Garter Snake Questions

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jjsull33

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As a child my friends and I found a common garter snake and caught it, it ended up biting me when I wasn't expecting it while I was holding it and I threw it out of surprise. My friends that were with me ran and grabbed it and decided they would beat it since it bit me.... so they started stomping and smacking with sticks..... I grabbed it again and brought it home and kept it at home until it was healthy again (took me about a month) and I let it go in my yard. Ever since then I have liked them and wanted one. I have been thinking about getting a garter snake/ribbon snake for a while and decided it was time to start researching how to care for them as I think its possible for me to get one this fall and I would like to be prepared.

I have a few questions mainly about feeding, well any advice/links/pictures would be helpful as I am starting from scratch here but my first question is about feeding.

I read online that their natural diet is worms and small fish as well as some other insects, however it is suggested that when kept as a pet you switch them over to feeder mice, why? Wouldn't it be better to keep a natural diet? One of the reasons sited for why on the care sheets I had found said that it would introduce parasites and illness if a natural diet is fed and that is why mice are better, however if I am raising my own feeder fish and worms then it should be ok right?
 

zman7590

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I used to have one and I fed it crickets and golfish they eat anything !

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Cowboy_Ken

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The wild ones in my area, the PNW, stay fat almost entirely on slugs. Best part of them, when you catch them, they don't bite, but instead musk and crap on you. Believe me, a diet rich in slugs has a profound affect on the one doing the holding, if you catch my drift!
 

StudentoftheReptile

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Most garters rarely switch to mice. Best to stick to large earthworms (nigh-crawlers), feeder fish (stay away from goldfish) and the occasional toad or frog.
 

Joanne

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I was told they are more difficult to handle and more likely to strike at you if you feed live food. If you don't want to handle them, feeding live is fine.
 

Cowboy_Ken

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I've had plenty of snakes in my life, and the feeding live verses pre killed never changed the snakes attitude, in my opinion. Look at it this way, if they are striking from a misplaced food response, the snake would be thinking it could eat you. Not only does this make no sense, it is illogical. I fed pre-killed out of concerns for the safety of my snakes. A live prey animal can bite in an effort to gain freedom. There is little chance of a pre killed prey animal biting and injuring a pet.
 

EchoTheLeoTort

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I feed my snake live. The problem some may have is the biting but it's all about if you have time to help the snake feed. what I do is make the rodent very dizzy by spinning it in the air. When you place it in the feeding bin or cage, it kinda stands still from being dizzy, and when the snake strikes, often they are too out of it to know where to bite. BUT some of them that doesn't work, so you stand by with a pencil. As soon as the snake strikes and coils, I put the pencil inside the rodents mouth, so when it does bite its biting into the pencil, and not injuring my snake. But garter snakes don't need rodents and they feed just fine on fish, worms, maybe feeder lizards but i'm not sure on that. Anyway, good luck. Should be a good pet for you :)
 

Cowboy_Ken

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EchoTheLeoTort said:
I feed my snake live. The problem some may have is the biting but it's all about if you have time to help the snake feed. what I do is make the rodent very dizzy by spinning it in the air. When you place it in the feeding bin or cage, it kinda stands still from being dizzy, and when the snake strikes, often they are too out of it to know where to bite. BUT some of them that doesn't work, so you stand by with a pencil. As soon as the snake strikes and coils, I put the pencil inside the rodents mouth, so when it does bite its biting into the pencil, and not injuring my snake. But garter snakes don't need rodents and they feed just fine on fish, worms, maybe feeder lizards but i'm not sure on that. Anyway, good luck. Should be a good pet for you :)

I'm not sure of the advantage to this method of feeding. Can you explain?
 

EchoTheLeoTort

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Cowboy_Ken said:
EchoTheLeoTort said:
I feed my snake live. The problem some may have is the biting but it's all about if you have time to help the snake feed. what I do is make the rodent very dizzy by spinning it in the air. When you place it in the feeding bin or cage, it kinda stands still from being dizzy, and when the snake strikes, often they are too out of it to know where to bite. BUT some of them that doesn't work, so you stand by with a pencil. As soon as the snake strikes and coils, I put the pencil inside the rodents mouth, so when it does bite its biting into the pencil, and not injuring my snake. But garter snakes don't need rodents and they feed just fine on fish, worms, maybe feeder lizards but i'm not sure on that. Anyway, good luck. Should be a good pet for you :)

I'm not sure of the advantage to this method of feeding. Can you explain?

Well i just got my BP about a month ago, and the guy I got her from was feeding live. A little background story is that yes I am 18 but i still live with my dad and grandma. The snake was a surprise gift from somebody for my birthday, ( it came early ) And my grandma absolutely hates snakes, so I haven't told her about getting the snake cause she'd make me get rid of it. My dad knows about the snake, and I keep her in her cage in my closet. I can't really buy frozen mice to feed because my grandma would freak if she saw them in the freezer, which is the only reason why I really feed live. I can go to the store, and get rid of the mouse the same day. If i could i would switch to frozen because now that I have a tegu when it grows a little it will eat mice as well and it'd be nice to have, but for now it's just not an option. The only reason I do that method is because I don't want my snake harmed and I pretty much have to feed live. I do my best with what I can do to ensure my snakes safety. I know its not the best method, and I understand completely if anyone disagrees, but it is what it is I suppose. The plus side is that my grandma knows about the lizard, and if I can explain that he will eat mice maybe I can end up getting frozen and start switching her over :) It may not be the best method but this is what I do, and I just figured I'd share it
 

Cowboy_Ken

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A very good explanation. I was never a fan of the head thunk method, your method seems better than that. If you have access to dry ice and an ice chest, you could use that method of providing pre killed with grams by any wiser.
 

jaizei

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Cowboy_Ken said:
A very good explanation. I was never a fan of the head thunk method, your method seems better than that.

I was about to say the same thing. The good old days when pre-killed meant you had to do the killing yourself. F/t makes things much easier.
 

EchoTheLeoTort

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I don't kill the mice because when I was younger I used to have pet mice, I feel it'd be wrong for me to do the killing considering lol. I hope I don't sound weird when I say this, but I actually find it highly fascinating watching my snake zone in on prey and then strike and coil. I don't necessarily get enjoyment of course because I love all animals, but its cool to see nature at work. She has a very good feeding response. At first when I read about that method of spinning the mouse dizzy, I thought it was kind of funny and weird and dumb. So the first time i just threw the mouse in the feeding tub and waited for Electra to strike it. Then I saw the mouse trying to bite my snake and I was scared it'd hurt her. So the next week I said what the hay. I put the mouse in a plastic bag and grabbed the bag in the middle and started twirling it around really fast to get it dizzy. I then put the mouse immediately into the tub and it just kinda sat there and boom Electra struck. This time the mouse didn't try to bite at all and everything was smooth. My last feeding was this past weekend and I did it again however this time the mouse was trying to bite. I easily put the pencil in its mouth to let it chew on that until it was killed, and then simply pull out the pencil and leave the snake to eat its meal. I think it works very good and no harm comes to the snake. It may sound kind of twisted to do it that way but I find it better than smashing the mouse with something or whatever people do to kill them.
 

zman7590

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garter snake will eat anything lol. just find stuff inyour backyard and when you pickthem up dont do it slowly....do it like you mean it. he will get used to it and be fine with it. in my opinion i recommend getting a corn snake, rat snake, or ball python....there alot more "tame" ? im not saying you cant have a tame garter but garters (had em before) tend to not wan2 be held? up to you in the end!
 

Cowboy_Ken

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The carbon dioxide method works very well and is very painless. It is considered in most schools of thought as the most humane method to dispatch a prey animal.
Back to garter snakes, I think they are great pets. Semi aquatic, they make for a very interesting pet. And the diorama you can create for them is great fun.
 

jjsull33

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Thanks for the replies, lots of good info, especially since I will also get a BP eventually. I just really like garter snakes, My parents have a koi pond and they have garter snakes that swim through grabbing the babies in the spring, so I want them for the semi aquatic aspect. I am not too worried about the tame aspect, as I said before I have been bit by garter snake in the past and while I am not looking to be bit again it isn't all that bad.

I think I will start feeder fish and earth worm colonies, that way I know there won't be any backyard parasites or anything like that, plus I would like to get a wood turtle at some point too and they can eat those as well so it will be double duty.

Is there a good snake forum? like this one but for snakes?
 
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