feeding help

[untoucheclipse]

So my Garter will eat live fish when they flick around, but i wanted to feed him salmon pieces, ive tried everything all he does is flick his tounge at it. how can i get him to actually eat it? right now ill leave it in the tank and see if its gone when i come home.

[guidofatherof5]

Get a small round container. Put your flopping fish and your fish pieces in + one hungry garter = a full garter. Give it a try.
I use Ziplock containers with the screw on lid. Get the tall one or the snakes tend to get out before you put the lid on.

[ConcinnusMan]

Good advice. Some garter snakes, especially fish eaters, once they get eating, they get worked into a frenzy and will swallow anything at that point.

Also, it could be that your snake simply doesn't like salmon. I had been feeding my adults on steelhead (rainbow trout) which they loved but the market didn't have any last time I went. I got coho salmon instead. They knew the difference and refused to eat it for some time and only recently ate it after going hungry for little while.

The guy at the store will look at you funny, but sometimes you just have to buy a dollar or two's worth of different fish and see which one's your snakes like. If you end up with fish they don't seem to like you can always slip it in with a bunch of fish that they do like and it will get eaten anyway.

On a side note, the babies born this month liked the steelhead (or any fish at all that I offer) but they liked the coho even better, while the adults only ate it reluctantly. Not only that, I do have 6 baby northwesterns in with all those concinnus. Those northwesterns won't eat worms any more! They devour fish. (most northwesterns eat worms but not fish) I guess they think they are concinnus or something!

You just can't always figure these crazy snakes out. I quit trying to come up with reasons, but rather let them keep me guessing and try different things if they don't like what I offer them.

Sometimes I think that they are more intelligent than we give them credit for, and they are doing this just to mess with me!