Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Heres a pic of my garder, probably could use an upgrade from the 15gl hes in right now. He never hides, ignores any heat, i tried to bury some hampster tunnels for him to use but havent seen him use them ever, does burrow a little but always in the open. Nice display pet. I do feed mine frozen/thawed adult mice. never heard of feeding fish but would like to try it. Do you play a bowl of water with feeders in it for him?

Could you take a better pic of the snake please, it's hard to see. Your set up looks good, although perhaps more space is warranted. Mine seem to like tight spaces for hides with a substrate bottom, I use overturned plant pot dishes with a small opening cut into the side, but any shallow floorless cave would work. Do you know what type of Garter it is? Not meaning to be critical, but FYI it's Garter with a 't'. Garder and Gardener are very commonly used misnomers so don't feel bad. It must be good sized if it eats adult mice. Why bother feeding fish if it eats mice well as mice are nutritionally very complete? However, I will admit it is very entertaining to watch them go "fishing"!!!
Jeff
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Jeff Benfer
You'll get your regius's to the wall, man!
1.0 pastel Python regius
0.1 mojave Python regius
0.1 normal Python regius
0.2 Terrapene carolina thriunguis
2.3 Terrapene carolina carolina
4.1 Kinosternon baurii
1.1 Malaclemys terrapin terrapin
2.1 Ambystoma tigrinum
0.2 Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.0 anerythristic Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.1 Iowa snow Thamnophis radix
1.1 heterozygous for amelanistic,carmel, and stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 anerythristic motley Pantherophis guttatus

Sorry I forgot to answer your question, yes you can just put the live feeder fish in a dish with water and they will likely be attacked in a short time if the snake is hungry, it is not recommended that you use the water dish, but you could as long as you washed it out and replace with fresh water after feeding, be carefull not to put tooooo many fish in at one time to avoid gorging and overeating in all the excitement of live prey. Have fun
Jeff
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Jeff Benfer
You'll get your regius's to the wall, man!
1.0 pastel Python regius
0.1 mojave Python regius
0.1 normal Python regius
0.2 Terrapene carolina thriunguis
2.3 Terrapene carolina carolina
4.1 Kinosternon baurii
1.1 Malaclemys terrapin terrapin
2.1 Ambystoma tigrinum
0.2 Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.0 anerythristic Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.1 Iowa snow Thamnophis radix
1.1 heterozygous for amelanistic,carmel, and stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 anerythristic motley Pantherophis guttatus

It's kinda hard to tell from the picture, but is your snake an Eastern Blackneck garter? As for your question - yeah, it's okay to put feeder fish in a bowl for your snake. Just do it in a seperate tank that has nothing else in it. This way if the fish accidently jumps out of the bowl, there won't be any substrate stuck to it when the snake eats it. If you're going to use goldfish, I wouldn't recommend doing this very often. Goldfish contain an enzyme (thiaminase) that if consumed on a regular basis, can potentially lead to your animal's death. Also, what's up with all the condensation on the tank's glass? A soaking dish is okay. But other than that, you should try to keep things as dry as possible. Snakes kept in too damp of conditions tend to develope skin diseases.

really, i usually mist once every few days especially when it looks like they might shed soon. i'll definatly watch it now though i never knew they were any harmful side effects to misting. thanks. I just happened to decided to take pictures at that time because i had just gone through and redone all the tanks, then decided to take pictures since i was in there with them all.

Feeding fish is a lot of fun, be sure to buy clean Rosie reds or guppies from a store with clean tanks and no dead ones floating around in it.

Some garters will eagerly take the fish from your fingers, just dangle it in font of the snake.

And fish are sticky, so the best 2 options are either to feed in a separate area (we use tote boxes) or "Cage carpet" (I like this stuff) with a "Cage Carpet" you can just toss in fishes and earthworms no problem.

Sometimes the snakes will grab the fish and strut around with it for a few moments before eating it. Very entertaining to watch.

Ditto on the goldfish warning, no no not good. Goldfish are toxic.

We set up an aquarium and buy many rosies at once, but then your buying fish food, and changing filters, etc.. so that may be extreme.

Please take a picture of your snake out of the tank, it looks like a very handsome animal, and pictures are always cool.

Kind regards,
Wayne A. Harvey

our critters

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1.0.0 Ball Python - Python regius "Cane" Rescue
0.0.1 Eastern MilkSnake WC "Carmello" adult super sweet temperment
1.2.3 Storeria dekayi Casper, Xena, Athena, & Kids (30 plus released!)
0.0.2 Thamnophis marcianus - Checkered Garters "spot" & "Zig"
2.2.0 Thamnophis radix Snow, Iowa snow & christmas snow het.
2.1.0 Thamnophis sirtalis - eastern Garters
0.0.1 Thamnophis sirtalis - "Flame" red and white stripes
1.1.0 Thamnophis sirtalis CB "Flame" & Melanistic
1.0.0 Thamnophis pickeringi - Puget Sound Garter "Sky" (adult, Sky blue)
0.0.1 Nerodia sipedon - Water Snake - "Aqua" adult WC
0.1.0 Storeria occipitomaculata - Red Belly snake (Her children were raised & released)
0.0.1 Amelanistic Corn Snake "CY" Juvinile CB
1.0.0. Pueblan Milk snake "Oreo" adult CB
1.0.0. ASIAN GREEN SNAKE 3' WC Cyclophiops major"Limon"
0.0.1. Savannah Monitor "CHOMPER" Growing fast!
0.1.0. Green Anole "Crystal" WC
1.0.0. K9 "ACE" Black Cockapoo
0.2.0. Feline"Felix"(R.I.P. 4/27/08) "Kaja" & "Silver"
2.1.0. calico RATS
2.4.?? Mice - Feeder farm - Crickets / fish
More herps than I could ever list out back on the land.

Just a little bit of info for those of you who are unaware, Rosy Reds are a type of Fathead minnow. They're known to contain thiaminase like Goldfish. As far as I know though, guppies are just fine.

that is in fact true, but as long as they are not the only food item offered all the time it's a non-issue. Varied diet (unless you feed nutritionally complete rodents)is key, and that is pretty much a universal diet rule, thiaminase or not.
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Jeff Benfer
You'll get your regius's to the wall, man!
1.0 pastel Python regius
0.1 mojave Python regius
0.1 normal Python regius
0.2 Terrapene carolina thriunguis
2.3 Terrapene carolina carolina
4.1 Kinosternon baurii
1.1 Malaclemys terrapin terrapin
2.1 Ambystoma tigrinum
0.2 Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.0 anerythristic Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.1 Iowa snow Thamnophis radix
1.1 heterozygous for amelanistic,carmel, and stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 anerythristic motley Pantherophis guttatus