r/GarterSnakes

Bonus 👅 pic

Born on mother's day, first time mom delivered 24 babies, 2 of them were still born. But the rest have had their first meals and doing great so far. These are Radix, Plains Garter snakes. We have 13 normal and 7 morphs. It's too soon to tell for sure but I thought I saw one with blue stripes. That was my goal. I really wanted one of the Blu black axanthic. The rest are black and white axanthic and melanistic babies l.

So after trying multiple different food items, Damocles only accepts slugs(cultivated from main enclosure, technically) and earthworms. I am concerned about his nutrient intake, especially with the deformities he has. I’ve been adding calcium powder to about every other meal (mainly nightcrawlers), but I am not sure if this is enough or even covers everything he needs.

Is this enough?

Additional, I am thinking of trying to taking him to the vet to get him checked out, as he is technically a wild caught rescue. I can do a parasite screening for nematodes myself, but what else should I ask them to screen for, if I do take him? Also considering if having an MRI or an X-ray taken in the area where he is deformed would be a good idea, as I have no idea what is going on there…

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✨snek tax✨

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So far the food items he has refused:

- pinky mice chunks

- quail chunks

- fish chunks

- live medium insects (did as an experiment, probably won’t try again)

Items I have not tried:

- chicken heart (I can’t remember if I did)

- chicken liver

- live fish

- live rodent (will not be trying)

- frog (frozen-thawed)

I will be retrying the already offered food items again on occasion, but I am open to additional food suggestions. I am currently trying to find food grade frog legs to see if he’ll eat those, as he probably would eat a small salamander given the chance.

I got this guy last winter. He was the size of a red wiggler worm when I got him. He was from a litter of 44. Now he is the size of a Canadian night crawler. I got him at the same time as a pair of Florida blue babies and boy is there a difference in size . he's an albino Radix, plains Garter Snake. He is het for Black and white axanthic, melanistic and PH for Blu black axanthic. I'm hoping he grows enough to breed next year. I have a female with all the same hets .