Actually, that depends on the snake. In many locations they will refuse to eat mammals, but in some places they do. I've even observed them eating carrion. I know the western plains garters we have in North Dakota won't eat mice naturally, but the eastern garters in Maryland will sometimes. And the ones in ND won't eat reptiles, but they love fish, worms, and amphibians.

But for a captive garter snake, if you intend to keep him, I would train him to eat mice. I've done it with both plains garters and eastern garters. If you're only keeping him for a while, you could probably get by feeding him wild-caught prey if you have to. But long-term captives should be switched to a diet that poses less risk of disease and parasites.

Amphibians and lizards are not an economically viable or very safe captive diet. Worms by themselves are not nutritious enough, and a diet high in fish is too high in the enzyme Thiaminase, which destroys thiamine and kills the snake eventually (this almost happened to one of mine years ago). Captive garters should be trained to eat small mice (usually fuzzies) by the way of scenting. That is, you take a fuzzy and rub it on a fish, frog, or worm to make it smell like the natural prey of the garter snake. Eventually the snake becomes used to the new prey item and scenting is no longer needed.

Though small mice should be the staple of a captive garter's diet, fish, worms, and amphibians can still be offered as treats. Stick to healthier fish, such as mollies, guppies, swordtails, or platys. Goldfish aren't very nutritious, and minnows/rosy-reds aren't much better.

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+5 bonus points to whoever finds me a job!

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

So it's been four days and its still hanging in there, moving around and all. I feel like if he makes it another week he'll be in the clear. I'm gonna start trying to catch some anoles for him. Kinda sad since I've had anoles as pets but I guess
I like snakes more.

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Giving Thanks

O and I should have some pics up pretty soon. Im borrowing a camera tonight

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Giving Thanks

are you going to let him go in a wild area when he heals?

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Since the snake is still moving around and behaving normally you may have a chance to pull it through. Usually a snake that has been run over succumbs pretty quickly.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Good luck! Hope you can pull him or her through...

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~Tamara~

The creatures I love to spoil!
1.1.0 Leopard Gecko (Matilda & Bob Marley)
2.1.0 Desert Tortoises (Thor, Scar, & Sundance)
0.1.0 Appendix Quarter Horse (Baylee)
0.1.0 Pitbull (Miss Riley Skyy)

We had a garter snake a few years ago that had been dropped by a bird of prey near the porch of our house. She had a lot of really bad damage to her little body. We treated her with antibiotic ointment and lots of small prey items from the yard, it took about 3-4 months, but we got her going in time to be released before it got too cold. She still had some paralysis, but was moving great and could escape from a lot of things. We did a lot of rehab work to get her able to move again though. The paralysis was originally really bad, and we thought she wouldn't make it, she had sustained a lot of puncture wounds also. The puncture wounds healed, and she was very healthy after that. We did a lot of work outside with her, to get her moving and interested in being a snake again. That year luckily we had a whole lot of small frogs running around, it was a year with the weather just right for frogs. I just felt bad for the frogs, but there were so many that you stepped on them walking outside.

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Kat

Well I was planning on releasing him after a few more weeks and some good meals. He has been very active for these past days, acting like a kingsnake or my ball python, constantly moving and soaking. But this morning I checked on him when I turned his light on and he had his mouth wide open and had passed. I'm guessing what killed him was the part of his belly that was caved in. But at least he got to live a week even though I'm sure it was rather hard and painful for him. Any reason why his mouth was open? It was like stuck open and there was nothing inside of it or anything.

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Giving Thanks

well, at least you tried to give him a chance. Most people would have chopped his head off with a shovel.

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

You tried, it's hard with that combination of injuries, and with it being wild. Quite often with reptiles we have had who died, their mouths are open, not sure what causes it, just the dying I think.b

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Kat