Easterns are wonderful garters! I have two and I love them more than anything. The nipping probably has to do with her associating your fingers with food. My female also nips at my fingers since I started feeding her by hand. Make sure your hands are clean and do not smell like food and like Selkielass said, you should probably start using tongs or hemostats to feed her so that she doesn't associate your fingers with the food so much. Frozen/thawed pinkies are exactly what you want to feed her...garters do not eat live rodents. Like Steve said, you can get extra small pinkies that she should be able to swallow whole with no problem. Garters can actually swallow pretty large food pieces.