My first Garter!

[J@50n]

I now have successfully gotten a REAL Garter Snake. I thought I already had one, but the truth is, he was a Dekayi . So since i have never had a Garter Snake before... I have done a lot of research already thinking my first snake was a Garter so I have some knowledge but not as much as some of you Garter Pros out there!

So I have a few quick questions:

To start off, I have a 5 gallon tank (my Garter is only a foot and a half long or so and really thin, but I will be upgrading VERY soon to a 10G) I have a basking rock, a basking light, two hides, a water dish big enough for him to be in completely, paper fluff substrate, sticks/foliage, and a reptile heating pad (80 degrees) over half his tank (under one hide).

Is this what I need for him?
What else could i do to improve his tank?
Anything MAJOR I'm missing?

ALSO, I heard you were only supposed to use distilled water with snakes? Is it okay if I am using well water, No chlorine, etc?

Also a big question i have, what on Earth do i feed this bugger
I know i can feed him:

• Worms
• Fish
• Crickets?

What about:

• Frogs
• Toads
• Bugs
• Anything else?

Also, How often would you say to feed them depending on the food?

Every little piece of Information helps,

Thank you forum!!

[guidofatherof5]

First off, ditch the crickets. Not in their diet. No bugs.
You are better off staying with worms(night crawlers/earthworms), pinky mice and safe fish(Guppies, Mollies), high quality store bought fish(Salmon, Trout, Tilapia)

They will eat toads and frogs but they usually carry a heavy parasite load.

Garter Snake Care Sheet - Caresheets

[J@50n]

First off, ditch the crickets. Not in their diet. No bugs.
You are better off staying with worms(night crawlers/earthworms), pinky mice and safe fish(Guppies, Mollies), high quality store bought fish(Salmon, Trout, Tilapia)

They will eat toads and frogs but they usually carry a heavy parasite load.

Garter Snake Care Sheet - Caresheets

I just fed him a Toad. Do you think he'll be okay? He only ate one...

[guidofatherof5]

I just fed him a Toad. Do you think he'll be okay? He only ate one...

He probably will be but it throws parasites into your snakes health profile. At some point you should do a de-worming for peace-of-mind

[ConcinusMan]

I just fed him a Toad. Do you think he'll be okay? He only ate one...

To avoid a high parasite load, try freezing the toads solid, then thaw them in a bag along with some pinkies. That does two things. Freezing kills parasites inside the toads, and thawing with pinkies gets toad scent on them so he might be more easily converted over to rodents. Nothing wrong with whole toads, it's just that they carry worms. Better to convert him over to pinkies or scent pinkies with toads to get him to eat them.

[J@50n]

To avoid a high parasite load, try freezing the toads solid, then thaw them in a bag along with some pinkies. That does two things. Freezing kills parasites inside the toads, and thawing with pinkies gets toad scent on them so he might be more easily converted over to rodents. Nothing wrong with whole toads, it's just that they carry worms. Better to convert him over to pinkies or scent pinkies with toads to get him to eat them.

Since he was wild caught in my back yard, he had to feed on these at some point in his life wouldn't he? He couldn't have only eaten night crawlers when there are millions of these critters all over!!??

[snakehill]

To avoid a high parasite load, try freezing the toads solid, then thaw them in a bag along with some pinkies. That does two things. Freezing kills parasites inside the toads, and thawing with pinkies gets toad scent on them so he might be more easily converted over to rodents. Nothing wrong with whole toads, it's just that they carry worms. Better to convert him over to pinkies or scent pinkies with toads to get him to eat them.

Not to mention how cute little toadies are!!!

[drache]

hi Jason

when you get a chance, go over the care sheets on this site Garter Snake Care Sheet - Caresheets, but meanwhile . . .

I highly recommend that you keep your eyes open for a 20 gallon long (30"x23"x13") tank - it's much easier to get a good temperature gradient with that, so your snake can self regulate
also - the tank ought to be long enough that your snake can kind of stretch out

you can use filtered water, or clean well water - distilled isn't actually that good

garters do not eat anything with an exoskeleton, so no bugs, crickets, meal worms, etc

any food caught in the wild potentially carries parasites that can more easily affect your snake and get out of hand in a contained environment, so that can be risky

some fish is okay, others not - a whole big subject
please read up on thiaminase

the safest option is to switch them to frozen/thawed rodents as soon as they will take them, and to give them some variety now and then with some safe fish, or night crawlers

how often to feed depends on the size of the food item

[Mrs N1ntndo]

I used to give my garters baby toads about the size of a nickle and some a little bigger. None of my snakes had any problems and remained very healthy. I only have one snake now because I let the others go . I have an eastern garter now and her name is Pheobe and I havent givin her even 1 yet. I only feed her BIG night crawlers and she loves them. I want to look into other things that others have been talking about.

[J@50n]

Alright, thank you all. I am currently reading through the Care Sheet as I type! And aout the tank, I do plan on buying a bigger one ASAP, meaning the next time I go to a big city pet shop!