Very small garter not feeding

[whiffin]

Sorry to post about garter snakes, but I thought as I'm a mamber here ...
My mate has a garter snake, got it in August. It ate fine, was very well but stopped in the winter.

He though he ate again, but I'm not so sure. He's now very week (months later) and will not eat at all.

It is bound to be the time to force feed - you can see he'll be dting shortly. He eats (or ate) cod, which I can't 'brain'.

He's VERY small (fit inside a pencil). His skin looks as if he's had a bad shed, but his head is clear.

We've bathed, and need to forcefeed him.

How do we with cod?

Many thanks

 

[DAND]

Have you tried worms or guppies?

 

[Robertk]

Myself and my brothers used to have and breed garters.Luckily we never had any trouble feeding, they`re much easier to get feeding than corns IMO.We always fed the babies worms like Dand recommends and they`d eat them up as quick as possible.If you`ve not tried them before you should give it a go.Being able to feed them worms straight from the garden`s a great advantage over corns.I hope it works out .

 

[Robertk]

I was re-reading your post.You say the snake did eat before, that it`s very weak now and not shedding properly.Have you considered the possibility of mites.That can be devastaing for snakes if it`s a bad enough infestation that goes unchecked.Try and have a look in your snakes mouth, if it`s much paler than it should be it could be that your snakes anaemic which can happen with mite infestations.If so your snake may be to weak to eat or sometimes even to weak to drink leading to dehydration aswell.Don`t mean to be alarmist but just thought i`d mention it so you could rule it out.

 

[Sisuitl]

First, check your temperatures and setup. If it's not warm enough he won't be hungry.

Second, check your lighting. Garters are diurnal and the appetites are influenced by how many hours of daylight they get. If he's still getting "winter hours" then you need to increase his light.

Third, try some different food items. Cod by itself isn't a good long term source of food for garters. It has incomplete nutrition. Try getting some baby guppies or white cloud mountain minnows from a pet store (or whichever non-goldfish feeder fish they have) . You can try feeding him these in a water dish, or see if he will eat them on a flat surface out of water. You can also offer some small earthworms (but NOT the red angleworms) or little garden slugs. Some garters will eat pinky mice. You can try braining a pink, warming it up, and leaving it in a deli cup with him over night. If he's too little, just cut off the pink's head and offer him that.

Fourth, he may have parasites that are affecting his weight and appetite. In this case he should see a vet to get the proper meds.

Lastly, if you do decide to force feed him, be very careful. The stress of force feeding can kill a sick or weak snake and there is a risk of tearing the lining of the throat, so it is only to be used as a last resort. If you do, hold him very gently and carefully press a piece of food against his mouth until he opens it. Be very gentle and patient here! When he opens his mouth, place the food inside his mouth, but do not push it down his throat. Then carefully set him down in a quiet warm secluded cage. Generally they will finish swallowing the food on their own.

What type of setup is the garter in? Hopefully this helps, let us know how he does. Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions.