Why isn't my garter snake eating very much?

Question

I have a garter snake that's a little over 2 years old. Over the past few weeks, she hasn't been eating as many feeder fish as she normally does. I usually feed her 12, but recently she's only been eating about 8. She hasn't shed in a while either. Could it be related to that? If so, should I just let her take her time, or is there something I should do? Are there any other possible causes?

Answer 1

depending on the weather. if it is to cold they won't eat. but if it is warm and she is still not eating try- uping her heat source, usually when the heat goes to low they slow down and not wanting to eat as much. try soaking her at least once a week and try to keep her temp at around 75-82. but you will know when she is getting to hot. the soaking will help her skin and the keeping warm will or should increase her eating. if all of this doesn't work than you might have to take her in to the vet because she might be sick and with snakes it is hard to know what they might have. good luck on that .

Answer 2

I’ve had some troubles getting the little monsters to start eating, and I think there were several reasons for this. For one thing, they’re too small for some of the more conveniently acquired food items, such as pinky mice or bait-store nightcrawlers. Some of them — my wandering garter snakes, for example — looked good and plump at birth, and weren’t hungry, probably due to retained egg yolk. Others had trouble recognizing what they were being offered as food, either because it didn’t move (they responded to live fish but ignored fish fillet and cut-up worms) or because they wanted to eat worms rather than fish or vice versa. Some baby garter snakes would eat anything I gave them; some were fussy; some refused everything I could find.

Using “natural” garter snake food is hard. When people think about garter snake food, they think fish, worms and frogs. We’ll leave aside frogs (i.e., tadpoles) for this article and focus on fish and worms, which are more easily obtained. Whole, live fish can be expensive and full of parasites; you need a lot of them and it’s hard to control how many each snake eats if you’re offering a dish full of fish to a cage full of snakes. Whole worms are too big for baby garters if you buy the big nightcrawlers from bait stores; small worms you collect out of the garden (or off the street when it rains — though that can’t be healthy, can it?) work just fine, and baby garters seem to love them, but it’s hard to get enough of them. And, as I mentioned before, baby garters don’t always recognize worm pieces or fish fillet as food.

Answer 3

Your snakes will develop a serious vitamin deficiency if you only feed them fish. They need much more protein & B-vitamins than the fish give them. Try nightcrawlers & different sized mice, live or frozen. I've raised two Eastern garters from birth to just under 4ft in three years. Other than during hibernation, they now eat mice readily & are healthy as horses.

Answer 4

because when they begin to shed and grow they dont have much of an appetite

Answer 5

they dont need to eat all the time, when they dont eat, they dont want to eat, they can go months with out eating sometime

Answer 6

i can't believe anyone would seriously ask this question. it's not hungry. look it up. it would be great if i could only go on line and ask a question,oh wait.

Answer 7

go to the vet and see if its sick but if its to much $$
than try making a potition!....