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New Garter Babies

Junkyard

Junkyard

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I have never owned garters before, until now. I have 21 babies that were dropped into my hands. This is what happens since my wife and I are the "Snake People" I have read to feed them guppies, crickets, sluge, and worms. Well, I have worms, my local stores do not carry crickets small enough or guppies for that matter. My question is:

What is the best way to get these baby garters to start feeding?

They are 2 1/2 weeks old, all have shed and I just got them two days ago. I have offered them worms but they just curl up on top of them and do not care. I have boids and some pythons, feeding them mice seems to be an easier task than getting these garters started. I allowed them time to get used to their new suroundings and I decided to start feeding. I keep each of them in a seperate container. As of yet none have eaten. Any thoughts and suggestions, would really be helpful. Thanks
 
This won't be much help, since you state that your local shops don't have them, but we always just put a few guppies in the water bowl. Might try looking for a small shop vs a chain, or expanding your search a bit. (can guppies be sold in california? that might be one reason you can't find them). you can also try leeches, salamanders, wax worms, etc.
 
I really have no idea if the sell guppies here, what I have seen in the pet feed stores are Rosie fish, they are way too big for the garters. I will give the wax worms a try, I have about 400 still in my fridge. Would those little fish with a neon color stripe in their bodies work? They are really tiny fish, maybe I will give them a try, I think they are cheap to buy, I will look tomorrow. Thanks for the advice.
 
I just put each Garter in smaller containers with wax worms. Actually the containers are 8oz cups. I hope this works tonight, I will let you know how things are in the morning.

Do baby garters need to be fed more often than boids? I am wondering because the physical differences between mice and wax worms. I wonder if the garters are able to digest their food quicker, resulting in a need to feed them every other day.

Again, thank you for the advice.
 
As far as the frequency of feeding, my feeling is that it would depend on the prey items used. I have never kept garters long term, so the remainder of this response is conjecture (tempered with considerable general herp experience). My guess is that if they are eating insects, they will be fairly opportunistic and eat frequently, due to the relatively low nutritional content (compared to fish or rodents). make sure you have water available to them at all times, and don't go more than 2 feedings without the snakes defecating (again, just my feeling due to the insect's exoskeleton). It shouldn't be an issue because garters have a pretty fast metabolism. I don't think every other day will be necessary, but experiment & see what they do. Until they start eating, it is a tough call. I believe that garters from various locales can be somewhat picky (prey specific), and figuring out what they want can be a chore. should you stick with one prey item, and just offer til they eat (bad if they don't); or switch off regularly in attempt to hit the right stuff? Unfortunately, I don't have the best answer to that. Hopefully one of the garter snake enthusiasts will step in and help. hopefully, they'll just eat what you give them (I know, I'm a dreamer...it shows in my habits at home too - offering my babies f/t from the start) good luck
 
Yes guppies are legal and are sold in California.


Garter/Ribbon Snakes will eat almost everyday if you let them. They will gorge themselves. Every four days is fine
 
As of this morning the feed count is at a big ZERO, none have taken the worms.

So my next question is: When feeding fish, do I plop them in front of the garters, or do I need to put the fish in a water dish and let swim around?

I am going to the store to try and find some fish. I will probably keep switching up their prey items until they bite as HHMoore suggested. So as of now they have had little squirmy worms and waxworms, hopefully the fish will do.
 
I always put them in the water...gave the fish more time, and the snake could eat at leisure.
 
If you can't find guppies, sometimes you can net mosquito fish out of ponds. They make great feeders. Even though they look big, most baby garters can handle the rosy red minnows. Mine have all readily taken fish from their water bowls. I let mine gorge on fish weekly when they were really small. As soon as they got large enough, I switched them over to pinkies using my pet pacific treefrog for scenting. If fish are really hard to come by you could try scenting pinki parts. Mine each get one appropriately sized mouse a week with the occaisional meal of fish for variety. What species do you have?

-Alice
 
Thanks for the info. These are Sierra Garters, they are indigenous to California, the Sierras are about a 10 hour drive for me so I have to hang on to them until I can release them. Being we own a rescue this is one of the most annoying things we run into, people catch a wild snake take it home and then give it to us. I cannot release it here because it does not belong., so I need to than find a way to return it or I have to keep it. Argh!

I will keep you updated when they finally start to eat.
 
Junkyard said:
Thanks for the info. These are Sierra Garters, they are indigenous to California, the Sierras are about a 10 hour drive for me so I have to hang on to them until I can release them. Being we own a rescue this is one of the most annoying things we run into, people catch a wild snake take it home and then give it to us. I cannot release it here because it does not belong., so I need to than find a way to return it or I have to keep it. Argh!

I will keep you updated when they finally start to eat.
Click to expand...

Just in FYI

Legally you can't release them. In California you cannot release long term captives or C.B. animals, native or not.
 
I do understand the legality, but also in California you are only allowed to have two of each species(rattlesnakes as many as you want, kingsnakes 4, and gopher snakes 4 slightly different rules for these). With this if those two breed, you have to keep all the babies, you cannot give them away, trade, or sell. But you are only allowed to have TWO. So I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. The legal system here really needs some work!

So, I was able to find some minnows at a local store. Within 2 hours 17 ate! Thank you every one here at Fauna. Now I need to buy more because those last four have floating fish in their bowls. You all have really been helpful! Thank you again. I will let you know when the last four do finally eat.
 
You are actually allowed to give them away. The recipients would, however, have to stay within their bag limit. If you are still set on releasing them, I'd recommend contacting the person from whom you received them and get an exact locality on the parent. It's also very important that you make sure no exposure occurs between them and any other herps as this could transfer diseases which could infect the wild population.

-Alice
 
Alice- thanks for the tip, I guess the rules have changed a bit since the last time I inquired about WC in California. So I will definitely be looking into that option. As far as where these little guys/gals came from-Mt Whitney area-so I was told. Which is not too bad, I used to do a lot of hiking there when I was younger. So it really is a matter of taking some time off work to get them back. Of course if I can give them away I am going to take that option first.
 
As of last night all 21 of these little snakes have eaten twice, they are on their way to a fat happy life. Thank you again for everyones help.
 
For food you can always try frozen fish from the local pet store, found in the frozen cooler in the fish dept. You can usually find frozen krill and silversides. F/t is the way to go with mice, why not with fish. :)
 
Thanks for the idea, I will give it a try. I did have a couple eat the fish after they went belly up.
 
try to find a bigger tank and put them all together if they are from the same mother and if they sell crickets at your stores then try and cutting them in half thats what i had to do with my 12 baby garters but it mostly depends on the size of the snake
 
garyrappel said:
try to find a bigger tank and put them all together if they are from the same mother and if they sell crickets at your stores then try and cutting them in half thats what i had to do with my 12 baby garters but it mostly depends on the size of the snake
Click to expand...
Isn't there a chance of cannibalism though?
My garter ate the first week i had it, i just fed red rosies, the little baby goldfish that they feed to turtles.
Also, i don't know if you know this from other snakes(but in thinking you do) make sure there are no holes in th lid big enough for them to get out. Mine got out of a 10 gal by crawling up the glue on the side that holds the glass together, crawled up underneath to the middle of the light, and out. I watched the whole thing, they're amazing escape artists :bolt01:
 
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