Raising a wild garter and have questions.

[ConcinusMan]

Hi everyone! I have a wild garter I'm raising. It was very small when I first found it. I have a few questions to be sure I'm raising it right. Here we go:

1) I have it in a cage with dirt, grass, twigs and leaves. Is that ok?

2) I change the dirt every week, too much or not enough?

Doesn't natter how "fresh" it is, dirt is dirty. In spite of where they live in the wild you will want to keep substrate clean and dry in captivity. Aspen shavings/shredded are economical and a good choice. Do not use pine or cedar.

3) It eats pretty large worms every 2-3 days. I fed it 2 days ago and today when I fed it again, it was very aggressive. Am I not feeding it enough?

Feeding is not an exact science. Snakes are adapted to be able to eat way more than they need during good times to build up body mass reserves and to survive long periods with relatively little to no food. But it does sound like he wouldn't starve on that schedule for now.

[4) I use wild worms to feed. I get them from the area that the snake was found. Should I switch to store bought? Or start raising my own(there are worm farm kits)? I keep the worm in a container with dirt, leaves ect, so they stay alive.

Wild or store bought is fine just don't use "trout worms" "red worms" "compost worms" etc. Use night crawlers.

5) It has doubled in length and width, does this mean I'm doing ok? I found him just over a month ago.

I doubt that very seriously. Even the fastest growing baby garters I've had put on a maximum of around 2 inches in a month. Say a baby garter is 7 inches. To double he would have had to grow 7 inches. Not likely. I don't know how you're measuring it but unless you use a digital software program designed for measuring snakes, it's not going to be accurate.

6) When do they first shed? How can you tell they're shedding?

If it hasn't shed yet it probably hasn't grown so much as an inch. A snake growing an inch to 2 inches a month will shed about every 3-5 weeks. Their color will get dull and the belly and eyes may get cloudy. Will stay that way for a few days then suddenly clear up. Shed follows within a few days after that.

Welcome to the forum. Hang around for a bit, lurk and read more threads and you'll be an expert before you know it.