Baby Snake Wont Eat! Help!

[guppy2002]

you know that baby snake i rescued- sort of? hes still alive!

and doing pretty well i must say.

(it is a him. his name is Ribbon)
alls well, except 1 thing..... he wont eat. ive tried EVERYTHING!!! i put crickets in his cage.i even hold them up to his face with tweasers!i  also did that with small earthworms and woodlice. i even put him in a smallish container with food of all sorts!am i doing something wrong???
 
ps. he is a garter snake. about 6 in long
any help  is GREATLY  appreciated! 

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

Maybe mealworms. Leave some ver very very small pinhead crickets and extra small mealworms in his enclosure. Just put some potatoe and a small peice of lettuce for them.

 

[stanleo]

Are you sure that it is a garter snake? When i was young we always called any smallish green snake in Ohio a garter snake and now I know better. MOst of the snakes I was catching are actually queen snakes. They feed exclusively on crayfish. If you can, find some small crayfish in a creek or pond and see if he will eat those. They only eat them after the crayfish has molted.
 
Plus there are several subspecies of garter snakes and some of those are quite specialized. The Ribbon snake for example eat frogs. Some species will also eat frog or fish eggs. Some eat only fish. You can try slugs as well. Maybe post a pic to see if you can get a more accurate ID on the species.
 
Good luck.

 

[simonas]

one thing with snakes is they often dont eat for substantial amounts of time however my experience is with larger snakes where I didnt worry so much, you need to get an accurate ID of the snake and cater for its specialized needs. Try RFUK  a good reptile site for the ID

 

[Chad]

Having kept snakes I can say that simonas reply is exactly what I was first thinking. It's likely the snake simply isn't hungry. Before a molt, and at certain time of the year, my snake would not eat for long periods of time. once it got full grown it would go three months out of the year without a meal. I would place the mice in the cage and they would run around happily being ignored. Since you can't leave them in with the snake I ended up keeping mice!

 

[guppy2002]

i have pictures on my other post in the reptile section. and i am almost sure that it is a garter snake. i also read that baby garter snakes eat twice a week.is this not true?

 

[stanleo]

Baby snakes do need to eat more than adults do. Babies are also quite fragile in captivity. And after reading your other post about this little guy I am worried that the damage is making him not want to eat. It is possible that he will heal up and start eating. I would try different types of food. Slugs, grasshoppers, crickets, worms, even baby mice. You can try them alive and dead. Make sure that there is a hiding spot for him and don't mess with him too much.
 
That does look like a common garter snake to me. That's all I got for advice though. Good luck.

 

[MBOU]

Quite likely because the poor snake has severe internal damage and potentially a broken spine in several places?
 
A stressed snake (one going from wild to captive) often wont eat... let alone a stressed snake + severe injuries.... its not a shocker it wouldn't eat if it looks like it did in last photos... poor mite
 
How on earth one stands on a snake of any size I don't know!! But then again... in UK it would be more of a shock lol!

 

[guppy2002]

the little guy is actually doing better. most of the bends are straightening out. except the big one closest to his head. i leave him in the dark most of the time.is that bad?

 

[Chad]

Snakes love the dark and many are nocturnal. However I've found they like to have a cycle of day and night. I seemed to get the most night activity from my snake when there was also day time in the habitat. But it's not bad and won't harm the snake to leave him in mostly darkness.

 

[Skal]

Well if he is a garter snake he/she should be able to eat goldfish, Rosie minnows, live mice(generally pinkies), and a number of other foods like meal worms.  He will need a big water-not too big-dish because garters love water and eat primarily fish.  Here are some links to help.  Sometimes snakes just don't want to eat for a week or two it's what they do.   Some snakes will not eat for months do to hibernation (even captive in the house snakes).
 
http/www.wikihow.com/Take-Care-of-a-Garter-Snake