Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My garter snake is about 1 3/4 feet long and is still eatting rosy red minnows. She easily puts away 14, but today, she ended up eatting 20 (lady at the store gave me a LOT extra). When can I move her up to eatting small goldfish? The small goldfish at the store are about 1/2 tall and a little over an inch long. How many should she eat of them? I've had her for 4/3/04 and she was only maybe a foot long, then. Thanks for any help.

Keep it on rosy reds, unless you'd rather do the easier thing and feed it pinky mice, it's big enough now. Goldfish are unhealthy and will lead to death at one point.
Michael
Michael's Place

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What makes rosy reds any safer? They contain thiaminase and usually are just as unhealthy as any pet store goldfish.
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Andy Maddox
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Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

"A yellow ribbon instead of a swastika. Nothin' proper about ya propaganda. Fools follow rules when the set commands ya. Said it was blue when ya blood was red. That's how ya got a bullet blasted through ya head"- Rage Against the Machine

That's what I was fixing to ask. Pinkies aren't a natural food source for garters, unless I'm mistaken. They live on fish, lizards and frogs. They might occasionally eat a small mouse, but I wouldn't feed that to them constantly. Besides, I've owned mice and own rats, so it's rather out of the question. I've heard the argument of not feeding goldfish because of how slimy they are, but all fish are. I don't want to end up buying 50 rosy reds every 4 days when Arwen gets older. She would quickly become more expensive than my rats and that's saying something.

Hi
I haven`t got a clue what rosy reds are but imagine it is small fish You buy from a pet store. Having only one garter it is costly but will not ruin You. Other, cheaper and better ways can easely be found. I feed my semiadults and adults on a diet of the wild type of goldfish (who are easely caught here in various ponds), small mice, earth worms and occasionally slugs. I use that diet on all my Natrix and Thamnophis and haven`t had any problems with Thiaminase. To feed the small ones I also took some large plastick boxes. Filled them with water and water plants and placed a few gubbies in each. In the summer they are placed outside from May to September and here I get thousands of gubbies to feed with.
Maybe that was a trick for You too
Best wishes
Søe
Reptilia-Denmark

Rosy reds are minnows. They're 12 cents a piece, here and when I priced them at Walmart, they were 28 cents! I couldn't believe how expensive they were there! Anyway, I tried to feed my garter earthworms when she was younger, but she wouldn't touch them. You think she'd eat them, now? She is a bigger, now and might not be so picky about eatting them. By the way, what are gubbies? Are they like guppies?

I feed my kids a combo of minnows, earthworms (cut to a size appropriate for the snake), and frozen thawed pinkies or fuzzies. Some of them took to the worms and mice with no problem. My ribbons have been reluctant to take anything but minnows, so I put the pinks and worms in the dish with the minnows and they just grab whatever they hit and swallow it down. Yot can also rub the minnows on the worms or mice to mask the scent, and this will also sometimes trick them. Once they try a worm or two, mine have always prefered them to the minnows. I can understand being reluctant to feed rodents if you keep them as pets, I have rats of my own, but if you get them already frozen and remember that these are food and your others are pets, it gets easier. Mice are a very nutitious part of a captive garters diet, and they are easy to come by. I still like to feed a variety, as I think they "enjoy" the different textures and smells. They also like to chase those little fish in the bowl. Good luck!
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Debbie
My email

Yeah. I wouldn't mind it as much if the pinkies were frozen, but I havn't found a place to get them, here

I have gotten them individually at Petco, or in bulk online. Some stores are also willing to kill them for you, so you don't have to deal with it. Good luck.
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Debbie
My email