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Old 04-01-2007, 01:53 PM   #5 (permalink)
Cazador
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Re: garter @ ribbon snake?mate? & diet

A salamander diet should be fine, but the problem is (as you know) finding enough. Once summer comes and things dry out, they'll become harder and harder to find. That's why it's important for you to try scenting other food items now and conditioning your snakes to eat other things.

A worm-only diet, however, is not healthy. It's severely lacking in calcium. Studies have shown that garters fed a worm-only diet grow much slower than those fed fish or mammals. There were no mentions of amphibians, but they'd be as nutritious as fish and mammals unless, of course, you're feeding large amounts of toxic species.

The key to any well-balanced diet is variety. Even if you're supplementing with vitamins and minerals, you could still be deficient in certain micronutrients. That's why variety is the spice of life when feeding garters.
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