# how to feed a garter snake



## hassman789 (Mar 29, 2010)

i found a garter snake over the weekend. i want to see if i can keep him as a pet (if i see he isnt thriving i will let it go). my question is, how do i go about feeding? it is fairly young (less than 1 foot) i tried dangling a worm in it was afraid of it. so i dropped it in. the worm is gone but i dont think the snake ate it. if it were really hungry would it eventualy eat it? or would it starve itself to death?


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## Exo (Mar 29, 2010)

hassman789 said:


> i found a garter snake over the weekend. i want to see if i can keep him as a pet (if i see he isnt thriving i will let it go). my question is, how do i go about feeding? it is fairly young (less than 1 foot) i tried dangling a worm in it was afraid of it. so i dropped it in. the worm is gone but i dont think the snake ate it. if it were really hungry would it eventualy eat it? or would it starve itself to death?


I have kept many and I find that they love both nightcrawlers and small goldfish, but I find that garters under a foot in length often refuse to eat in captivity. Considering this you may want to let it go and find a slightly bigger one.


On an interesting note, I actually have a garter snake den in my back yard and have so many that I have to watch out not to step on them..


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## hassman789 (Mar 29, 2010)

thats so cool about the den in your backyard! another question. what substrate should i put it on? is eco earth ok? what happens if he injests it while eating?


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## Exo (Mar 29, 2010)

hassman789 said:


> thats so cool about the den in your backyard! another question. what substrate should i put it on? is eco earth ok? what happens if he injests it while eating?


Well, I always used soil from my yard since it compacted well so it wasn't dusty, I would think that eco earth would work as long as it was wet and pressed down and allowed to dry so it wasn't so loose. 

As far as eating it goes, if he eats only a little it will just pass but if he eats alot it could be a problem. I always used a food dish to help solve that problem.


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## GiantVinegaroon (Mar 29, 2010)

hassman789 said:


> i found a garter snake over the weekend. i want to see if i can keep him as a pet (if i see he isnt thriving i will let it go). my question is, how do i go about feeding? it is fairly young (less than 1 foot) i tried dangling a worm in it was afraid of it. so i dropped it in. the worm is gone but i dont think the snake ate it. if it were really hungry would it eventualy eat it? or would it starve itself to death?


If you just got it over the weekend I'd wait a week before offering food.  The snake needs to settle into his new home before he's comfortable enough to eat.


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## Teal (Mar 29, 2010)

*I agree with Scotty... give him a week or two before trying to feed him, and then stick a bowl of little goldfish in there! *


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## hassman789 (Mar 29, 2010)

could a i put a bowl of dead crickets, worms, or cut up pinky mous in there when its time? and i will put him on dirt from my yard tomorrow when it stops raining


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## pitbulllady (Mar 29, 2010)

hassman789 said:


> could a i put a bowl of dead crickets, worms, or cut up pinky mous in there when its time? and i will put him on dirt from my yard tomorrow when it stops raining


I've had many, many Garter, Ribbon and Water Snakes, and I have never, ever, ever known one to show the slightest interest in a cricket, ESPECIALLY a dead cricket!   Unless you scent a pinkie mouse with fish oils, it's not going to touch that, either.  Garter Snakes naturally feed on earthworms and small aquatic vertebrates, especially fish and frogs.  You can condition one to eat pinkies, and later, small adult mice, by scenting them with fish.  There is another thread on here recently started by someone who'd found a Garter, in which I describe how to go about conditioning a Garter or Water Snake to accept rodents.  You do not need to cut up the rodents, either.  Unless it's really tiny(and this is probably one of last year's babies), it should be able to swallow a day-old pinkie, but in any case, once it settles down, earthworms will do just fine. 

Now, here are some very, very problematic suggestions I've seen in this thread that will guarantee you a DEAD SNAKE if you follow them.  One, *DO NOT FEED GOLDFISH!!*  Sorry to shout, but that points needs to be gotten across loud and clear!  Goldfish, catfish, and "rosy reds" contain an enzyme called Thiaminaise which will prevent the snake's body from utilizing essential nutrients, especially Vitamin B, which will cause a degenerative collapse of the central nervous system and kill the snake.  Most, if not all, Garter and Ribbons, even tiny ones(and I've fed newborn Ribbons this way, and they were the size of toothpicks, literally), will readily take slivers of fresh Salmon, Trout or Tilapia from the supermarket, that has been dipped in a reptile vitamin powder containing calcium, off tweezers.  Also, you SHOULD NOT put the snake on soil/dirt from your yard, since when this is put into a closed container, the various bacteria, fungi spores and other nasties in it will multiply like crazy, and will kill your snake.  Garters and their relatives the Water Snakes are actually very sensitive to moisture in their substrate, and soil holds moisture, so you will ultimately wind up with a snake with necrotizing "scale rot", which will kill it.  You can keep in Aspen shavings, or on newspaper, or paper towel, just change it often.  I would not recommend feeding it on any loose substrate, though, since that can stick to prey(especially fish)and be ingested by the snake, and will cause a bowel impaction, which again, will kill the snake.  Provide it will a hide and a water bowl, and an easy-to-clean DRY substrate.  If you feed it earthworms, putting it on paper will at least allow you to see if the snake eats them or not, since they can't burrow in that.  

Like the other poster said, give it time to settle down, then offer it food.  Keep it off of dirt, keep the enclosure clean and dry, and offer appropriate food items, and it should do just fine.

pitbulllady


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## Exo (Mar 29, 2010)

I've kept garter snakes on and off for years and never had a problem with outdoor soil, although I always made sure it was bone dry before I put the snake in and I had great ventillation.

I'll admit that I've never heard of the goldfish thing though, I did it rarely and most of the time I used minnows instead. (small shiners)  Most of the time I fed them nightcrawlers with calcium supplements on them.


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## GiantVinegaroon (Mar 29, 2010)

Exo said:


> I've kept garter snakes on and off for years and never had a problem with outdoor soil, although I always made sure it was bone dry before I put the snake in and I had great ventillation.
> 
> I'll admit that I've never heard of the goldfish thing though, I did it rarely and most of the time I used minnows instead. (small shiners)  Most of the time I fed them nightcrawlers with calcium supplements on them.


I've heard that as far as feeding fish to other fish is concerned, fish from bait stores are generally healthier than goldfish and rosy reds.  I'm sure they're healthier for snakes too.


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## hassman789 (Mar 29, 2010)

Exo said:


> I've kept garter snakes on and off for years and never had a problem with outdoor soil, although I always made sure it was bone dry before I put the snake in and I had great ventillation.
> 
> I'll admit that I've never heard of the goldfish thing though, I did it rarely and most of the time I used minnows instead. (small shiners)  Most of the time I fed them nightcrawlers with calcium supplements on them.


ya i will wait till everything around my house drys up. until then he will be on eco earth. it should only be for a week. and he wont be eating


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## Kirsten (Mar 30, 2010)

What!! Wait...I knew that goldfish were bad and had to feed them to my son's ribbon snake we've had over a year along with a lot of guppies.  We finally found what looks like the 'rosy reds' at the pet store and thought that was great that we found fish big enough for him that are not goldfish. He's been on those for awhile now and they are bad!!?  

This snake will NOT eat anything other than fish no matter how you scent it.  I did a search and found something that said you should provide a Vit. supplement (calcium and/or thiamine;I'll have to look). Is this correct?  With all the research we've done about the care of these, we've never come across anything that said you couldn't feed these minnows or thiaminase issues.


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## pitbulllady (Mar 30, 2010)

ksmith999 said:


> What!! Wait...I knew that goldfish were bad and had to feed them to my son's ribbon snake we've had over a year along with a lot of guppies.  We finally found what looks like the 'rosy reds' at the pet store and thought that was great that we found fish big enough for him that are not goldfish. He's been on those for awhile now and they are bad!!?
> 
> This snake will NOT eat anything other than fish no matter how you scent it.  I did a search and found something that said you should provide a Vit. supplement (calcium and/or thiamine;I'll have to look). Is this correct?  With all the research we've done about the care of these, we've never come across anything that said you couldn't feed these minnows or thiaminase issues.


Be sure to read THIS:  http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets/index.php?title=Thiamin,

pitbulllady


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## Cirith Ungol (Mar 30, 2010)

pitbulllady said:


> Thiaminaise (sic.)


Is that all carps or just certain types of carps, if you know? First I thought it was all fish but then looked it up it saying carp and goldfish. Do you have any list perhaps? Can you break it down by cooking the fish (going away from using the fish as snake food but rather other animals)?


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## Mack&Cass (Mar 30, 2010)

This is the most comprehensive list of thiaminase containing or lacking species I have found
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=1114&page=64
Cooking may denature or even destroy the enzyme, they are often heat-intolerant, although I don't know the specific temperature regarding thiaminase.
Mackenzie


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## Exo (Mar 30, 2010)

Well that's pretty much every freshwater fish exept a few.....someone better warn the local watersnakes to stop eating them then...


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## Cirith Ungol (Mar 30, 2010)

Mack&Cass said:


> This is the most comprehensive list of thiaminase containing or lacking species I have found
> http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=1114&page=64
> Cooking may denature or even destroy the enzyme, they are often heat-intolerant, although I don't know the specific temperature regarding thiaminase.
> Mackenzie


Thanks for the link!


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## GiantVinegaroon (Mar 30, 2010)

Cirith Ungol said:


> Is that all carps or just certain types of carps, if you know? First I thought it was all fish but then looked it up it saying carp and goldfish. Do you have any list perhaps? Can you break it down by cooking the fish (going away from using the fish as snake food but rather other animals)?


Rosy reds are a color variant of fathead minnow.  Fathead minnows are in the same family as carp and goldfish(Cyprinidae), so I'd be careful with them if I were you.


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## hassman789 (Mar 30, 2010)

*best feeder fish*

can somone pleas tell me the best type of feeder fish i can feed the little guy. i got him to eat a worm (it was really cool), but i know he cant eat just worms. a common name of a fish i can feed him would be great. and somthing i can pick up at the bait store or petstore.


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## pitbulllady (Mar 30, 2010)

hassman789 said:


> can somone pleas tell me the best type of feeder fish i can feed the little guy. i got him to eat a worm (it was really cool), but i know he cant eat just worms. a common name of a fish i can feed him would be great. and somthing i can pick up at the bait store or petstore.


I don't feed fish from the pet store or bait store.  My Water Snakes and Garters eat "human-grade" fish from either the supermarket or fish market.  They have no trouble at all eating strips of Salmon and Tilapia that have been sprinkled with a vitamin/calcium powder supplement for reptiles.  I can shop for their food at the same time I shop for mine, which is just about as easy as buying cat or dog food at the store.  Just use scissors or a really sharp knife to cut the fist into appropriately-sized strips and flop it about in front of the snake with forceps.  That, combined with the earthworms, should provide a balanced diet, though like I said in another thread, it's easy to switch them over to pinkies using the fish-scenting technique I described.

Wild Water Snakes and Garters do not just eat fish, by the way, but many feed heavily on frogs and other amphibians.  If they JUST ate fish, then yeah, they'd have issues with the Thiamine deficiency.  It just is not easy, if it's possible at all, to obtain frogs/tadpoles or toads to feed a captive snake.

pitbulllady


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## hassman789 (Mar 30, 2010)

*thanks*

thanks for that advice. i will try that


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## Exo (Mar 30, 2010)

pitbulllady said:


> Wild Water Snakes and Garters do not just eat fish, by the way, but many feed heavily on frogs and other amphibians.  If they JUST ate fish, then yeah, they'd have issues with the Thiamine deficiency.  It just is not easy, if it's possible at all, to obtain frogs/tadpoles or toads to feed a captive snake.
> 
> pitbulllady


I knew that, I just didn't know that they could eat them at all without issue. Maybe mine did well because I fed them mostly nightcrawlers....


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## H. laoticus (Mar 31, 2010)

Exo said:


> I knew that, I just didn't know that they could eat them at all without issue. Maybe mine did well because I fed them mostly nightcrawlers....


What kind of nightcrawlers?  And what should the feeding schedule be?


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## pitbulllady (Mar 31, 2010)

H. laoticus said:


> What kind of nightcrawlers?  And what should the feeding schedule be?


If the snake is under a foot, I'd feed it twice a week, and the number of worms to feed depends on their size.  My young Garters would happily scarf down five or so worms.  You will need to check the size of the worms before deciding which ones to buy and judge which ones are the right size, since some of the bait-quality worms, especially the "Flat-tails", can be pretty large.  They are all earthworms, just different varieties that have been selected to appeal to certain types of fish.

pitbulllady


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