wild-caught snake

[Snaky]

Welcome from Belgium

[Thamnophis]

Hello Savannah, welcome here...

[savannah825]

Hi again.
So i 've tried to feed some worms to my snake. I haven't seen her eat them before, but I put some worms in there for her earlier and they are now gone
I was thinking about going to the local petstore and buying some rosey red minnows or some little guppies. Hopefully she'll eat them too.

[Sid]

Congrad's Savannah. Sounds like the new Garter is settling in very well.

Sid

[Cazador]

Cheers Savannah! Each time a new snake or one that newly emerges from brumation takes its first meal, it feels like a huge weight has been lifted . Now that the first step is out of the way, you'll need to get something with bone into it, or consider picking up a small jar of calcium powder from the pet store. You're on your way, Savannah, so congratulations on your success.

How long between the time you caught your snake and its first meal?

Rick

[savannah825]

I caught her about 1 week ago and she just ate a couple days ago. Since she has eaten, every time I open the cage she slithers out of her hidey-hole and checks her little worm food dish to see if there is anything in there I'm surprised that she isn't constantly trying to escape her cage like the garter snakes I've caught before. She is always very calm when I handle her and she looks to be in good health. She does have kinda of a scar looking thing on her side. It looks like its healed up good though. I'm thinking that its probably from one of my cats. Our 3 cats all have a taste for snake Don't worry my little is well protected. I keep a cinder block on her cage to keep the top down

[adamanteus]

She has settled down really fast! Congratulations and well done. As Rick says, it's always a relief when they start eating.

[savannah825]

Yes I'm very surprised as well! I'll be trying to feed her some fish soon. I was wondering though, I read that you shouldn't feed goldfish to garter snakes. Why is that? Would it hurt to feed her 1 or 2? I don't want anything to happen to my little friend so please give me your advice.
thanks

[adamanteus]

Hi Savannah,

The reason for not using goldfish as a food item is that they contain the enzyme Thiaminase (see the link).

http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets...?title=Thiamin,

One or two, occasionally, is probably going to do no harm, but as there are so many readily available alternatives, I would personally recommend that you avoid them altogether. If your snake will take fish pieces, you're on a winner straight away, trout is good and easy to buy. If not you could start it off on Rosies and then gradually wean it onto frozen/thawed fish pices. Good luck. If you want more info just ask.

[savannah825]

Hi.
Well I took your advice and my brother bought me 11 feeder guppies yesterday The guppies are still only babies though, not even an inch long yet. they are so cute though. anyway, so now i'm on a another adventure with raising and breeding guppies.
I have a question though. Lately my snake has been acting depressed I've heard some people say that snake's and other critters can't become depressed but I believe that they can. I remember my old betta that i had went through a slight bout of depression. You might find that silly, oh well. well i bought a female betta and he immedietly perked up, even if the female wasn't in his tank.
right now I'm keeping her in a 10 gallon tank. I also have a 40 gallon tank. do you think I should put her in the 40 gallon so she has more room? She also really favors having branches and rocks in her tank, since it calms her down since she was wild caught.