Reluctant eaters

[gregmonsta]

Hi, thanks for all the advice, especially the fish list. To answer some replies. they are in the same vivaruim, not seeen any breeding behaviour but recently stumpy (has lost the tip of its tail) has beeen more active, very interested in things & a lot less skitish. Actually came up to me when i had the vivarium door open & came up my arm. Spikey (not lost its tail!) is still active but still hides when i open the viv. Looks out of the hide though. I don't know the age or sex as the pet shop didn't. they were labled as "Northen" Garter snakes. I'll have to dig my old books out & check this out.
Interestingly lance fish aren't on the either safe or unsafe list, for some reason i've been labled as living in the states when i'm in the UK, are these called something different in the US?. At least the Mackeral will be the right sort.

'Northern' garters don't exists. Tell that to the shop please because they are obviously not concerned with realistic IDs. They are probably WC and should be checked for parasites.
If you post pics here we can help you get an ID. You may also want to check out the photographic library in our articles section.
Lance fish I would stay away from regardless as they can be quite high in pollutants.
Personally, I would also raise the hotspot to 90F.

[ConcinnusMan]

I've seen this before coming from Europe. In every case where someone said they had a "northern garter" it turned out to be a highly stressed and possibly parasite and disease ridden WC T.s. parietalis. Lord knows how many of these were rounded up and thrown into crowded conditions where disease spreads and a majority of them probably died before they even make it to the UK market. I really wish this practice would stop but there just isn't any sign that it will let up.

I would definitely do a parasite check and treatment. The stress of what that snake has been through to make it over there, and lowered immunity, along with a parasite infection can be very bad.