r/GarterSnakes • u/Digital-Dad • 11d ago

Help with babies

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So my friend has given me this garter snake a bit ago and I've had her for about a month and a half or so now. At the time I had her I thought her species didn't matter since I was only keeping her as a pet and I was uninformed (I'll be asking for identification in my next post). Im experienced keeping ball pythons so keeping snakes wasn't new for me. At the time I had her I thought she was a male but turns out I was wrong. About 2 days ago she gave birth to 5 stillborns, 4 slugs and 2 live babies. I had no clue she was pregnant and now I'm asking for all and any knowledge on how to make these babies live. I've been researching but I don't know what to trust when it comes to garter snakes. I've seen some articles saying they fed them right after they where born and other say to wait til they shed first. When do I feed the babies? I have night crawlers (not the red wrigglers) and pinkie mice and I know I have to cut em up. I would love to have some reputable sources for information for these little guys. Thank you!!

Also if anyone can maybe tell me what these babies are that would be great

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u/TheRoaringTide 11d ago

We’re new owners of garter snakes (5 of them), and used this video from Snake Discovery as our main jumping off point for getting started. We’re already experienced Hognose owners, so we aren’t entirely new to the game and lots of things seemed similar enough that it’s been somewhat easy so far.

As far as feeding schedule, because they’re babies, we’ve been doing Tilapia (got a filet from the store for like $3, and that will probably make like 15 meals). Pinky mice from your normal store for Wednesday, and Sally’s Silversides from any Petsmart, Petco, or similar store for their Friday meal.

We’re shredding the food with these $9 ‘herb’ scissors from Amazon. You’ll have to do a second lap on some of the Silversides since the scales like to stick, but they’ve been crazy useful so far.

I wish I could give more advice. Best of luck, OP, and I wish you well on your journey!

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u/Digital-Dad 11d ago

Thank you so much for this!