Unless you are feeding them on a diet made up largely of fish then its not needed. This is based on the theory that certain fish that contain thiaminase will cause a Vitamin B1 deficiency in garter snakes.

Its all a bit old news and I myself are not sure on how much of it is just bad science.

Basically, feed them rodents and sent the rodents if they are fussy about taking them. Just feed fish now and again as a change along with earthworms and anything else that they will eat.

 

Its all a bit old news and I myself are not sure on how much of it is just bad science.

Its true - back in 1986 I purchased a garter snake from a pet shop, and was told they could be fed on defrosted whitebait. back then we didn't have the internet or forums so gathering info was not as easy as it was today, and eventually the B1 deficiency caused the snake to convulse, loose orientation and required vitamin injections. The snake died a few weeks later.

My advice would be to stay away from fish diet altogether. Try to wean it onto mice. Mine loved big juicy earthworms, but you need to make sure the area you get them from is clear of chemicals like weed killer etc.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. Im finding it very hard to get him to eat anything else other than fish. I've scented earth worms and pinkies with fish but seems smart enough to tell that it's not actually fish, do you have any advice on what i could try to stop him from being so stubborn against anything but fish? He's on white bait and rainbow trout at the moment.

 

Rainbow trout don't contain thiaminase so you should be find feeding that...not sure about the whitebait. If you're really worried you can dust the fish with Thiamin (Vitamin B1, available from health stores)..that's what I did when my garters were feeding on smelt, although it's probably better to get them onto a rodent diet. I'm not sure how you're scenting but what I do, is cut up the smelt into small pieces and gradully add small cut up pieces of pinky mouse. I gradually decrease the amount of smelt and increase the pinky pieces until such time that they're feeding exclusively on mouse pieces.

Martin

 

Whitebait do contain thiaminase, although warming the fish at 70C destroys thiaminase but it may then not be accepted by the garter snake.

Martin's suggestion sound good to get the snake onto a rodent diet. An alternative that used to exist was garter grub which was effectively a pinky / fluff sausage, but with a fishy smell.- Just googled and seems they are no longer in production

One site for lots of info on Garters is Alan Francis's web site. He also has a recipe for garter food. Alan's Garter Snakes - Maintenance of Garter Snakes

On the subject of Earthworms, the large worms with saddles are fine, it's the smaller red worms found in compost heaps that should be avoided.