New garter...questions

Hamburgler · 10-15-03, 07:33 PM

A friend of mine recently had a garter in her garage (in connecticut, USA) looking for a place to hibernate possibly, so i took it in. Its about 8 inches long. I have it in a 10 gallon, with the right setup and such but i'm wondering about feeding. I have had it since monday, i offered it slugs and earthworms so far. It has not eaten that i know of, there are some slugs in the cage. How long should i wait to try feeding again? it doesnt looks skinny or anything. I was thinking of trying guppies, but if he doesnt eat it, what do i do with the fish? any suggestions?

thanks a lot

Jayson · 10-16-03, 04:07 PM

First it helps if you can determine what it was feed on in the wild, Garters have a varied diet and tend to eat what is available in the area they live.
Its hard enough to get wild snakes to eat, it makes it even harder when you dont know what they were eating to start with.
Also at only 8" long its not very old and may have not even eaten yet common garters are 5-9 inches long at birth

Siretsap · 10-16-03, 04:15 PM

True, some are hard to get to eat, but I use to keep some when I was a kid and after a while, they would eat without any problems. Most would eat small frogs and fishes. Odd thing, there where no fishes where I would catch them. I had a few who ate earthworms.
And even had one eat a very big toad. Never tought a snake that size would eat a toad till I went to check on it one morning and couln't find the toad anymore...

enso · 10-16-03, 06:11 PM

You can try hand feeding the fish, see if it will take them or has any interest in them, or just put a few in a small shallow bowl of water. Love to watch them fish! Good luck.

eyespy · 10-16-03, 06:22 PM

If it was actually getting ready to hibernate, it might be tough getting the snake to accept food. It might have been trying to live off nutrients from its egg sac until the warm weather comes in the spring and was well into its cycling down for the season.

It isn't a good idea to bring snakes indoors this late in the active season, it really disrupts their cycles. Now that it's not exposed to the cold outside though it's probably best to keep offering food and seeing how it will do. The increased metabolic rate brought on by indoor temperatures probably means it's burning off the egg sac too quickly to hibernate at this point.

Try all sorts of feeders, slugs, worms, frogs, fish, whatever it takes. Good luck and let us know how this little one fares.

killer Cichlidz · 10-16-03, 06:43 PM

Winter is near and the Garter is obviously native to the area. The garter snake might not eat for 6 months total because it may already be going into or even in its Brumating state, in which its metabolism will lower greatly. The temps have dropped significantly lately and we have only had a few warm spells. Garters will be active on and off until the end of this month and maybe a week or two into November.

Although the little guy is only 8 inches (which means he was obviously born this year), his brumation aspiration has probably come into effect.

I would not suggest keeping him, but since he is small their may be a chance that you can get him to eat and stay awake through out the winter.

Raise the temps gradually and keep the tank with light for at least 12 hours to start. Raise the temps until you get to about 85 and see if he will eat. Please note that this will take at the very least a week maybe two, and if he doesn't eat by then, there is no turning back, and since the little fellow is only 8 inches, (he probably hasn't stored enough fat for the long winter, he must have been a late baby, maybe even born in August), he might not live the usual 6 months of fasting that the garters in this area go through.

Keeping him @ normal temps may even stress him out to the point of death. :?

Your other option is to just release him and let nature take its course and decide what¡¦s best for him. You could always find another in the spring and fatten that snake up all summer long and do your own brumation in your basement and such. ƒº

Well I hope this helps a little,

Lu

Oliverian · 10-16-03, 08:35 PM

Quote:

You can try hand feeding the fish, see if it will take them or has any interest in them, or just put a few in a small shallow bowl of water

Yes, and no. I would definitely reccomend trying a live fish in a bowl of water, but if you try and hand feed him, he might become stressed, and then might not want to try eating anymore. I am certainly no expert, but I would reccomend letting him go. If you do decide to keep him, keep handling to a minimum until he is eating well. If you handle him a lot, he may get stressed enough not to eat. Good luck!

Oh, what kind of garter is it, by the way? Hope he does well. -TR