Reptile & Amphibian Forums

today i fed my garter a fish that was too big, i checked on her 1.5 hours later and she still hadnt finished, she didnt look right so i picked her up and she was completely limp, she was moving a little so iknow shes not dead. i worked the fish out of her mouth and put her back (my girlfriend said she pooped alittle as i set her down)

shes now breathing but my main concerns are spine injury and brain damage from lack of air, she has moved alittle since but i dont know if she moved her tail, what should i do?

she is so small that my biggest worry is that i hurt her getting the fish out. shes thinner that a penncil at her thickest point and about as long as an unused pecil too.

how long would it take for her to get her energy back if shes unhurt?

what should i do if shes partialy paralyzed?
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Jake Barney and Brandon O'Dell
eight02exotics

current (small) collection
1.1.1 ball pythons
0.2 corns
1.0 cal king
0.0.1 wc garter

Don't know specifically about your snake, and whatever was done is done. However, I once saw a wild garter in the Sierra mtns of Calif take at least 40 minutes swallowing a huge fish in a creek (huge compared to the snake). Afterwards, the bloated snake crawled into the protection of rocks and foilage near the creek edge, apparently just fine.
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Mark

the snake seems alright now.

ive seen her take 40 minutes to swallow a coupe times but i gave her the fish at 1:50 i checked on her at 3:20 and she almost had it. if she had just a little more energy she could have got it down but i believe she would have died if i left her to finish it on her own
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Jake Barney and Brandon O'Dell
eight02exotics

current (small) collection
1.1.1 ball pythons
0.2 corns
1.0 cal king
0.0.1 wc garter

Whenever we feed our snakes, one of us watches over the process until completed.

The best way to feed fish is to place a few small Rosie reds in the water dish, generally the snakes suck them down like snacks.

Do you supplement your garters diet with any worms? night crawlers and pan-fish worms are available at wal mart.

Our garters eat fish and worms, "Spot" our checkered garter is getting so big, I am going to scent a pinky with fish, and start converting him over.

Whenever yo buy feeder fish, look at the tank at the store, if it is scummy, has any dead fish in it or ANY of the fish have open sores, black specks or any obvious signs of illness, DON'T buy any of those fish, find another store.

Glad the snake pulled through for you.

Happy Easter,

Wayne A. Harvey

Some of our snakes - Click here

You want to get the garter on pinkie mice ASAP. It is easy I converted all my garrters over to mice when I worked with them. Just buy some feeder fish, freeze them and rub and smear them on the defrosted pinkies. And feed them in a seperate container than their tank. Good luck Greg

About 15 years ago, I had a newly acquired hatchling kingsnake(thayeri) that died right smack in the middle of eating a large(for it's size) freshly killed anole(lizard). Apparently it couldn't situate it's glottis(windpipe) properly enough to accommodate for the rather huge meal. Since the large meal had no fur, I actually think it "helped" make a better "air-tight" seal when combined with the saliva, thus leading to it's suffocation.

20-30 minutes after I noticed it wasn't ANY further along with the meal than it was before, to my dismay, it was indeed..... "dead as a door-nail"

Needless to say, I won't do THAT again!, I shouldn't have offered it one that big in the first place!...GRRR!

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

We have garters all through the yard and watched one one evening that took several hours holding a seemingly huge toad in it's mouth waiting for it to deflate....then another hour getting it down. The same snake still lives in that area of the yard and slithered slowly (and lumpily) away.

Not a garter but there was a series of photos posted once that showed a black ratsnake taking in a rabbit. HUGE prey comparison and it did it.

While I certainly would say to not feed such large prey I would say yours is likely gonna be fine.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

A picture is worth a thousand words....

Here is my buddy "Spot" having a yummy toad for lunch.

Peace,
Wayne A. Harvey

Here is what I had the chance to photograph in my yard last summer.

Both subjects are wild, and I let the snake do its thing and be on his merry way.

The Garter was a full grown adult, the "victim" was a full grown specimen as well.

Bon appetite!

What a great photo! Normally when stumbling across a neat photo op, I simply don't have my camera with me! Thanks for sharing!
rgs,
althea

Thank you.

This one presented itself not 50 feet from the back door, My girlfriend saw this walking across the lawn, and ran into the house to get me.

From her vantage point she thought she saw a horribly disfigured snake, not realizing it had a toad in it's mouth.

So on the way out the door, I Grabbed up the camera.

Here is another shot taken moments later... I left the snake alone, did not want to stress it out.

Regards,
Wayne A. Harvey

I envision these two photos, side by each as a page in a nature and concept book for young children. The text would simply read:
TOAD OUTSIDE. . .TOAD INSIDE. (lol) The reason I say this is because when the kids watch Inkus, our classroom Mexican black kingsnake eat "his wet rats", they like to say, "mouse outside...mouse inside." As a result, they are very interested in what other animals eat, and in the swallowing and digestive processes themselves. Cool photos.

rgds,
althea

Feel free to print them and show the kids

Regards,
Wayne A. Harvey