Baiting snakes

[Cazador]

Another awesome day with great pictures from the sunroom! They're just awesome little snakes, eh? That little guy will be even more willing to take the bait, if there's a "next time." What fun!

Rick

P.S. I just finished my taxes, too.

[stonyloam]

I am glad you liked it. I do have a question: This is a wild snake, and it is a good bet that he has not had fish before, certainly not trout fillets. Do they instinctively go for fish? This guy loved it! He ate 4 pieces. He is eating #3 below (1&2 are a couple of inches down). Seems like slices of fish (with skin and scales) could be a good inexpensive food supply, even chubs and other “rough “ fish could be sliced up and frozen for later use. If this guy would eat it, it seems that others would too (of course after a 5 month fast he was pretty hungry).

[Cazador]

Terry,

It sounds like you've stumbled upon a long-standing tradition of feeding frozen/thawed fish chunks to garter snakes. It's a common practice, and if you leave the bones within the chunks, they get an added bit of calcium and phosphate. Their preference for eating fish is instinctive, and garters are known to "go fishing" both above and below the water's surface to catch a meal. Trout and chub are both known NOT to contain thiaminase, so either would be a good food choice. Here's a link to a page that will give you an idea of some other common food items (http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets..._Sheet#Feeding). Cheers,

Rick

[Thamnophis]

It's getting better and better in this thread.
In about a few months you may become a "daddy" if you keep treating them so good.

[drache]

yeah
they may think your sun room is a good birthing place and next they'll ask you to baby sit

[adamanteus]

Yes, Fons (Thamnophis) is right. If they think there's food available in your sun room Terry, they might hang around for a while. Go for it! Get a food dish in there, let's watch those beauties all year!

[mikm]

yes, I agree with James !! This all just too cool Terry

enjoy your day !!
marian

[RedSided]

I want to see some grass snakes , any idea on how to go about finding one?

[stonyloam]

I know you all love garters, but this little beauty (Lampropeltis t triangulum) showed up this morning and I could not resist. He has a little ding on his tail but otherwise looks perfect. Guessing he is from late last summer. Last count, I have identified at least nine different individual snakes, three species.

[Snaky]

And another beauty!