Garters eating INSECTS!!!

[Zephyr]

Whether or not they recognize them correctly or incorrectly, is the issue. This is something that has popped up from time to time, with garters identifying anything from substrate to silicone in the enclosure as food and ending up trying to eat them. If it wasn't dangerous, I'd feed one of my snakes Legos just to prove that point.

I've fed mine beef occasionally. Does that mean that they recognize cows as food? Of course not.

Isee it highly unlikely that a garter would just randomly ingest silicone or substrate. There had to be the scent of a prey item on it or else they wouldn't even try to eat it. As for the beef thing, do you post or pre-scent the beef, or do they just take it?

I noticed that you offered the worm from the forceps. Is that how you normally feed them? I also noticed that the snake was reluctant to grab it and that it only did it as you pushed the worm against the side of the mouth. In case you didn't know, that's a trick you'd use on a reluctant feeder. It's a way to provoke them into grabbing a food item.

If the snake didn't want the wax worm it wouldn't have come back for the other 5 or 6 it ate.
Also, this wouldn't explain why the picky female that Don sent me, who won't take fish, fish pieces, worms, or tadpoles edged close to her mouth, decided to eat.

Trust me, I noticed. I also noticed you yelling that "garter snakes eat insects".

I'll admit, I was a little excited. But I stated in the end, "Or wax worms at least."

[Stefan-A]

Isee it highly unlikely that a garter would just randomly ingest silicone or substrate. There had to be the scent of a prey item on it or else they wouldn't even try to eat it.

Maybe there was, maybe there wasn't.

As for the beef thing, do you post or pre-scent the beef, or do they just take it?

They just take it. Off a plate. No scenting, no jiggling the food in front of them, nothing at all to provoke them. What I do see, is hesitation before they grab it and they grab it just as carefully as the garter in the video.

If the snake didn't want the wax worm it wouldn't have come back for the other 5 or 6 it ate.

Sure it would. Once you trigger the feeding response, they may very well keep coming back for more.

Also, this wouldn't explain why the picky female that Don sent me, who won't take fish, fish pieces, worms, or tadpoles edged close to her mouth, decided to eat.

Neither does her eating a wax worm.