Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Friday the boyfriend caught a garter snake, pretty little thing, and brought it home for me... Some girls get flowers, I get snakes.
So far he has not eaten. We have offered it earthworms (red worms they are called), guppies, and crickets. All of which are much smaller than he is in diameter. He lets the crickets crawl all over him, doesn't respond at all. He seemed a little interested in the guppies, even got in the bowl for a while but ultimtaly didn't eat them. I have large frozen pinkies for our corn snake. I'm wondering if I should try offering that, the smallest pinkie I have is about his same size in diameter as this snake. (he is a little less than a foot long) I don't know if this would be too big for him, or even worth offering if the reason he isn't eating due to stress.

Any thoughts?

Molly

If you are planning on keeping him then just let him sit for a few days and do not stress him out. No handling for a bit I am afraid. Then if you keep the temos up and he becomes active and defacates. Then put a clear water dish with some rosies or goldfish into it and there splashing should stimulate a good feeding response, in fact he will try to eat until he bursts.

What species is it?
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Firehouse Herps

Thanks for the advise. Not sure what kind of garter he is, his dorsal patterns are brown with yellow stripes and his ventral scales are a lime green color. Real pretty there is a bit of a pattern within the brown too. I'd take a picture but I don't like to disturb him too much.
Today he finally ate a rosy. I'm hoping that's a good sign he is finally getting over the stress.

How long does it usually take wild caught snakes to start eating?

Molly