Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just received a WC eastern garter (Thamnophis sirtalis), from Northern Indiana, and was wondering if anyone has any experience training these guys on pinkies?

So far I tried just a straight pinky, didn't work.
Then I tried rubbing a worm on the pinky, didn't work.
Then I tried a nightcrawler, slurped it right up.
Then I wrapped a worm around the pinky, didn't work.
Then the worm unwrapped itself, slurped right up.
Finally, I bathed the pinky in a pile of worms and am going to leave him in a towel covered cage overnight with the garter.

I just hope he eats the pinky and didn't get too full on nightcrawlers.

I have trained them using fish. I simply rub a F/T pinkie on a fish and offer it. There are a few individuals that refuse to convert. There are a few other tricks that might help. Do not handle the prey item except with clean forceps. This eliminates the human odor thus giving the snake only two odors to contemplate, the pinky and the prey item used to scent it. Some folks have even washed the pinkie in water and mild soap prior to scenting. If you do this you must rinse all soap residues away. I have one Garter that will eat a scented large pinky if it is placed in a small shallow dish of water with a live rosy (minnow). If I use more than one small fish the snake satisfies its appetite on them and leaves the pinky. He will not accept a pinky any other way. Another picky eater will take a scented pink from forceps but not if the pinky is just left sitting in the cage. Both those snakes are from a species known to specialize in fish as their natural prey. You will have better chances of success if the snake is hungry. Experiment, try scenting with a fish instead of worms, try different methods to offer the pink, be patient, and keep us posted.

Randy

In my opinion it is easy to convert easterns onto scented mice and then to unscented. I got a melanistic eastern back around June or July, that was feeding on worms and nightcrawlers. I fed it a couple times, and then tried scented pinkies. I'd rub a nightcrawler all over the pinky's body to make sure that the nightcrawler released a whole bunch of slime onto it. Then I fed the nightcrawler to the snake. After he was done with that I held up the pinky, and he snatched that as well. After a few feedings he "saw" pinkies as food, and he now eats unscented fuzzy mice.
Michael

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Well, the garter spent the night with the pinky and didn't eat it.

I scented it again, and it grabbed the pinky, tried to maneuver it into position, and dropped it. Then, it repeated this again.

I left it in there a while and then scented it again a little while later. It grabbed it and then finally ate it. So the scenting seemed to work. It also seemed to work better when I kept my handling of the pinky after scenting to a minimum.

Hopefully I'll be able to repeat these same results next week when I give it another go.

Thanks for the advice.

Sometimes it's easier if the pinkis are frozen then thawed and washed to remove the mouse scent before you scent them. Let the garter get hungry and then place the pinki near it.

Do you have any treefrogs? I rubbed a washed dead pinki on a tree frog for my T. sirtalis and he ate it. He'll now eat live pinkis but still insists on having them scented. Although he eats fish using them to scent his pinki didn't work. My snake has always eaten the pinki within 15 minutes, and I always made sure that he has an empty stomach when I offer them. If he doesn't like your scent, hold the pinki with forceps when you scent it.

-Alice

Put a frozen thawed pink into the waterbowl and add a couple of live fish.
When the snake goes to catch the fish, it will grab and eat the pink. This is the method I use to get babies to eat pinks.

Ed