Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I currently have dirt at the bottom of my 10 gallon tank for my ribbon snake. what would be the best thing to use to make the tank cleaner and safer? And what would be easiest to clean? THANKS

i would say the best substrate for garters are paper towels.
there absorbent and easy to clean
chris

should i just put layers of paper towels on the bottom of the tank? is there anything i should do to it or should i just place it there, and add some sticks and a bowl of water?

Two sheets of paper towel thick is good enough. Some decor is good, he needs to waste some of that energy doing something.

I also use fro my display cages (Repti Bark) its sold at most petshops and they will burrow in it also. I watch when they eat ( I mostly feed my snakes right out of my hand, I dont like fish in the water bowl or toads hopping around.)

Lu

thanks!

One more question. You said you feed your snake right out of your hand. What do you feed it? And how much of it? And how do you store what's not eaten? Thanks

I feed my garters as much a varied diet as I can. I feed the freshwater smelt (which you can find @ the grocery store, frozen and cleaned for about 4.00). I also feed them Salmon, and Trout with vitamins/minerals on it. I cut it up in to thing but longer pieces. I also give them frog parts toad parts or whole frog/toads if they are small enough (only during the summer). They also eat pinkys and larger Fuzzies. I spend a great deal on my garters, but I tell u its worth it. Feeder fish are out of the question now after I found a list of fish that dont contain (T) in them. I also feed worms on occasion in a small bowl.

As for how much and how often, well like said before they are very active and have a fast metabolism. I feed my garters as much as they want. Since they come to the door when Im ready to feed they stay there and when they are full they just go about their business. I will offer food almost every other day and sometimes the day after if they only eat a couple of items.

I have one garter (female) who is about 2 ft that will eat 4 pieces of whole smelt in on sitting and then after that will eat a couple of worms!! The girl is huge and still begs for more, but I dont give her much more than that per day.

I will post a pic of my setup so you can see what it looks like to give you a general Idea.

Lu

This is a two level setup I made. It has two floors that are connected with a hole drilled into the middle shelf. it measures 37 inches long x 16 inches wide x and 47 inches high. It houses 5 eastern plains garters. It has the repti bark I told you about and has lots of decor so that they can entertain themselves, but make sure that the decor also provides hide spots they like to have access to alot of them.

Hope this helps

Can you find the trout and salman in the store too? Are you talking whole fish that you cut up or strips? Do you wiggle it around for them?

My ribbon is too skitzo to eat like that but my garters might.

- Sharon

oh crum I forgot... what do you use for vitumins and minerals? what BRAND?

thanks.