New to garters need help

[ConcinusMan]

I'm afraid to leave the fish in with them because I don't want them to grab the same one and accidentally swallow each other. I can't feed them individually with tweezers because they get scared and run away. They won't take food from me that way.

Does anyone know where I can get the right kind of worms at the right size that haven't been caught from the wild? Online they only come in packs of 500 and I don't have enough snakes for that. My local reptile store sells night crawlers but I think they would be too large. I know I could cut them up but how long do I want to leave cut up worms in the tank for?

Good foresight on your part to take ask those questions.
Even for my largest garters, I cut large night crawlers into thirds so they can swallow them quickly, and of course, I watch them in case I have to intervene.

I feed even the biggest night crawlers to the smallest newborn snakes. It's a bit more work since I have to dice them up into tiny pieces but it works.

There are methods for getting your snakes to trust you and one of those methods is to get them to associate you or your hand as a source of food. It's not as hard as you might think, but the details of that should be left to another thread.

I suggest you go ahead and get the night crawlers where they are available. They probably are too big so you'll have to mince them up and place them in a shallow dish or tray and back off, sit still. watch closely for any fights that might occur. Raising baby concinnus together, fights are an inevitable part of group feedings and I've grown accustomed to it. Pretty soon you'll get good at seeing a fight in the works, and at breaking one up in progress. If one snake bites another, I can usually get them to let go by pressing firmly, yet gently, on the top of the biters head.

I always feel like I took on too much with a big group of little ones. Be persistent and observant, and don't give up. It does work out in the end.

Good luck

[vanillacokeit]

I went to home depot got some plastic storage containers about the size of a shoe box. I made a climb for each snake out of pvc pipe (which also acts as hides since its big enough for them to fit in and bought a flower pot saucer as a water bowl. I also have a deeper sauce bowl for another water source and I put the fish in the deeper one. I put paper towels down for substrate for now. So now they will have a chance to feel safe and eat on their own time. I will buy the night crawlers as soon as the reptile shop gets a new shipment and put pieces in a bottle cap in their enclosure. Hopefully I will get them to eat something. I didn't think they would eat while I was watching them because they go and hide when anyone is near the enclosure and won't come out until they leave. I wouldn't have had the chance to stop any fights that way. Hopefully this works, I will definitely leave them alone as much as possible until they eat a few times.