Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I wanted to get some idea of how other people dealt with baby garter snakes. I recently found an odd looking Eastern Garter snake (no vertebral stripe). Within 48 hours of taking it home I found 23 baby snakes (all alive and well) in the bottom of the mothers enclosure. I have never dealt with baby garter snakes before, let alone two dozen at a time. I have placed each one of the babies in a separate 4-inch container with a couple of layers of paper towels and a water dish. Starting the day after they were born (the 29th) I've offered them an assortment of small and medium sized worms, small slugs, feeder guppies and fish strips. The temperature is 82-83 degrees during the day, and about 75 at night. To date I have had mixed success with this system. 8 or 9 of the babies have eaten on their own by this point (half minnows, half worms). The rest haven't. How normal is this? What sorts of systems have other people found to be successful?

Thanks for your input. Ben

I've had the same thing happen (although not within 48 hers of bringing her home!). Last year, I went from one ribbon snake to 22 overnight.

Since they're garters, they should do okay on small earthworms initially. They may have to grow a bit before tackling big game like guppies, tadpoles, or small frogs. I don't know about slugs. In many snake species, newborns often will not begin to feed on their own until their first shed. I don't know if this is true with garters, which are viviparious (bear their young live). But it's something to watch for. They may be able to sustain themselves initially on nutrients provided by the mother before birth, and only begin the search for food about a week or two after birth. That's usually about the time of the first shed. Bottom line is that some may just take longer than others to get hungry, but they all should come around to hunting for food within 1-2 weeks.

I didn't keep my babies, but rather released them into the wild where I found mama - in other words, where they would have come into the world had I not intervened. No doubt some made it, while others were picked off by predators. But that's nature's way.

what kind of 4" container are you using? I have been looking for something about that big. Are they delicups? I just don't want to have to order a few delicups alone. It's about 2 months before I have to order my few month supplys of viatamin supplimetn, bags delicups and so on.
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Justin

I just went to the supermarket and picked up a bunch of those disposable tupperware containers (I' think they were gladware?). They only cost a couple of dollars and you can clean them. But next time I think the snakes might be happier with something that isn't see-through.
Ben

at a local restaraunt supply store. It only cost's 3 or 4 bucks for a sleeve of 50 cups with covers. I use them for water bowls as well as feeding cups for my small snakes. Good luck finding them, Scott.
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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws.
But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
—Martin Luther King Jr

That's how I got my 2 yearlings...A friend's wc female threw a bunch of babies a year ago. I started them out on TINY chunks of cut-up bait minnows. Now, one of them has started eating pinkies, and the other eats 2 minnows every few days. I lost 3 out of the 5 that I started with...2 of them never seemed to eat at all, and 1 died suddenly and unexpectedly even though it was eating and growing. Good luck. I would also consider releasing some of them where the mom came from if that's practical. As a rule, you should try to release them almost exactly where they came from, or not at all. Duffy

I don't know if your giving them whole worms or not but I just take a pair of scissors and cut the worms into little bits, maybe 1/4" long each. Unfortunately, some will just not feed. That's the way it goes. Most will feed right away, some just refuse to feed at all, I guess that's natures way of thinning out the herd. Best of luck, Scott.
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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws.
But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
—Martin Luther King Jr

So I guess my next question is, how long does it generally take for this first shed to happen? Is it like other sheds that are preceded by the snake going ‘blue’ and losing its (in this case nonexistent) appetite?
Ben