Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are guppies any different nutritionally than minnows? The town I live in (I called the bait and pet stores) don't happen to carry minnows. I found dozens of tiny bugs (they looked sort of like mites) in Gopher's cage today. (GROSS!) Were the bugs parasites?? Do you think that's why she's been a little lethargic? What should I watch for in case she's sick? I did however immediately throw out everything in her cage, cleaned her rock, water bowl, her mosaic and her little sea shell, and replaced the soil with newspaper. I plan on this being temporary. What should I replace it with, and how long will the newspaper be ok??

The bugs you saw might have been Springtails. They are very small and feed on decaying organic matter. They are a nuisance but supposedly harmless to the snake. There are not parasites. Do a web search to see different pictures of them to confirm that is what you had.

As for guppies, many breeders use them to feed new borns. They are pretty small to feed a larger Garter but they can be used. A Garter snake does not have to be very big before it can effectively be switched over to frozen/thawed pinkies. I highly recommend pinkies for captive garters.

I am still interested to know what type of garter you have. I seem to remember you describing it in another post as green with a black stripe. This is a confusing description to me.
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Randy
Firehouse Herps

I have a picture, I'm just need to be told how on earth to post it. I'm a little computer illiterate. Thanks on the guppy info.

YOu can click on the Photo Gallery link above and sign up for a free KS photo gallery. Once your pictures are loaded, they'll appear in the "Select Image from Photo Gallery" scroll menu that appears at the bottom of the page when you go to post.

-Alice