Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How should I go about switching my garter from mostly guppies and a few worms to pinkies? And should I try live first or does it matter? Thank you so much

You can go ahead and try live first; sometimes you get lucky. Try to get the smallest pinkie possible / as close in size to the currently accepted food items as you can get.

If it doesn't take it, wash a dead pinkie to remove the mouse scent. (It's best if you don't feed for about a week prior to introducing the first pinkie). Thoroughly rub worm all over the pinkie and put it where the garter will come across it (make sure the head is completely slimed). If that doesn't work you can do the above and put some desd worm protuding from the pinkie's mouth. If it doesn't go for the worm scenting, try the above with the fish. If your garter's appetite isn't very strong due to the season, it might take a few tries. Once it takes a pinkie you can start slowly scaling back how much scenting you're doing until eventually you're not doing any at all.

Let us know how it goes,
Alice

Thanks for the tips. I'll try sometime later this week.

Ditto to what Alice said but just to add a little,I had good luck using cut up pinkie parts scented with fish, I think the cuts and blood help stimulate feeding, then I bumped up to headless pinkies or the head, before bumping to whole pinkies, I think that makes the transition easier. I still find that some of my garters don't get exited with the whole pinkie unless I pinch the head and draw a little brain or blood for them to get a tongue taste test, then they attack.
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1.0 pastel ball python
0.1 mojave ball python
0.1 normal ball python
0.2 3-toed box turtles
2.3 eastern box turtles
0.0.5 3-striped mud turtle
1.0 northern diamondback terrapin
2.1 tiger salamander
1.1 red-sided garter
1.0 anerythristic red-sided garter
1.1 Iowa snow plains garter
1.1 Het butter stripe cornsnake
0.1 anerythristic motley cornsnake
1.1 Blue garter (Puget Sound)

also pinching the head or drawing a little blood on the mouth helps "train" or ensure them getting started with the head first instead of the tail end, which make swallowing easier.
-----
1.0 pastel ball python
0.1 mojave ball python
0.1 normal ball python
0.2 3-toed box turtles
2.3 eastern box turtles
0.0.5 3-striped mud turtle
1.0 northern diamondback terrapin
2.1 tiger salamander
1.1 red-sided garter
1.0 anerythristic red-sided garter
1.1 Iowa snow plains garter
1.1 Het butter stripe cornsnake
0.1 anerythristic motley cornsnake
1.1 Blue garter (Puget Sound)

i have a combination of pinkie success: one garter takes both scented and unsecented pinkies; one takes only scented; and one refuses pinkies altogether. If for some reason your snake does not take to pinkies, no worries, j/ stick to what is successful and there is always the vitamin supplement route. good luck