When to Feed Pinkies

[InsanePirateDragon]

Right now Marley's happy with a nightcrawler cut up every other day, but I'm not sure when to start her on pinkie mice or pinkie parts (cutting them out kind of freaks me out just a little....)

I don't have much experience feeding mice to reptiles, but I do know that frozen is the way to go from what my snake friends say (They have boas and pythons), less parasites and less chance of it hurting the snake which could turn it away from wanting to eat mice.

[kibakiba]

Try scenting pinky parts with worm slime and blood and offer them to her. Also, cut the pinkies while they're frozen, it's a lot easier, less messy, and you can get the pieces cut more accurately. It also makes them thaw faster.


Also, keep a variety in her diet. In the long run, it's much more healthy for them. You can feed a couple pieces of pinky with a couple pieces of worm. I've found that babies fed a variety filled diet grow a lot faster than babies being fed pinkies alone.

[chris-uk]

My only advice would be to reiterate Chantelle point about cutting the pinkies while they are frozen, you'll be able to cut the pieces much more accurately. If they're frozen they won't bleed if you're worried about cutting up pinkies being messy.

[katach]

Like Chantel said, cutting them frozen is the best. Also mixing them in with the worm chunks helps scent them so they will take them easier. My babies also really like salmon scent. 5 of the 8 are eating what ever I offer now without having to scent. Their favorite is still worm bits but they like pinkies too. I feed pinkie parts once a week. They rest of their feeding between pinkie days are worm chunks.

[kibakiba]

Mine actually prefer pinkies. I get a couple rejections when I'm feeding just worms or worms and fish. It's kind of funny, since all of my NWs love worms.

[infernalis]

I always chop my pinkies up frozen, the consistency is like hard ice cream, easy to cut, no mess.

[tress29]

How long do you have to feed every day? Until what age? How often do you feed adults? My hognose eats one large pinky every 7 or 8 days...

[katach]

I feed our babies every 2 to 3 days depending on what they have eaten. Worms I do every other day and pinkies I will wait an extra day. Our adults get 2 to 3 pinkies once a week with a worm or chunk of salmon as a snack mid week. As far as the length of time for feeding babies more often than adults I am unsure. Hope I helped a little.

[kibakiba]

I have to feed once a week with all of my babies and snakes due to the lack of money (and my mother's... nvm). But, I normally give them worms every couple days, pinkies with them once a week. I feed Azul once a day because he's so tiny and frail. He'll be able to catch up with his siblings soon, though.

[johnnic]

i feed my baby garters every other day. i chop up frozen rat pinks (more cost effective than pink mice) and cut pieces of frozen trout put it on a plastic take out lid and let them chomp. eventually, i taper off of the fish and get them on rodents exclusively. don't like feeding them anything with fur on it as it's not their usual diet (maybe checkereds do eat baby rodents but not much) and it may impact their gastrointestinal tract. for about 40 babies or so, i literally only need one rainbow trout and it lasts me two or so months. by then, most if not all of the babies are on rodents. i also prefer not to feed live as it gets the babies too excited and they'll grab on to each other (if housed together) and may damage their jaws, skin, etc.... lastly, i house them in aquariums with a spot light. garters are diurnal and seem to enjoy visual huntin' and a bit of day light. even though i do house some adults in a rack system because of the lack of space, i do find they prefer being housed in an aquarium with a spot light.