My New Garter Group

Ever since I lost Draco and Demigod, I've been on the lookout for more garters. Just lazily looking mostly. But the person who was caring for Draco, Demigod, and Bud offered to send me 3 Plains garters to help with their loss. I got 3 female Plains, 2 of which were gravid at the time of arriving. I've had them a little more than a month now, and there are no visible health issues.

The smallest one, Freya. She absolutely guzzles worms, and seems to enjoy silversides as well. I have yet to get her to take any ASF, but I'll keep trying.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ur.com/HSPYwV2
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https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ur.com/HSPYwV2

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Check out that iridescence!
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Leeloo, the middle child. She's the dullest one (in color) of the trio, but has a nice bold pattern. She is also the pickiest eater of the three, but I managed to get her to take an ASF finally. ;) No go on the silversides, and even earthworms I sometimes have an issue getting her to take. Maybe that will change now that she's clear of babies, but even right after birth I could only get her to take two small worms. These pics are of her in shed, but now that she's given birth, and once she eats a few good meals, I'll get some update pics.

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Summer, the largest of the 3, and subsequently probably the one with more babies in her. She is a beast with food, and took minimal encouraging to get onto ASF. It was as simple as heavily scenting an ASF with the worms, and then tonging both of them together. She accidentally grabbed the ASF, and then she'd take them unscented no problem. I have also gotten her to take silversides, though she's less fond of them than the worms and ASF. She has refused all types of food for the past 20 days, so I'm really hoping she pops soon. Leeloo refused food only once before she gave birth, and went less than 10 days between meals. But, I'm thinking Leeloo just has more babies and thus "ran out of room" quicker. Hopefully it's not a sign of anything worrisome.

Pic from arrival:
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Check out that baby bump. She's slightly bigger now.
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One of the females, Leeloo, gave birth sometime last night. She had 19 little babies, and I didn't find a single stillborn anywhere. I have yet to try to feed them, but I'll be attempting within the next few days. They're active and don't appear to have any defects from a cursory look, but I'll look closely at each individual once I start separating them out into their feeding containers.

Once the other female, Summer, gives birth, I'll post a separate thread to track their litters. :)

I also have a 1:2 2020 trio of poss het T+ Plains garters on the way that I'll post here once they're paid off and have arrived. I'm also considering still looking for checkereds, but I'll hold off for now before I make any more decisions.

I got my wild garter rehab to switch to frozen pinkies pretty easily (since worms don't have sufficient calcium) by thawing the pinky overnight in a tiny tupperware (or bag) in the fridge with a couple of worms. Then I took it out of the fridge and did the normal slow thaw. Wriggling the pinky with tongs to simulate movement and she took to it perfectly. I tend to give her a worm as dessert though. Now I don't have to scent them or wriggle them at all. Best of luck!!

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Originally Posted by Namea

I got my wild garter rehab to switch to frozen pinkies pretty easily (since worms don't have sufficient calcium) by thawing the pinky overnight in a tiny tupperware (or bag) in the fridge with a couple of worms. Then I took it out of the fridge and did the normal slow thaw. Wriggling the pinky with tongs to simulate movement and she took to it perfectly. I tend to give her a worm as dessert though. Now I don't have to scent them or wriggle them at all. Best of luck!!

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I've gotten 2 of the 3 adults to take f/t rodents, and have experience with picky snakes. I'm not too worried about Freya, I'm sure I'll get her there. I'm going to try her on some smaller ASF, too, and see if that helps. The other two are quite a bit bigger than her, and the hoppers may just be a tad intimidating.

The babies on the other hand, I have no clue how they're going to take to food, so we'll see. lol They're just too cute, I'm really looking forward to feeding day!

Plains garter babies are the best eaters 90% of my litters take to food a few days after birth. Best garter snake to raise up imo

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Originally Posted by royzft201

Plains garter babies are the best eaters 90% of my litters take to food a few days after birth. Best garter snake to raise up imo

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I started with worms. Only 6 ate immediately, but I got another 6 to eat setting them aside for awhile. The remaining 7 have yet to eat. I'll be trying those 7 again today, before I feed the others again I think. I'll be doing one more session of worms, and then I'll try on ASF parts. Still waiting on Summer to drop.

They are certainly exciting! So far this is my only experience with newborn snakes, let alone garters, so I have little to compare to. XD But they're all quite spunky and insanely cute, and once I get all of them eating, I can enjoy them even more.

Try guppies if available they go crazy for them. When the stubborn eaters just wont take worms that usually works.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by royzft201

Try guppies if available they go crazy for them. When the stubborn eaters just wont take worms that usually works.

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If ASF parts and silverside pieces don’t work I’ll try that. That should still be less than a week since they were born. I hear that rodent pieces can be the most successful from the start, so I’ll try that next. And I may consider guppies first before the silverside pieces if I can find them small enough, but I’m not sure I can. I was considering raising guppies in the future, but can’t do that where I live atm.


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Guppies just get the natural feeding frenzy going also hilarious watching them fish them up. Lots of fun

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Here are some updated pictures of Leeloo. :) Any baby updates will now be in the thread for their litter. I also have the new trio arriving next week, and I can post them here when they arrive.

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And here you can see that brown color she's got to her. Her stripe is very dull, but she has a pretty almost army green background. (She has a greenish tint to her that didn't show up well in the photos.)

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Awesome snakes! :gj: