Rodent diet

[RedSided]

It is very much an opinion between owners to be honest.

If you want to feed fish, feed the right type of fish.Depending on what fish , vitamin suplements may be needed.

If you want to feed mice, supplement with other food items such a chicken heart,worms,fish ,gatrter grub(which is starting to become quite popular).

[drache]

I've heard about garter grub, but haven't found any place I could get the stuff to try it out

[GarterGuy]

Yeh, used to be around several years ago, but I think the US market pretty much dried up for it......haven't seen it in a very long time.
Roy

[adamanteus]

RedSided, where do you get your GarterGrub? And what do you think of it? As Roy says, I haven't seen it for years, but then again I haven't been looking for it!

[Jenlang_79]

Wow..this is a very interesting thread..I have never looked at these things from this point of view!! Kudo's to you Adamanteaus for posting this, very interesting!!

[dekaybrown]

Ditto from me

Emulating nature has worked for my pets, My little dekays will only eat worms and slugs and Xena has been with us for 3 years, and is still very healthy.

I just happen to be lucky enough to actualy own some wetlands, so gathering up tadpoles, newts, toads and frogs is too easy.

Also a prime location to go herping

Regards,
Wayne A. Harvey

snakes

[gregmonsta]

I feed pinkies and trout at each feeding .... usually one mouse pink and two pink sized pieces of trout ...
When I had my ribbons I stuck to the diet prescribed by the lab technician which was definately alien to the normal garter pallet - boiled cod or haddock, backed up with vitamins in the water and the occaisional worm treats. I even fed small toads a few times with no ill effects and also resorted to cat food once or twice.
I live in the city now so toads/frogs/worms are hard to come by but I think our garters are doing so well on trout and pinks that I don't have to worry about supplementing extra food items (although I will remember to raid my mothers garden next time I'm there).

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

I am sure everyone will come across fussy eaters. Individual species, ssp., CB's or WC's all may have slightly different preferences.

I can only speak for NW California WC's: The two ssp. of sirtalis in our area (CA Red-sided and Valley Garter) are somewhat opportunistic (frogs, tadpoles [some are immune to toad and newt toxins as well] as well as fish, small mammals and rarely small birds. Many young garters of most species take worms and leeches. T. ordinoides (Northwestern Garter) prefers slugs, earthworms, tadpoles, froglets, small terrestrial salamanders (Aneides) and occasionally small fish. T. atratus hydrophilus (Oregon Garter) has an exclusively aquatic diet: Most larval amphibians (larval Dicamptodon are "highly prized"), frogs, [immunity to toads and newts in some cases], and fish; they are the best swimmers of all Thamnophis, and I have seen adults take down trout, sculpin, or suckerfish up to 10 inches long! The T. elegans clade (elegans, terrestris, and vagrans [Mtn, Coast, and Wandering]) is known for being one of the most opportunistic groups: amphibians and fish will be taken, but these terrestrial garters are ALL famous for hunting small rodents, lizards, and smaller snakes (even cannibalism), and perhaps small birds.

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

Oregon Garter with a suckerfish (This one was actually a bit too large to handle, and my approach caused a regurgitation....)

[jeanette]

This thread has certainly got my brain working, thanks for bringing this up James its definately worth more than just one look. just as a question here, could the fish be important as a diuretic? fish oils have long been known for the effect they have on a healthy digestive system, is it possible that with a rodent only diet that Garters do not have the necessary oils to maintain a healthy bowel and so you get the hair impaction that you mentioned earlier?