New, checkered baby

Sylphie · 09-16-15, 11:10 AM

My boyfriend decided that he likes and wants garter snakes, so he bought his first checkered hatchling a few days ago. It's soo small that I'm afraid to even touch it, but s/he's eating like a champ. Here is a video of today feeding.

https://youtu.be/gDZ_3NNo9Wc

Pogie · 09-17-15, 11:33 AM

To cute! I like the garter snakes...a lot!

prairiepanda · 09-17-15, 03:05 PM

So tiny!!! I'd be afraid to touch it too! Very cute little guy. Nice feeding response, too!

**EL Ziggy** · 09-17-15, 04:04 PM

Aww, what a cute little snake!!

Albert Clark · 09-17-15, 04:16 PM

Good looking checkered. Healthy too! Remember to always vary the diet and include rodent pieces as soon as the next feeding. Fish only is a recipe for disaster. Live guppies are a good choice too. Stay away from goldfish that is just a junk food. Rosie reds are not that good either due to the parasite load. You can scent the pinky parts with fish or just mix it in cut up.

Sylphie · 09-18-15, 12:06 AM

Thank you all! And we're super happy that he want to eat, haha

Albert Clark, I know, we are just waiting for our pinkies to arrive, so he's on fishes now, but as soon as we get the mices he will be getting more varied diet

Pogie · 09-18-15, 11:20 PM

Soooo you have to cut the mice up? Ewwww lolol. I did like garter snakes but I don't think I could cut up a mouse

I'll just admire them from afar rotfl.

Sylphie · 09-19-15, 01:25 AM

I was once braining pinkies for Artemis, so I can cut the pinkies for this little one as well

jjhill001 · 09-19-15, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pogie

Soooo you have to cut the mice up? Ewwww lolol. I did like garter snakes but I don't think I could cut up a mouse

I'll just admire them from afar rotfl.

Not really different from breaking down a chicken to eat it.

Sylphie · 09-20-15, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjhill001

Not really different from breaking down a chicken to eat it.

Exactly

And if this is necessary for the snake health, then I don't see it as "too much". But personally I won't be able to kill the live prey and feed pre-killed, so I think that it depends on a person what she's able to do.

prairiepanda · 09-20-15, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pogie

I did like garter snakes but I don't think I could cut up a mouse

If you get a slightly larger garter you won't have to cut anything up

If you're ever looking into buying one, just ask the breeder whether they can handle whole pinkies yet.

I disagree with it being just like cutting up chicken, since chickens have been bled out prior to slaughter whereas frozen rats are still full of blood and tend to produce some gore. That said, I still consider them to be "meat" rather than "cute baby animal", which helps a lot!

Pogie · 09-20-15, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjhill001

Not really different from breaking down a chicken to eat it.

Lol, well to me it is....A lot different. At least when I cut up a chicken it don't look like, well a chicken

As is an animal that still looks like it's living self. That make sense? ROTFL! Now if the mouse didn't have a head, fur or guts, yea I probably could. If a chicken still had its head and feathers, nope couldn't do that either.

Feeding whole animals if fine, just as long as I don't have to slice into them hehe.

Sylphie, that baby is just to cute, I love it!

Albert Clark · 09-21-15, 05:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pogie

Soooo you have to cut the mice up? Ewwww lolol. I did like garter snakes but I don't think I could cut up a mouse

I'll just admire them from afar rotfl.

Well, you don't have to cut up the pinky if the reptile is large enough to swallow day old pinkies. When they are babies , garter snakes most often need their whole prey cut up for easier swallowing. At that size and time it's good to combine the pinky with a bit of fish. You can always wear rubber gloves. Lol.

Sylphie · 10-24-15, 01:49 AM

Yesterday he ate his first whole pinky. He grabbed it crosswise and he spent first half hour trying to swallow it that way. When he finally decided to try and eat it starting from the head it taked him 1,5 hour to swallow it... I must say that I really admire his stubbornness, he never let go of the pinky that whole time. But I wonder if it wasn't too big if he spent whole 2 hours eating it? He's now resting, he didn't regurge it yet, so I hope he'll manage, but still I'm not sure if he's ready for pinkies.

pinefamily · 10-24-15, 03:19 PM

It only probably took that long because it was his first one.
Regarding cutting up mice/rats, an easier way to do it is to cut them up while frozen; no blood and guts that way. And chicken shears or a meat cleaver are best.