Will garter snakes kill chicks?

[savingdogs]

me, too!

 

[abifae]

*sings "people's parties" loudly and off key*

 

[FarmerJamie]

I would think chicks too then.

Maybe I'll walk him really far away into the woods. He has been such a nice little snake, I don't mind if he kills slugs and rodents!

How big is it?

 

[pinkfox]

i agee, depends on how big it is, most juvi garters wont bother, but an adult will definatly take a YOUNG chick (under 2 weeks) if its available...
you can take some cheesecloth and tack it to the outsides of the holes untill the chicks are a little bigger generally garters will eat anything up to 3 times the size of their head (though they prefer to stay around twice the size of the head.)

 

[savingdogs]

It is real small, about a foot long. I didn't see it today but it was raining. I usually see it "sunning" itself near our front porch, but that is near my brooder coop. I kind of like him.....


*I wish I had more sense of huuuuumoooor, keeping the sadness at bay......* also singing.....

 

[pinkfox]

i think most garters would have to be closer to 2 ft to take on a standard chicken chick...
bantie chicks however might be more apitizing. right now at about 12" his main diet will be small mice, small frogs, tadpoles and fish and song bird chicks. chicken chicks are probably a little big for his head still lol.

 

[savingdogs]

I think he gets the baby mice. We have slugs here that are amazingly huge, too....maybe too BIG for him. Have you seen banana slugs?

 

[MsPony]

Yeah, he won't go for them. Fish atm, and like PF said, songbird chicks.

Btw, I had a mouse issue the other day, just set the snake and chickens loose!! Everyone ate, nom nommouse!