Quote Originally Posted by Skiploder View Post
Looks like an Eastern Ribbon Snake.

As to your questions:

(1) Depends on the individual snake - they are more flightly and jumpy than garters (as a rule).

(2) You can get them acclimated to handling.

(3) You can feed them pinky mice. Or better yet, buy whole silversides from a tropical fish store (they sell them frozen in bags).

Do not feed them goldfish or any other fish high in thiaminase. Long term feeding of fish high in thiaminase to thamnophis has been linked to neurological issues. Goldfish tend to be also rife with parasites and are regularly treating prophylactically for bacterial infections with water-bourne medications.
Thank you for the reply. I did some of my own research and had read about how bad goldfish can be.

If I'm buying frozen feeder fish is there anything special I should know about thawing? I would assume since it's fish I don't need to warm them only thoroughly thaw.

Any feelings about guppies? They seem to be the prefered 'live' feeder fish on the sites I visited.