Garter Snake Care Sheet:
HOUSING: Even though they are small, Garter Snakes are very active so a good enclosure size would be their length in length then half their length in width, bigger is always better but make sure that the enclosure is very secure they are masters of escaping.
SUBSTRATE: I use paper towels for they are the easiest to keep clean, they cannot be indigested, and they are cheap. Other substrates that can be used are newspaper, astroturf, wood chips, wood bark, and aspen.
HEATING: During the day, one side should be around 80F-85F and the other side should be unheated around 75F. During the night, temperatures should not drop below 65F for northern species and 75F for souther species.
FEEDING: Usual food items- earthworms (no "red wigglers"), whole feeder fish (no goldfish or others containing thiaminase) Ok fish include- Flathead minnows/Rosy Red Minnows, Platies, and Guppies, Fish fillets cut up into strips (Salmon, Trout, Bass, Pike, Perch), Mice, and amphibians(I would not feed these as they are full of parasites). It is also important that you give variety examples: 50% mice 50% fish, 25% earthworms 25% mice 50%, or something like that, i do 50% salmon strips (with added calcium) and 50% mice.
THIAMINASE PROBLEMS: Some fish contain an enzyme that's called thiaminase. This enzyme dissolves vitamine B1 ( also called thiamine ). So be carefull when you feed your garter fish that contains thiaminase or he will get a lack of vitamine B1, which can lead eventually to death if not treated.
BRUMATION:
Sometimes brumation (hibernation) is necessary to make snakes breed, also needed around winter some snakes will automatically go off feed because their internal clock says its time to brumate
Steps of Brumation
1.) Stop feeding for 2-3 weeks if this is not done the food
still inside them will ferment. While doing this increase the number of
hours of darkness and decrease the number of light hours, for example
instead of giving them 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness give
them 10 hours of light and 14 hours of darkness work this down until
they are in darkness completely, after this i take them put them in a
brown trash bag or container of sorts and put it in a pitch black
place, i then clean out their brumation enclosure. I let mine sit in
their clean brumation enclosures with pitch darkness for 2 days just to
get them settled. And don't worry to much about slowly changing the
light/darkness if you just drop it to dark it wont kill them it just
wont be as natural.
2.) Put them in their clean brumation enclosure and drop the temperature down to around 60-65f for a week.
3.) Drop them down to their final brumation temperature i keep
mine at 40-45f it is okay to keep them anywhere from 40-55f just make
sure the temperature does not very a lot i prefer keeping mine at a
lower temperature because they do not lose as much weight, a natural
brumation time would be 3 months this is what i recommend if you are
trying to breed your snakes though many breeders have had success with
only 2 months, also if you are just brumating to make your snake eat
again i would suggest 2 months. You should brumate according to when
they are going to wake up (if you can) they should wake up sometime
around jan/feb/march. And remember to change their water and check on
them every week but do not hold them.
4. At the end of brumation to bring them back you do steps
1,2,3 again backwards, also when breeding it is suggested that you
bring back up the male first because if you dont he might just be
interested in the female and not want to eat. The male will usually
follow the female everywhere and try to mate with her and if he doesnt
he most likely will after the female sheds (which they always do after
brumation)
Some Notes:
Make sure they are not skinny and in good health. (there are exceptions such as ones that wont eat)
I would not recommend brumating anything smaller than 16 inches for the purpose of breeding because they are more likely to die
Brumating is a natural part of a snakes life and some people
feel that you should do it even if you are not breeding or it does not
go off food
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