So.. I guess I'll be putting my snake back outside...?

[kage no neko]

Last year my boyfriend caught me two garter snakes, apparently a male and a female. And they had 3 babies.

Now... the male's decided he doesn't want to eat. This is the second week in a row he's refused his food. I've even left him alone with it for a while, so there was nothing at all to scare him. Tried wiggling it. Tried scratching under it (to give it vibrations). Even tried wiggling it on top of his head (this had worked before).
Last time he did this, it was time for him to brumate... But I have nowhere cold (yet warm) enough for him to try that again.

So I was thinking... maybe I'll just put him back outside. I mean, he was born out there, he survived just fine until I got him...
Do you agree, do you think it'll be best for him? I can't spend enough time digging up worms for him, he's much too big now. Last year he was just able to eat pinkies, and now he's able to eat whole fuzzies (and the female is up to whole mice, and still wanting more).  

[Cowgirl-with-heart]

if its worms you need,you can BUY worms,at like bimart and walmart I think....but youll prolly need to release most of them eventually so they dont die (the worms I mean)  

[Shanna66]

if after a year in your care he has stopped eating i would assume its a health issue more than stress from being caught. i think you should take him to the vet before you decide wether or not to set him loose

and at this point he is probably very used to getting prekilled food so if you do plan on setting him free make sure he can handle live prey  

[kage no neko]

Last time I assumed it was due to me trying to feed them again too early. I usually go about 10 days in between feeding and that time it was only like 6 days. One of the babies refused to eat also. But all of them ate this time...

I'll look into buying him some night crawlers. If he refuses to eat those also... then I'll take him to the vet. Though I have no clue where to take him. I had a hard enough time finding a decent avian vet in this stupid city..
And I might not have to put the worms outside eventually... if the baby snakes are big enough for night crawlers too, they'll all get eaten. Everyone I have LOVES worms.  

[Shanna66]

kage no neko

Last time I assumed it was due to me trying to feed them again too early. I usually go about 10 days in between feeding and that time it was only like 6 days. One of the babies refused to eat also. But all of them ate this time...

I'll look into buying him some night crawlers. If he refuses to eat those also... then I'll take him to the vet. Though I have no clue where to take him. I had a hard enough time finding a decent avian vet in this stupid city..
And I might not have to put the worms outside eventually... if the baby snakes are big enough for night crawlers too, they'll all get eaten. Everyone I have LOVES worms.

worms are full of parasites. i would not give them to any animal i was keeping as a pet. even th worms you buy at the store are usually wild caight. im not sure if anyone actually breeds worms

how big are the baby snakes? a day old pinky mouse might be small enough for them  

[kage no neko]

Shanna66

kage no neko

Last time I assumed it was due to me trying to feed them again too early. I usually go about 10 days in between feeding and that time it was only like 6 days. One of the babies refused to eat also. But all of them ate this time...

I'll look into buying him some night crawlers. If he refuses to eat those also... then I'll take him to the vet. Though I have no clue where to take him. I had a hard enough time finding a decent avian vet in this stupid city..
And I might not have to put the worms outside eventually... if the baby snakes are big enough for night crawlers too, they'll all get eaten. Everyone I have LOVES worms.

worms are full of parasites. i would not give them to any animal i was keeping as a pet. even th worms you buy at the store are usually wild caight. im not sure if anyone actually breeds worms

how big are the baby snakes? a day old pinky mouse might be small enough for them

The baby snakes are finally big enough to eat a pinky. Before that, I was having to cut the pinkies up into slices so they could eat them. But I've had them on pinkies most of their lives, after I gave into the idea of cutting up baby mice..

And they naturally eat things like worms and slugs in the wild. Given that they were found in my backyard, I'm certain they'd eaten stuff from my backyard before they were caught, lol.

Part of my problem is... he was working on eating the pinky. He had it in his mouth and was eating it. Then my boyfriend walked in and spooked him and he spit it out and refused to touch it since. He didn't mean to spook him, he just walked in. He's a very shy snake.  

[Shanna66]

kage no neko

Shanna66

kage no neko

Last time I assumed it was due to me trying to feed them again too early. I usually go about 10 days in between feeding and that time it was only like 6 days. One of the babies refused to eat also. But all of them ate this time...

I'll look into buying him some night crawlers. If he refuses to eat those also... then I'll take him to the vet. Though I have no clue where to take him. I had a hard enough time finding a decent avian vet in this stupid city..
And I might not have to put the worms outside eventually... if the baby snakes are big enough for night crawlers too, they'll all get eaten. Everyone I have LOVES worms.

worms are full of parasites. i would not give them to any animal i was keeping as a pet. even th worms you buy at the store are usually wild caight. im not sure if anyone actually breeds worms

how big are the baby snakes? a day old pinky mouse might be small enough for them

The baby snakes are finally big enough to eat a pinky. Before that, I was having to cut the pinkies up into slices so they could eat them. But I've had them on pinkies most of their lives, after I gave into the idea of cutting up baby mice..

And they naturally eat things like worms and slugs in the wild. Given that they were found in my backyard, I'm certain they'd eaten stuff from my backyard before they were caught, lol.

Part of my problem is... he was working on eating the pinky. He had it in his mouth and was eating it. Then my boyfriend walked in and spooked him and he spit it out and refused to touch it since. He didn't mean to spook him, he just walked in. He's a very shy snake.

yes but thats in the wild, most of the time wild animals are filled with parasites. its our job as pet owners to make sure they have the best diets possable even if that means not feeding them things they would eat in the wild. its the same reason why you should feel prekilled food to a snake instead of live like they would find in the wild  

[kage no neko]

Shanna66

kage no neko

Shanna66

kage no neko

Last time I assumed it was due to me trying to feed them again too early. I usually go about 10 days in between feeding and that time it was only like 6 days. One of the babies refused to eat also. But all of them ate this time...

I'll look into buying him some night crawlers. If he refuses to eat those also... then I'll take him to the vet. Though I have no clue where to take him. I had a hard enough time finding a decent avian vet in this stupid city..
And I might not have to put the worms outside eventually... if the baby snakes are big enough for night crawlers too, they'll all get eaten. Everyone I have LOVES worms.

worms are full of parasites. i would not give them to any animal i was keeping as a pet. even th worms you buy at the store are usually wild caight. im not sure if anyone actually breeds worms

how big are the baby snakes? a day old pinky mouse might be small enough for them

The baby snakes are finally big enough to eat a pinky. Before that, I was having to cut the pinkies up into slices so they could eat them. But I've had them on pinkies most of their lives, after I gave into the idea of cutting up baby mice..

And they naturally eat things like worms and slugs in the wild. Given that they were found in my backyard, I'm certain they'd eaten stuff from my backyard before they were caught, lol.

Part of my problem is... he was working on eating the pinky. He had it in his mouth and was eating it. Then my boyfriend walked in and spooked him and he spit it out and refused to touch it since. He didn't mean to spook him, he just walked in. He's a very shy snake.

yes but thats in the wild, most of the time wild animals are filled with parasites. its our job as pet owners to make sure they have the best diets possable even if that means not feeding them things they would eat in the wild. its the same reason why you should feel prekilled food to a snake instead of live like they would find in the wild

For the most part, I do feed them prekilled food. But given that he's not eating it, I want to try something that he might be more inclined to eat.  

[Shanna66]

kage no neko

Shanna66

kage no neko

Shanna66

kage no neko

Last time I assumed it was due to me trying to feed them again too early. I usually go about 10 days in between feeding and that time it was only like 6 days. One of the babies refused to eat also. But all of them ate this time...

I'll look into buying him some night crawlers. If he refuses to eat those also... then I'll take him to the vet. Though I have no clue where to take him. I had a hard enough time finding a decent avian vet in this stupid city..
And I might not have to put the worms outside eventually... if the baby snakes are big enough for night crawlers too, they'll all get eaten. Everyone I have LOVES worms.

worms are full of parasites. i would not give them to any animal i was keeping as a pet. even th worms you buy at the store are usually wild caight. im not sure if anyone actually breeds worms

how big are the baby snakes? a day old pinky mouse might be small enough for them

The baby snakes are finally big enough to eat a pinky. Before that, I was having to cut the pinkies up into slices so they could eat them. But I've had them on pinkies most of their lives, after I gave into the idea of cutting up baby mice..

And they naturally eat things like worms and slugs in the wild. Given that they were found in my backyard, I'm certain they'd eaten stuff from my backyard before they were caught, lol.

Part of my problem is... he was working on eating the pinky. He had it in his mouth and was eating it. Then my boyfriend walked in and spooked him and he spit it out and refused to touch it since. He didn't mean to spook him, he just walked in. He's a very shy snake.

yes but thats in the wild, most of the time wild animals are filled with parasites. its our job as pet owners to make sure they have the best diets possable even if that means not feeding them things they would eat in the wild. its the same reason why you should feel prekilled food to a snake instead of live like they would find in the wild

For the most part, I do feed them prekilled food. But given that he's not eating it, I want to try something that he might be more inclined to eat.

try a live pinky or fuzzy then, or if he is big enough maybe a rat pinky or fuzzy. when going from prekilled to live i think you should try something that cant fight back at first just to make sure he knows how to strike