# Any advice for getting a garter snake to accept dead pinky mice?



## CaptainDribsong (Aug 22, 2009)

I have a bunch of frozen pinkies that my young garter snake won't eat. He just stares at them. I do thaw them, of course. I've tried wrigging them around to make them "look" more alive, this just scares him to the other side of the tank. Somehow he's willing to eat earthworms, so I've been stuck feeding him those until I figure out how to get him to eat the pinkies. 

Does anyone here have any tricks to get him to eat dead pinkies? No pet stores in my town have live pinkies, so would I have to broaden my search, or possibly breed mice? Thanks in advance!


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## pitbulllady (Aug 22, 2009)

CaptainDribsong said:


> I have a bunch of frozen pinkies that my young garter snake won't eat. He just stares at them. I do thaw them, of course. I've tried wrigging them around to make them "look" more alive, this just scares him to the other side of the tank. Somehow he's willing to eat earthworms, so I've been stuck feeding him those until I figure out how to get him to eat the pinkies.
> 
> Does anyone here have any tricks to get him to eat dead pinkies? No pet stores in my town have live pinkies, so would I have to broaden my search, or possibly breed mice? Thanks in advance!



You have to scent them with something that Garters normally eat, like fish or frogs.  I condition baby Water Snakes(which are related to Garters and have similar eating habits)to accept pinkies by freezing pinkies in a bag with cuts of fish, like Salmon or Tilapia, and letting them thaw out in the bag with the fish.  After awhile, after the babies have been eating scenting pinkies on a regular basis, I offer them unscented.  Of course, it's easy to feed these snakes cuts of fresh fish, too, and fish like Croaker and Tilapia are cheaper than mice, plus I can pick them up at the local supermarket.  My Garter eats fish cutlets and earthworms, since those are easier to obtain than mice, but since I'm selling the Water Snakes, and a lot of people want them switched to rodents, I go ahead with the pinkies for them.  Most of my adult Water Snakes will eat anything I offer on tongs-fish, unscented large mice or rat pups.

pitbulllady


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## CaptainDribsong (Aug 22, 2009)

Awesome, I'll give that a try tonight. Thanks!


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## JColt (Aug 22, 2009)

Try sticking them in with earthworms also.


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## SandyMuffinCakes94 (Aug 24, 2009)

I dont know if this works for garters but when i switched my black milksnake yearling, that i got this year, from live food i thawed it in hot water and quicky cut a hole into the pinks head. If all else fails you could try that.


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## Ariel (Aug 25, 2009)

When I had my garter snake (before it got loose and dissapeared forever  I acctually had a semi-deep large water bowl and bought two feeder fish every week, he LOVED them. He always ate them with in the hour I put them in. Plus feeder fish are much cheaper than pinkies IMO


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## Fluke (Aug 25, 2009)

Try getting them nice and warm, and braining them. Get a razor and slit their skull open on the top and squeeze a little juice out. The smell helps them be attracted to the prey. 

I was able to feed a very very tiny rubber boa using that method. 

Be leary of feeder fish... They often have many more frequent outbreaks of diseases then mice just bred to be eaten.


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## pitbulllady (Aug 25, 2009)

Fluke said:


> Try getting them nice and warm, and braining them. Get a razor and slit their skull open on the top and squeeze a little juice out. The smell helps them be attracted to the prey.
> 
> I was able to feed a very very tiny rubber boa using that method.
> 
> Be leary of feeder fish... They often have many more frequent outbreaks of diseases then mice just bred to be eaten.


I second that on feeder fish, even though sometimes you don't have a choice.  I've got a Brown Water Snake(_Nerodia taxispilota_), a notoriously difficult species compared to others in this genus, which will only eat live bait Shiners.  All of my other Water Snakes and Garter happily eat strips of fresh Salmon or Tilapia from the supermarket, which is human-quality food.  *BEWARE* of Goldfish and "Flat-Head" Minnows, aka "Rosy Reds", as these are very high in Thiaminaise, an enzyme which blocks the absorption of Thiamine, a vital vitamin.  Thiaminaise toxicity, as it's called, can kill a snake, especially a young one or a smaller species like a Garter.  Salmon, Trout(which is not available commercially in SC), Tilapia, Shiners, Bream, and other members of the Sunfish family are low in Thiaminaise.

pitbulllady


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