Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If any one can help, I'd totally appreciate it!

I am a very novice snake owner. I have had my garter for about a month and a half, she has been eating a fuzzie every 4 days, no problem. Well, it's going on her 8th day since her last one, and she won't eat. She comes toward the fuzzy like she wants it, but then shys away from it. She is still very active in her cage and drinks well and wants out all the time, I am just worried about her not eating.
I caught her in the woods, by my house, I live in Northeastern Ohio. Everything has been going very well with her since i got her, but now this. How concerned should I be?

Thanks in advance......Cyndi!!

It could just be the season. My garters are still pretty active but they've been turning up their noses at food for the last couple weeks. When mine start doing this, I start only offering food every other to every two weeks. When they stop coming out I stop offering. If they refuse three feedings in a row, I usually turn off the heat. My guys will take frozen thawed so I usually just freeze the refused mice and feed them out when they decide they're ready to eat again.

-Alice

Thanks, I hope that's all it is. I was told that they don't need to go into hibernation. Anyone know if that's true or not. I guess if she keeps not eating I could just put her cage in the basement....but for how long?
She is out of her hiding place a good part of the day when I'm home. I just feel bad for her that she's not eating.

Thanks again for your input!

it's not unusual for them to go off feed for a while during the winter. I put mine in hibernation when they go off feed for a month or so. I then warm them back up and they usually start feeding normally again.

Ok, now to be an even further pain-in-the-ass.....Should I leave her in her same 20L aquarium tank, or put her in something smaller when I hibernate her? And should I wait till she's no longer active to hibernate her? And for how long should I leave her in hibernation?
Sorry for all the questions.....but I want to make sure I do this right.

Thanks for your help so far!

Cyndi

either is fine, same cage or something smaller. She will remain active during hibernation, however, she will be less active than normal. My snakes are crawling around a lot while hibernating. I put my non feeders down for 4 to 5 weeks, breeders go down for 3 months. I also check on them several times a week to monitor them for weight loss. They will lose a little weight, but if it's too obvious they need to be pulled out.

Thanks for your help!!

Last question....I think!

Do you think my basement will be ok enough? I live in Northeast Ohio, where the winters usually get really cold, around 20 degrees, for the most part. My basement isn't heated, but of course it doesn't get all that cold. I just don't want to do anything wrong, and totally mess my snake up, lol!

Cyndi

Get a high/low thermometer for your basement - it will save the highest and lowest temps it experiences. This is a must because if your basement gets too cold at night it could kill the snake. I believe anything under 50 degrees it going to be too cold (but I'm not into garter snakes as much so I could be wrong). Also if the snake does decide to eat but you still want to put it down there wait a few weeks to make sure the meal has passed.

First I would try offering it a worm, frog, or live fish if you can. I've had a garter snake that refused mice but would still readily eat fish. Good luck!

Thanks very much. She ate today though. I didn't want to have to hibernate her if she didn't need it. (I'd miss her, lol) She has still been quite active the last week. I normally feed her fuzzies, but I started buying them at a different place right when she stopped eating, so I thought that was the problem. Not sure what it was, but she ate for me today, so not sure if she will still need to hibernate or not.
My basement usually doesn't get probably below 60, i would imagine that would be ok for her, if I do decide to put down there.
Thanks again for all your help!

Cyndi

60 might not be quite cool enough.... I hibernate mine in the garage and it stays between 40-50 degrees....I have seen garters come out here when it hits 60! If she started eating that's good, you don't need to hibernate her.

Temps? How is the cage setup? I see you're using Carefresh but does the snake have access to a basking area and is there at least 1 hide in the cage?

Do you handle the snake regurally? Regular handling sessions can often stress any snake out to the point where they refuse food. Some, of course, are more tolerant to these sessions than others, but there is always a fine line when a person overdoes something, and this could be it.

The animal is W.C. so depending on how long you've had it, the garter still may need time to adjust. If the cage is located where there's a lot of "foot traffic" try moving it a more quite area of the house.

One other thing you can try - rodents are not the only thing you can offer, and if my memory serves me right (since it's been 15 yrs. since I've had garters...) they aren't really a staple part of a garters diet. Mostly likely you found the animal near a body of water; perhaps a pond or river. Garters feed verociously on earthworms and frogs. They also will except small fish (I prefer Rosie Reds), newts, possibly frozen/thawed quail, and possibly crickets.

I see brumation has been asked, well, with help from a friend, I just took my Northern Pinesnake out of brumation, and he's now back to his usual summer temps; feeding, happy and back to hissing like a mad man. So it usually does work with colubrids when the buggers refuse food.

But before you jump the gun, and brumate, we must first know your husbantry, and if not, wait at least two weeks before you even try putting the animal in hybernation. You need to make sure its entire system is cleaned out. Any undigested food still left in the digestive tract could rot, thus leaving you with a potencially sick animal. Their matabolism will slow down quite a bit and with temps around in the 50's, your snake will not be able to digest its food at the normal rate, or at least not quick enough.

You should also determine if the garter has good weight, girth and if it is healthy. The brumation process should never be tempted with a weak or unhealthy colubrid.

G'Luck!

Well, to answer your questions, if I can remember them all..... I've had her about 3 months, she has eaten f/t fuzzies for me very well since I've gotten her. I fed her a frog once, she ate it no problem, but tried feeder fish and she didn't even give them a second glance. I got her in the woods, not near water, so I guess she was eating mice and frogs. I have a heating pad at one end of her tank, with a hiding place that she loves (it's an old basket, with a hole cut in the top that she loves to look out). Yes I use care fresh, she loves to burrow through it and it's easy to clean. She refused about 3 or 4 meals before I hibernated/brumated her. It was a total of about 3 or 4 weeks before I put her in my basement.

I'm trying to do right by her, and she was eating great for me up until the weeks before I put her down to hibernate. My son and I took her out and handled her regularly, and she didn't seem to mind. She would actually come to our hands and start going up our arm, to come out.
I think I'm doing everything right! That's why I joined this site, so when I have questions about the right way to do stuff for her, I can ask people who know!

Thanks for all your help!

Cyndi