to feed or not to feed that is the question

[amattel]

Garter snakes are the most cold tolerant snakes there are. Couple that with their high metabolism and your snake will starve if kept at those temps without food. Garter snakes will remain active, alert and feeding even in the 50's. In order to brumate you need to drop down into the 40's or even the high 30's! His metabolism will slow down some at cooler temps but it won't stop as in a state of brumation. If you don't want to do a full blown brumation and the snake has gone off feed, try unplugging the heat and lights for a week or two and put the cage in the coolest area of your house. After that time, kick the heat back on. Sometimes just a short cooling period is enough to jumpstart feeding (and even breeding) activity. In a week or two the snake will not starve or even lose weight. You could also consider refrigerating the snake for a period of time if he is really longing for a cold snap and you want him to wake up hungry. Or try a food item that's not commonly offered, sometimes a new type of food can stimulate the curious nature of a garter!

thanks for sharing your wisdom!

I will check the temps in my refrigerator to see if they are suitable.

[luke.B]

this will be my first year doing a real burmation with garter snakes. and just wanted to know for sure. everything i have been reading. said not to feed and give them 2 to 3 weeks of no food before you cool them all the way down. so the have a chance to get cleaned out good. but saw a vid on YouTube were someone was feeding during and it had me wondering.

[guidofatherof5]

If they are feeding during brumation then it must not be a true cold temp. brumation.(at least I hope not)
To feed a snake during cold brumation would kill them.
Now, some people simply cool there snakes down rather then using cold temps.
No or little food, no heat and very little to no light.

[zendragondrew]

Is just leaving the heating in the tank on enough to keep them from brumation? I don't want my snake to accidentally start hibernating.

[guidofatherof5]

Accidently? They are going to do what they want to do no matter what you do.
If they can't do a full brumtion then they will simply stop eating and move to the coolest part of their home.
It's out of your control for the most part.
Many times I have snake go off food. There's is nothing I can do about it but wait until they decide to eat again.
What part of the country are you in? This has a lot to do with how they are going to brumate.

[d_virginiana]

Very true, I'm in NC, and my snakes don't get any sort of special heating. I've never had one brumate even at winter room temps, and he usually only slows down a little bit with food.

[zendragondrew]

I live in New York City, my snake is still moving and ate three days ago. I'm hoping she doesn't brumate on her own, but I guess anything can happen. She has been sitting in a weird corner near her water bowl, but I'm thinking this might indicate she may shed soon. She has moved on her own though, into her cubby and out again.

[chris-uk]

As long as you don't lower the temperature she won't go into a proper cold brumation, she may slow down and be less active though. They know not to brumate with food inside, which is why they often go off their food at this time of year, however lowering the temperature would force her to brumate, which would be a bad thing to do after she's eaten recently.
They like odd corners and places. And remember garters are semi-aquatic, so spending lots of time in a water bowl is quite normal. If you think she's due to shed keep the humidity above 50%, it's a good idea to put moist moss in the cold hide.