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What I will do in this article is shed a little light on the complexity and variation in garter snakes’ diets, both in the wild and in captivity. Disturbed B.C. Garter snakes have been known to eat slugs and leeches in the wild. The Garter snakes are small to medium in size and they like to eat small animals and birds like, earthworms, frog eggs, small rodents, small fish, slugs, leeches, lizards, and amphibians. Rat pups are another possibility, especially for large female garter snakes. During its first winter with me I fed it thawed bait minnows, which, it turned out, contained the thiaminase enzyme. And another significant advantage: garter snake feces are less watery and less smelly! Garter Snakes Garter Snakes Diet. Some juveniles are shy and prefer to … Generally speaking, garter snakes are reasonably easy to feed, and yet the biggest problem in garter snake care is providing them with a healthy diet. A couple of commercial snake diets are on the market, one in the form of sausages and one that is specifically marketed as garter snake food. It will be a while before the snakes are big enough to eat a mouse whole, though. Remember that some species don’t eat certain things — ribbon snakes don’t eat worms, for example. But we have to be careful about saying that they will eat anything. There are some concerns about parasite transmission with earthworms as well, and worms collected from roads, sidewalks and golf courses during rainstorms, while convenient, may contain toxins. This is not a problem with live fish or live worms, but worm pieces (if the snake is very small), fish fillet or frozen/thawed mice may hold no interest for them. Many keepers rely on fish because it’s very easy to find, and because it’s easier to control parasites with freezing. I have used a combination of powdered calcium, vitamin B1 (as insurance against vitamin B1 deficiency) and vitamin D3 (to help metabolize the calcium). The problem is that it’s not clear which fish they are. Calcium deficient. Finally, the snake might be too nervous to eat — especially with you watching it. In that case you have little choice but to feed it live food (fish and earthworms) and hope that it settles down enough at some point that you can switch it to something healthier and safer. A garter snake’s diet does not have to be a cause for concern, as long as you know the pros and cons of each food item. Con: Heavy parasite loads. While there may not be anything conspicuously wrong with them, they are not cheap and offer no special advantages over natural food. Most garters will eat fish. It’s just that the generalists are found in many different kinds of habitat, and so have developed a wide range of prey preferences. Obviously knowing about the habitat and diet in the wild of the species in question is essential. What about fish? In the wild Garter snakes eat a variety of prey, including amphibians, earthworms, fish and small rodents. Some garter snake species won’t normally eat earthworms, such as ribbon snakes and some western aquatic species. Beane said “some larger prey may be dragged and chewed until killed by trauma.” How often you feed your snake depends on what you feed it, and how much depends on the size of the snake. Earthworms are a somewhat better bet, though there are some concerns about parasite transmission with them as well. Strips are broken off as needed. As a result, I do not recommend using live fish unless the snake will not eat anything else, and I recommend against purchasing garter snakes that will only eat live fish if you can. We describe size-related variation and sexual variation in the diet of T. eques through analysis of 262 samples of identifiable stomach contents in snakes from 23 locations on the Mexican Plateau. I once cut one in half and fed one to one of my baby eastern garters. Worms collected from your garden (“dew worms”) will be eaten with particular enthusiasm, and nightcrawlers (Lumbricus terrestris) purchased at a bait store will also suffice. Their prey varies based on where they live and how large they are. If ocean perch is fine, then other commercially-available whitefish, like catfish or snapper, are probably all right, too. The key thing to remember is never to use live mice. In terms of buying feeder fish at pet stores, using feeder guppies for baby snakes is probably all right, but from what I’ve heard about feeder goldfish, they’re best avoided as a food source. Male and female skin pheromones are so different as to be immediately distinguishable. This quirk in their husbandry may explain why captives often fail to live as long as might be expected. Eventually they will eat unscented mice, often very enthusiastically. Diet. Due to their predominately aquatic lifestyle, giant garter snakes prey upon fish, frogs, and tadpoles. Certain kinds of live fish can pose additional risks. Wild garter snakes eat a varied diet containing worms, amphibians, fish, eggs, snails, and rodents. the San Francisco garter snake eats primarily small frogs; the coastal garter snake eats principally slugs; the Santa Cruz garter snake eats preferentially minute fish … There are two main variants that … Either that, or use liquid calcium supplements, available at pet stores. This makes some of these species very easy to feed in captivity. Garter Snake’s Diet. Animals that prey on the common garter snake include large fish (such as bass and catfish), American bullfrogs, common snapping turtles, larger snakes, hawks, raccoons, foxes, wild turkeys, and domestic cats and dogs. A website for garter snake enthusiasts, Gartersnake.info provides information on every species of garter snake, including articles, answers to your questions, and the most comprehensive guide to keeping them in captivity on the web. It’s true that wild garter snakes eat frogs and toads all the time, but they’re (a) used to it and (b) rife with parasites themselves. But it’s more complicated than that. Results in watery feces. GARTER SNAKE CARE SHEET DIET Water A dish must be provided for drinking, filled with clean, fresh water, replaced at least daily. The contents of this site are copyright © their respective authors and are subject to a Creative Commons Licence. In a perfect world this would make up the bulk of their diets. In the wild, most adult garter snakes feed preferentially on frogs and toads. This makes the western terrestrial garter snake an excellent example of polyphagism. Then there’s the matter of the parasites that wild-caught frogs could transmit to your snake (though freezing them first would ameliorate this). It’s also the most important, because garter snake diets are tricky, and feeding your snake the wrong kind of food can have serious — even fatal — consequences. Some fish carry an enzyme that leads to a serious vitamin deficiency. A baby snake should get two or three small earthworms collected from the garden, or one-quarter to one-third of a large bait store nightcrawler, or a few feeder guppies, or one large feeder platy, or one-quarter to one-half of a pinky mouse. Most adult garters feed preferentially on anurans, and in an ideal situation this would make up the bulk of their diets. References. Garter snakes are known predators. You may think of a snake swallowing a mouse whole and alive, but not all snakes eat their food live. But laboratory tests have shown that Butler’s Garters are also willing to take fish and amphibians. Garter snake pictures have been clicked from several angles to show its beauty. Your pet garter snake won’t necessarily have the same resistance as a wild garter snake whose immune system has been hardened by constant exposure. They can find other snakes by following their pheromone-scented trails. The worms should be rinsed clean before being offered to the garter. This website is an associate of Amazon.com. The main advantage of using mice is that they are more nutritious than fish or worms: they do not require supplementation and there is no risk of a thiamin deficiency. In the wild, most garter snakes are opportunistic feeders…even road-killed frogs are taken on occasion (please see Part I). Some have expressed concerns that a diet of mice alone may be too rich for garters, but Rossi and Rossi (1995) report that garters have been fed mice with no apparent ill effects for years. Pinky rats may be useful in cases where the snake doesn’t like eating furry food: i.e., it’s big enough to eat fuzzies or hoppers, but prefers to eat pinkies. They feed on earthworms, fish, slugs, and small amphibians, including the larvae of salamanders. The diet of Thamnophis elegans relies heavily on the prey available in the environment, and thus varies due to geographical differences. But Alan Francis has come up with a recipe for garter food that has caught many hobbyists’ attention: it involves putting whole trout in the blender, mixing it with gelatin, and freezing the mixture. It’s no surprise that smaller snakes can only handle smaller prey, but it also appears that some garter snakes’ preferences change as they grow. Trout are also fine, but too big for anything but the big, nasty aquatic garters. Garter snakes are known for eating a variety of endothermic prey, such as amphibians (especially frogs and toads), fish, earthworms, and even slugs and leeches. If you’re using a different kind of cage bedding, you’ll want to ensure that it doesn’t get stuck to the food. Do not feed your snake every day or it will become obese. In that case you may have to offer the food on tongs, hemostats or tweezers, wiggling it around to simulate motion and stimulate the snake. See the section on keeping more than one snake in the same cage to learn how to deal with it. Boulenger GA (1893). Pet stores rarely stock frogs as a food source. It’s harder to overfeed on a pure earthworm diet, but easier on a pure mouse diet, because mice are more nutritious than worms. Fish fillet is very convenient, because it can be bought frozen at the supermarket, but it’s not complete nutrition: a garter that lives on fish strips misses out on the nutrients found in bone, fish guts, heads, eyeballs and so forth, so periodic calcium and vitamin supplementation will be necessary. It may be a sign that you should hibernate (or, to be more technically correct, brumate) your snake. Worms are also deficient in calcium, though there is some debate about whether this is a cause for concern; as a precaution, if your garter’s diet is mostly worm-based, supplement it periodically with calcium. That, at least, is what I do for my own garters; other garter keepers may have their own opinions. It’s hosted by DreamHost and powered by Movable Type. Not only that, but species that don’t normally eat mice or fish in the wild can often be traine… Garter snakes, commonly known as ‘garden snakes’, belong to the family Colubridae. In fact, the least problematic food for a garter snake is mice. Rub a pinky or fuzzy mouse with fish or earthworm to transfer the scent to the mouse. Health food stores will have these in tablet form, which you can crush; pet stores will carry powdered calcium supplements. This species feeds primarily on fish and amphibians. Results in watery, smelly feces. While this snake is just as big as other garter snakes that do eat mice, it refuses to eat even fish-scented mice in captivity. In a perfect world this would make up the bulk of their diets. Disclaimer, privacy info. So far, I haven’t encountered any problems that I’ve been able to attribute to earthworms. The worst-case scenario is when a snake needs its food to move but cannot eat in front of you — in other words, you can’t tease-feed it. Like other garter snakes, the giant garter snake can release a foul-smelling musk from its cloaca if threatened or disturbed. But what does a complete diet involve? 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