Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey whats up, im new to snakes, i caught a garder snake like 4 weeks ago and he finaly ate today and its starting to shed. I was wondering if sand if a good floor for his tank and also if him sheding was the reason he didnt eat for those first few weeks or if he was just scared of me. also how do u tell if its male or female. thanks for any help you can give

sand is not a good substrate for garters, they may accidentaly ingest it and it could lead to problems. I'd use aspen or carfresh bedding. as for sexing of garters it's in the tail males have longer slender tails and females have short stout tails. hope this helps and good luck
Wayne

For a substrate for garters, newspaper and paper towels seem to be the best. I find myself changing newspaper every 4 days or so in the garter enclosures, I couldn't imagine having to change carefresh that often. It probably didn't eat because it was going into a shed cycle, but I've had a bunch of them eat while in shed, so who knows, depends on the individual specimen.

To determine sex you must either pop the snake(manually pushing out one of the hemipenes) or probing it(inserting a probe, to see if the snake is a male or a female). Both procedures should only be done by experienced individuals, and learning how to do it over the internet most likely won't turn out good.

Mike
Michael's Place

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Definitely get rid of the sand. Your best choices are newspaper, paper towels, carefresh or similar, or aspen. Carefresh is a paper based product and many keepers and breeders use it. Aspen also works well but make sure it is aspen and not cedar. Aspen can sometimes promote the presence of a small invertebrate called a springtail. They are very small and feed off decaying organic material like wood, shed skins, feces. If found just change the substrate and clean the cage. Aspen and Carefresh can also be spot cleaned several times between complete changes.

It is not uncommon for a newly captured snake to refuse food for awhile until it adjusts to its new surroundings. Some will refuse food while their eyes are clouded over before shedding as well. Improper temperature or temperature fluctuations can also throw a snake off feed. If your snake is a problem feeder keep handling to an absolute minimum until it adapts.

Popping was indicated in another response as a method of sexing. This method should be reserved for juveniles only, and many feel newborns only. As a snake grows the musculature becomes more developed and popping poses a greater risk of injury to the animal.
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Firehouse Herps

hey thanks alot everyone, i got rid of the sand and got newspapers now and gonna change to aspen soon.