2020 Plains Garter Litters

[richardhind1972]

They look awsome, glad they all eating

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[Sonny1318]

Awesome thanks for sharing, great job. Best of luck!

[Caitlin]

What a beautiful little bunch! But you're right - the stripes on the one baby nearly glow.

[CloudtheBoa]

The runt swallowed on his own!!!! This is a huge step, I hope he can keep this up, and then get to the point I don’t have to assist feed either.


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[richardhind1972]

That's great news

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[CloudtheBoa]

The runt is continuing to swallow on his own and do well. He's slowly starting to fill out and look like his littermates, though he's still very tiny. Now that he's swallowing on his own, I'm feeding him more per sitting, and moving him out to every 2 days.

I've also learned how to pop, and the majority are still eating ASF parts, so I'm going to separate the ASF eaters and may start making them available soon. I'll keep the pickier eaters back with my holdbacks until I get them switched.

[CloudtheBoa]

I think I’m going to start selling babies here soon. Separate all the picky eaters, and the few that won’t eat ASF (as well as holdbacks), and sell the rest. Clear a few out.

I still have 5 that refuse to eat anything other than live fish, I’m not sure how to get them eating other food. I’ve tried assist feeding but they’re way stronger than the runt and just spit it back out, and I can’t get force feeding to work either. It’s very difficult to find feeder fish small enough for them, especially anything that’s thiaminase free and not $3 each. There is a feeder guppy supplier but they’re out of guppies so I’ll have to try them next week. I’m worried they’re going to starve. I usually get enough for 2 feedings at a time because I can’t feed the fish or set up a tank for them to survive long term, but the last 2 times I went looking for feeders nobody has had any.

Next time I can get feeders I’ll keep going at the scenting bit, but I expect that to be a long difficult road. Took me 3 months to get Draco off guppies when I first got him.


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[CloudtheBoa]

Unfortunately food did not come soon enough for 2 of the live fish eating babies. I tried force feeding them, scenting, everything I could think of, but none of it worked. The runt is still going strong, however. Still not eating on its own, and it’s gotten to the point it’s strong enough to spit food back out so I’m back to massaging food down its throat.

I’m getting ready to feed the babies again today, and hopefully that means just 2 will need guppies this time. Most everyone else will eat worms even if they aren’t taking ASF pieces yet.


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[CloudtheBoa]

One of the live fish eating babies accidentally grabbed a worm last time, and one of the fish eaters this time actually ate everything in its cup!!! Most of the other fish-eaters have also eaten at least either the worm pieces or the ASF piece given to them. So maybe I can stop buying live fish soon.

My holdback continues to be finicky, but is nice and chunky and growing quick. Every other feeding it just doesn’t eat, but every time it does eat it eats everything in front of it.


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[Caitlin]

I'm so sorry you lost a couple of little ones; it's so hard when all you want them to do is just eat. It sounds like things are going fine with the others, which is great. Garters seem to be enjoying a well-deserved uptick in popularity, so I'm sure you'll have a good response when you are ready to sell.