Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently purchased a pair of baby albino checkerd garters at the daytona expo. It is going on 3 weeks now and the female has been feeding on worm chunks for me but only when offerd to her with forceps the male has yet to feed for me. he dosent seem to be losing any weight but i am a bit worried. also can some one tell me what the best way to set these guys up would be? right now i have them set up in rubermaid plastic shoe boxes with aspen beding each have a hide and a water bowl and they arfe kept at 80 degrees i was told to mist them daily but i am worried that this may keep them to wet would it be possible to house them together? any and all sugestions will be greatly apreciated
thanks
John Peraza

Congrats on the new snakes! In my experience, checkered garters don't like it as wet as some other species. If they have a water dish to soak in, they shouldn't need to be misted. As for housing them together, that is up for debate. Many people prefer to house all their snakes individually. I like to house garters of similar size together. You just need to be cautious during feeding, as they will often fight over food. Housing them together in your case may be a good thing, since it may stimulate your male to eat. Have you tried anything besides worm pieces? Mine enjoy fish and pinky mice as well as worm pieces. I would try putting some live guppies or minnows in the male's water dish and see if that stimulates him--often the movement of the fish is enough to stimulate feeding. You can put the worm pieces in the dish with the fish, and he may grab the pieces instead of the fish and eat it that way. I would also recommend getting them to eat pinky mice (either whole or in pieces) as part of their diet. I like to offer my kids a variety of foods so that all their nutritional needs are covered. Plus, they seem to "like" the variety. Others advocate an all pinky diet, which can also be successful. Good luck!
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Debbie
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I definitely would skip the misting. The plastic container will hold all the humidity it needs and misting can be dangerous. Housing them together is fine except it may be hard to monitor your problem feeder. He may eat when left alone. If you do not get him eating I would separate him and leave him alone away from any human activity to see if he eats. When eating pinkies they can be more competitive and harm each other because there ism not as many food items present.

Randy

Thanks for the response everyone last night i left chunks of worms in the males cage and he ate them i guess he's not too keen on being fed with forceps the female dosent mind one bit and is voraciouse. they are a bit tiney to feed pinkies to just yet but i will try in the near future i have decided to keep them housed separately and see how that goes 1 more question how often should i offer them food? right now its about every 3 days is this good of should i offer more frequently?
thanks
John peraza