Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A few days ago I collected a young male valley garter (T s fitchi).

Today I offered him a live pinky, which he refused, and some goldfish - he took some of them.

I know about the goldfish issue, that they should only be occasionally be offered - I'm actually hoping to get him onto f/t rodents and bait shop minnows, I need to shop around the bait shops and see who carries them. I also may offer Pacific treefrogs (P regilla) when in season, but I can only collect two at a time (bag limit) and I'm not sure I'm allowed to collect two at a time for an eternity. I know where I can get some bullfrog tadpoles (no bag limit, invasive species) but they aren't in season there yet.

Anywhoo - I currently have him in a 20 gallon with aspen on warm side (heated with thermostat regulated UTH to 80F substrate), and a large water dish surrounded by moss on cool side (I mist the moss lightly when feels dry), plan is to change water every two days or when he defecates in it.

Anything else I need to consider? It's been years since I've kept garters, and while I have kept the species - never this subspecies (I had a california red-sided and an eastern growing up). It seems this subspecies doesn't get as large as Cal red-sided or easterns, but I guess we'll see. I know the large garters I had regardless of species were easy to get onto rodents (usually just take 'em, sometimes a fish or frog scenting was needed once or twice) but this guy isn't large, I'd guess maybe 18 inches.

Pics:

Not as spectacular as the California Red-Sided - but I'm not going into their range anytime soon, and I've not kept this subspecies before.

Thanks for any tips
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3.6 L. getula californiae
1.1 L. getula nigrita
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus
1.0 Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi
1.0 Boa constrictor constrictor (suriname, fostering/rescue)
3.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

I'd try to get it onto rodents and stick with them only. fish smell bad and smell worse coming out the other end of a snake. plus rodents are less likely to carry harmful parasites than fish. good luck
wayne

I've heard of lots of parasite issues with garters fed wild food. I have my four on rodents, but will occaisionally still buy mosqito fish as a treat.

If your snake likes Hyla, that may be your best scenting tool. I was able to get my T. sirtalis and Humbolt county T. elegans onto rodents by keeping a pet Hyla and rubbing a frozen thawed pinky on its back and offering it to the snake with forceps. The T. elegans started accepting unscented after a couple of feedings. It took me over a year to get the T. sirtalis to take unscented (for most of this period, just touching the pinky to the Hyla was sufficient). My local T. elegans took unscented from day one.

My western blackneck was a tougher sell. It refused Hyla scented pinks, and would only eat golfish. I tried floating the pinky in the goldfish bowl and scenting with goldfish with inconsistant results. I ended up freezing a bunch of goldfish. I hollowed out a goldfish head and put it on the pinky's nose like a little hat and the snake took it. After that, I resorted to stuffing a piece of goldfish in the pinky's mouth. I gradually decreased how much goldfish I used and after several meals he started taking unscented.

My garters are males and I keep them in 10 gallons on aspen shavings with a hide and water dish (my T. sirtalis will, however, need an upgrade as he's gotten quite large). All also have access to a UTH. The adults usually go off food in the late fall. Young snakes will usually continue feeding through the winter. My sirtalis usually starts eating again in February while the elegans may wait until mid March or April. I keep them at room temperature, but turn off the heat when they start refusing food.

I've noticed a tendency towards obesity when they're offered a large meal every week as adults so I usually feed small meals weekly or large ones every other week.

-Alice

I have had a number of valley garters over the years. My large female is 31 inches. I have no trouble with feeding mine fish, I use trout pieces. My Idaho female also takes scented pinky rats. I also acquired a pair from Utah. Their care is like any other garters.... here's a link to pics on thamnophis.com
http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/general-talk/704-red-sider-gravid.html
i hope the link works...if not, its on the post titled red sider...gravid