Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys-
I have my 04' wandering chocolate garter from Scott Felzer over the summer, and I brought him to school with me. I am feeding him rosies reds/minnows/tuffies, whatever you want to call them. I was wondering when, at length wise, can I switch to trying pinkie parts?

My red sided at home that is 3 years old now is eating full pinkies, 3 at a feeding I do, but I never did parts, just when he got big enough full pinkies. Another question I guess then is can I feed my red sided bigger frozen rodents then pinkies? I think he could handle something alittle bigger.

thanks
Zach

I've got an 8 inch western terrestrial (T. e. terrestris) who is able to take small pre-killed pinkis. Back when I was in college, there was a western terrestrial in our herp room and I want to say that we started offering small fuzzies when it was about a foot and a half. We made sure the fuzzies were prekilled otherwise it took the poor mouse forever to sucumb as the snake had a tendency to start from the rear.

At work there are a few lines of pitfall traps that we monitor and we've had full size (2-3 ft) western terrestrials eat the harvest mice (they're about weaner size) and shrews that fall in the buckets.

-Alice

It depends on the size of the snake and not the age. I'd size the food item so that it is noticeable in the gut but does not greatly distend it. I have Garters on pinks, lg links, fuzzies, hoppers, and a few on wean sized mice. A garter should be large enough for a pinkie within its first year. A three year old should be large enough for a fuzzy or hopper.

Personally I try to feed 1 item at a time, 2 at the most. When feeding pinks I feed them every 3 to 4 days, fuzzies every 5 to 7 days, and anything larger every 7 to 10 days depending on the individual snake. Adjust the size and frequency to the appetite and growth rate of the individual snake.

Randy