fine as a diet, but only if the worms are paired with supplements. A varied diet is always best, but whole fish and whole rodents represent a complete diet and should be fine on its own, as Albert said.

[Zemp]

Okay thank you wveryone would Petsmart etc carry the vitamins I would need also?

[Zemp]

And they're smaller worms not big long ones

[Zemp]

Could someone link the powder vitamin Albert is talking about I don't want to get the wrong kind.

[bigsnakegirl785]

I'm not really sure what sort of powder to get, as I feed whole rodents and don't need to bother with it, but most things I've read say to just use a calcium powder.

This page discusses the powder in the "Supplementing and Feeding Techniques" section, but doesn't list a specific brand.

[Zemp]

Okay I've been looking and some don't even say all the stuff actually in it so it's hard to see if it actually has vitamin b1 or not.

[Zemp]

https://www.chewy.com/flukers-calciu...FQYyaQodTBoD5Q I'm thinking this would work?

[Albert Clark]

Originally Posted by Zemp

https://www.chewy.com/flukers-calciu...FQYyaQodTBoD5Q I'm thinking this would work?

Nah, you don't need this one. There is a multivitamin/mineral supplement made by zoomed called "reptivite". There are other brand names but the main thing you want is vitamin b1 and d3. You only need a small 1/2 pinch sprinkled onto the food too. I would only give the supplements once every fourth feeding and only if you are feeding worms. These worms, are they worms from your backyard? Try to start the garter on cut up pinky mice mixed with the worm and supplement next feeding.

[Zemp]

Yes they are although I have a carry out close by (in the middle of the country) that sells night crawlers but they seemed a lot wider than she was so I just stuck with earthworms, I did make sure they weren't red wigglers, but I'll look into the repitive vitamin here soon.

[Zemp]

When I mix them i would cut the worms too yeah?

[Albert Clark]

Originally Posted by Zemp

When I mix them i would cut the worms too yeah?

Yes, good job. Just cut both up really small in a shallow dish and dust it with the reptivite. Very little reptivite is needed now that you are incorporating pinky mice into the diet.

[Zemp]

Okay thank you for all the help!! I'm glad she in fact didn't have a ri and is now on the right track

[Albert Clark]

Great! Probably was a nutritional deficiency. I have seen it before and it causes posturing and stiffening of the body in low to moderate deficiencies but can be more severe. Of course the ones more susceptible would be the very young and the very old. Nice job and good luck! Keep us updated.