Slugs?

[kibakiba]

The way I see it is there is always a risk no matter what your feeding. I view slugs as a treat. They seem like they would be very fattening for the snakes. I know Snap loves them, and my wild caughts will take them without much of a problem. I'm cautious about feeding my snakes worms, too. I make sure that the worms have been eating nutritious things before I get them near my snakes. When I catch worms, I put them in a well ventilated container with some left over organic veggie scraps and some bone meal or finely crushed eggshells, with some carefresh and a little bit of clean soil. After a week, a one inch worm shoots up to 4 inches-6 inches. It doesn't lower the risk of parasites, but it makes them healthier, in my opinion.

[RedSidedSPR]

Good to know. I might try the feeding of the veggies. It makes me a little paranoid feeding stuff from the wild, so if it makes it healthier, I'm all for it. As for the slugs, I never planned on that being a main food source, I just have so many in my yard, I thought it would be cool if I could feed him some occasionally.

[kibakiba]

Yeah, Snap goes wild for them, so I let her have one every month when I find them. I keep hoping it'll make her love me, but it doesn't.

[RedSidedSPR]

Don't dislike the hand that feeds you. Good quote. Anyway, I guess as long as it's safe-ish I'll try it. You do feed them live, right? Not sure if you can freeze those things or not.

[kibakiba]

Slugs? I feed them live. I make sure to give smaller ones, since they'll try to slime their way out of the snakes mouth. The smaller ones can't slime as much.

I think someone said not to feed slugs that put out yellow slime. I can't remember if that was it or if it was something else.

[RedSidedSPR]

I think I've heard that yellow slime means something...

[guidofatherof5]

Redworms have a yellowish fluid(defensive) that is toxic to garter snakes.
Eisenia fetida - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[RedSidedSPR]

I know, maybe that's what I'm thinking of..

[ConcinusMan]

Good to know. I might try the feeding of the veggies. It makes me a little paranoid feeding stuff from the wild, so if it makes it healthier, I'm all for it. As for the slugs, I never planned on that being a main food source, I just have so many in my yard, I thought it would be cool if I could feed him some occasionally.

Yeah, why not. I got tons of slugs too, nearly year 'round. Northwesterns and a couple of my radixes love slugs from my yard. If you get them early in the morning their guts are still full of fresh greens. You could gather them up and deliberately feed them cabbage, broccoli, kale, spinach, whatever, right before you give them to your snakes too.

If you're ever unsure if that red worm you find in your yard is the bad kind, pick it up. If it's the bad kind, it will excrete and nasty yellow slime thick and sticky like slug slime, and it will smell like rotting flesh. If it just smells like dirt, you're probably OK.

[kibakiba]

I caught a slug earlier and gave it to Ember. It created a very thick yellow/orange slime and nearly suffocated him. I got it out of his mouth, thankfully. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't the normal slug we have around here. It was brown with lighter brown stripes down its back. I've seen something similar, though it was usually a yellowbrown colour with lighter stripes. If it puts out yellow slime when you squeeze it, I think it would be safer to keep it well away from your snakes.