Hi! (Newbie who rescued a young and injured snake)

[Seere121]

Hello, and welcome. Just tossing in my two cents about Snakes.
If you decide to feed minnows, guppies, or goldfish, make sure that you have a vitamin powder with vitamin B1 listed because the fish above can cause B1 deficiency which is harmful and ultimately fatal to your new snake. B1 is also called Thiamin. Something I do with my garters as soon as they're big enough is to switch them to pinkies or fuzzies. The mice give the snake a more complete diet than the fish alone will, and you dont have to worry about Thiamin deficiency.

[Snaky]

Welcome and have fun here

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Hello, and welcome. Just tossing in my two cents about Snakes.
If you decide to feed minnows, guppies, or goldfish, make sure that you have a vitamin powder with vitamin B1 listed because the fish above can cause B1 deficiency which is harmful and ultimately fatal to your new snake. B1 is also called Thiamin. Something I do with my garters as soon as they're big enough is to switch them to pinkies or fuzzies. The mice give the snake a more complete diet than the fish alone will, and you dont have to worry about Thiamin deficiency.

I am not sure if anyone else saw this post, but I did, and I need to point out that it contains some bad information.

Guppies do not contain thiaminase, and are 100% safe for the snake.

Goldfish, on no circumstance ever, should ever, ever be fed to your garter snake, because no amount of vitamin powders will help, because Thiaminase blocks the absorption, so nothing gets absorbed even if the supplement is there.

Rosies should only be fed very sparingly at the MOST, but I recommend not using them at all, because they too contain thiaminase, just to a lesser extent.

using mice from the start is a good idea, but only as part of a balanced and thiaminase-free diet. Feeding pinkes one week, and goldfish the next week will still get you a very sick snake in the long run.. because no amount of supplement can cancel out the harmful effects of thiaminase.

Hope this helps some... I am glad you are so taken by your new garter, and welcome to the forum!!!!