The best snake food is meat and bones. You can provide your pet with eggs, red meat, or white meat. When offering these foods to your snake, be sure to keep the feathers on the meat.
Full Answer
How often should I Feed my snake?
While this little question can be quite confusing these are the methods that I practice:
- If your snake is between 0-9 months old feed an appropriately sized* item every 5 days.
- If your snake is between 9-12 months feed an appropriately sized* item every 6 days.
- If your snake is between 1-3 years feed it an appropriately sized* item every 10 days
- If your snake is over 3 years feed it an appropriately sized* item every 14 days.
What can you feed snakes Besides rodents?
What This Article Covers
- Species of snakes that can eat other prey items
- Alternative food options for rodent-eating snakes
- Snake species that take prepared food
What should you feed your pet snake?
- Let the frozen rodent thaw completely and warm up to room temperature.
- You can use feeding forceps to hold the thawed rodent in front of the snake and wiggle it around as though the prey is moving. ...
- Scent is something else to consider. Some snakes like certain scents, like frogs or chicken, and you can use this to your advantage. ...
How often do you have to feed snakes?
- This can also be called “worms” for the snake, which are normal in reptiles. ...
- You must take your snake to your vet to perform a “fecal direct smear” or a floatation.
- It is advised to have this procedure done every year to ensure there is nothing going on with your snake’s intestines.
What should I feed my 18 inch ball python?
Larger ball pythons typically eat larger mice or rats. Selecting prey for a ball python. As a general rule, you should select a rodent that is 1 to 1.25 times the size of the midsection of your snake. Smaller prey is fine, but avoid getting food that's too large.
What do you feed a 20 foot snake?
2:3913:26HOW TO FEED A 20 FOOT GIANT PET SNAKE!! | BRIAN BARCZYKYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAnd i really love rats and mice just as much as anything.MoreAnd i really love rats and mice just as much as anything.
What size food should I feed my snake?
Most snakes should be fed a size of prey that is about the same size around as the snake's body at its widest point.
What should I feed my snake?
Some eat warm-blooded prey (e.g., rodents, rabbits, birds), while others eat insects, amphibians (frogs or toads), eggs, other reptiles, fish, earthworms, or slugs. Snakes swallow their food whole. The most popular pet snakes usually eat prey such as mice, rats, gerbils, and hamsters.
What do you feed a 16 foot python?
Juveniles they should be eating several mice, large rats, or small rabbits. Adults can eat a large rabbit or a whole chicken.
Can you overfeed a snake?
Overfeeding is very easy with some and you will soon see physical signs. It is better to control their intake and give them time to grow. It takes a lot longer to lose the weight/fat deposits than to gain it and the regurge that you mention is not good. Once a week, one correctly sized item is fine at 18 months.
How can you tell if a snake is hungry?
You can tell a snake is hungry when it exhibits specific behaviors such as: Prowling the front of the tank, being more active, focussing on you whenever you are near the enclosure, flicking its tongue more often, and hunting at a similar time each day or night.
How old is a 20 inch ball python?
Six MonthsSize By AgeAgeMale LengthFemale LengthHatchling10 to 17 inchesSix Months20 to 27 inchesNine Months25 to 30 inches25 to 35 inchesOne year1.5 to 2 feet2 feet4 more rows
How big should a 2 year old corn snake be?
When Do Corn Snakes Reach Their Full Size? In general, they become a fully grown corn snake between 2 and 3 years of age. They start at only between 8 and 12 inches in length and end up being between 4 and 5 feet in length once they reach maturity.
What can I feed my snake other than mice?
While rats are a popular food source for some snakes, snakes will eat what's available to them.Insects. Smaller snakes, such as the garter snake, will eat a variety of insects, including crickets, cockroaches and insect larva, such as mealworms. ... Small Rodents. ... Eggs. ... Birds and Fish. ... Snakes and Lizards. ... Larger Mammals.
Can I feed my snake raw chicken?
Snakes can consume human food like eggs, poultry, fish, pork, and beef when they are unprocessed. This means that the food should be given in its basic and raw form. You cannot give fried or saucy food to your snake as there are already other ingredients in the food that may make your snake sick.
How long can snakes go without eating?
A baby snake will begin to seriously starve after roughly a week without food — and once that baby grows into an adult, members of most snake species can comfortably get by for at least two to three weeks. But the time it takes for a snake to starve can depend significantly on the species.
What do you feed a giant snake?
8:2217:12THIS is HOW you FEED HUGE SNAKES, GIANT LIZARDS and ...YouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipThey're gonna eat lizards.MoreThey're gonna eat lizards.
What do you feed large snakes?
The preferred prey item varies with the species but relatively large snakes consume appropriately sized rodents, rabbits, fish, birds, lizards, turtles, and even other snakes. Smaller snakes can eat insects, slugs and other mollusks, as well as worms.
How often should I feed my snake?
Small snakes, even adults, may need to eat twice every week. Larger snakes can go longer between meals, on average feeding once every one to three weeks. Age—As with size, the younger snakes need to eat more often, usually twice per week.
What can I feed my snake if I don't have mice?
While rats are a popular food source for some snakes, snakes will eat what's available to them.Insects. Smaller snakes, such as the garter snake, will eat a variety of insects, including crickets, cockroaches and insect larva, such as mealworms. ... Small Rodents. ... Eggs. ... Birds and Fish. ... Snakes and Lizards. ... Larger Mammals.
Food types
Smaller species generally feed on insects and worms, which can be readily bought from reptile suppliers.
Feeding frequency
How often to feed your snake depends on what species you have, its age, and its size, so you will need to look at your individual species requirements.
Natural fasting
While some snakes feed all year round, many from temperate regions naturally hibernate or become dormant at certain times of year and will stop feeding.
Food size
Whilst snakes have the amazing ability to consume items wider than themselves, they have no need to eat such large items and are more likely to regurgitate large foods if stressed, or cause undue strain on digestive systems.
Live foods for snakes
If you enjoy watching your snake hunt, catch, and slowly swallow a live rat or mouse while it is still kicking then you have little regard for animal welfare and are probably not the type of person who is responsible enough to care for an animal of any sort.
Insects and worms
Whenever ‘live’ food is mentioned, the meaning is usually larger animals like mice, chicks, fish, or frogs. Of course crickets, worms and other insects or small invertebrates are also popular live foods for reptiles and snakes.
Pre-killed snake food is best
Ignoring the ethical aspect of feeding larger live foods, there are actually a number of practical reasons why pre-killed food is best for snake health.
How to thaw a frozen rodent?
For faster thawing you should keep the frozen rodent in the plastic bag and put in a cup of warm water . Rodents should be at room temperature before feeding. Feed your reptiles separately and in a secondary habitat (whenever possible). Once the frozen rodent is completely thawed, remove from plastic bag and use feeding tongs to jiggle ...
How to jiggle a frozen snake?
Using the tongs, hold the rodent by the tail or back end. Hold the rodent a few inches in front of the snake’s face and jiggle slightly to imitate movement.
How to get a snake to eat on its own?
If the snake does not grab the rodent from the tongs, place the rodent on the bottom of the holding bin and allow the snake to try eating on its own.
Can you feed a frozen snake?
Feeding Frozen Thawed. Snakes are shy eaters so pick a time to feed the snake so it is not going to be bothered. Pick the appropriate sized frozen rodent to feed your pet reptile. Keep the frozen rodent in the plastic bag and allow a period of time for the frozen rodent to thaw before feeding. For faster thawing you should keep ...
Do snakes eat when they are in sheds?
It is common for snakes to occasionally skip meals. Skipping the occasional feeding will not harm the snake and snakes will often refuse to eat when they are in shed. If the snake is getting ready to shed they will have opaque eyes and pale scales it takes a couple days to go through a shed and will clear up before you see the shed.
What is the best snake for a baby?
Pinkies are good for baby snakes and small adults. For the smallest baby snakes, pinky parts are available. Fuzzies: these are baby mice that have just acquired their first signs of fur. They're a little larger, so they're best for either large baby snakes, like boas, rat snakes, milk snakes, or medium adult snakes.
What do snakes eat?
In the wild, most snakes eat mice, rats, or other small rodents. These animals meet all of snakes' nutritional needs, so an all-mice or all-rat diet is completely sufficient to keep your snake healthy and happy. If you have just one snake to feed, you can purchase mice or rats from a local pet store.
How to keep snakes from shedding?
Provide water as well. A bowl of water large and deep enough for the snake to completely submerge itself is good. Snakes don't drink often, but they need to submerge their bodies in water from time to time to stay healthy, and promote clean shedding. Make sure the bowl stays clean.
What to do with a snake as it grows?
As your snake grows, you'll need to provide bigger prey, but prey that's too large can be hard on a snake's digestive system . A good rule of thumb is to choose food that's the same circumference as the largest part of your snake's body. The different sizes of food available are as follows:
Why do snakes go off feed?
Snakes to not associate one particular place with only eating. Moving your snake before/after feeding can cause them stress, and therefore cause them to go off feed (or if, after eating, cause them to regurgitate their food).
How to thaw snake food?
Heat the food. Many snakes won't eat if they can't sense the correct temperature that mimics a live food. You can heat the food in a bag with hot water or use a blow dryer for about ten minutes. Never use a microwave or oven as this can cause the food to explode. ...
How long does it take for frozen food to thaw?
Optionally you can put the food in a plastic bag and then submerge it in warm water. Thawing can take anywhere from 10 minutes to a few hours depending on method and size of food.
What do snakes eat at PetSmart?
The snakes sold at PetSmart are carnivores, which means they eat meat — specifically, mice or rats. PetSmart recommends “Arctic Mice,” which are frozen. Feeding your snake frozen prey as opposed to live prey reduces the chances that the snake will contract a disease or parasites, or suffer an injury while trying to eat.
How to keep snakes from shedding?
Don’t be surprised if your snake isn’t hungry around shedding time. Give your snake some private digesting time after a meal. Don’t handle snakes directly after they eat; they might not keep their meal down and might not enjoy being fed in the future.
How to get a snake to shed?
Water. Provide a shallow, heavy, stable dish for drinking and the occasional snake-soak. (If you notice your snake seems to be spending a lot of time in the water dish, that’s a clue that your pet might be getting ready to shed. Be sure the tank is humid enough to make the shedding process easier.) Shop for water dishes.
What to do when a snake strikes?
When the snake strikes, let go with the tongs and the snake will do the rest. Be sure you don’t jerk the rodent away when the snake strikes. If the snake does not strike when you wiggle the rodent in front of its head, you might try “running” the rodent around the cage — back and forth in front of the snake.
How to give a snake life?
Then use the tongs to hold the rodent inside the cage near the snake’s head, and wiggle it a bit to give it some “life. ”.
Why do snakes move into separate containers?
The logic is that this prevents the snake from developing a feeding response every time its cage is opened. Thus, when you simply want to remove a water bowl or pull the snake out for a cage cleaning, the snake won’t think that it’s feeding time. It will only associate the separate feeding tub with food time. Rubbermaid tubs are commonly used for this purpose.
What should I feed my snake?
How should I feed my pet snake? What’s the best feeding technique to use? These are common questions we receive here at Reptile Knowledge. How you choose to feed your pet snake is really a matter of preference. There are several different techniques you can use, and each of them has distinct pros and cons.#N#In this snake care lesson, I’ll explain three of the most common feeding techniques used by keepers. Here they are, in no particular order: 1 Simply drop the food in the snake’s cage. 2 Put the snake into a separate container for feeding purposes. 3 Use a pair of tongs to offer the food.
What size tongs do snakes need?
Basically, the work and look like a giant pair of tweezers. A pair of 12- or 15-inch tongs will work well with most pet snakes. The goal here is to make the dead mouse or rat appear alive, thus enticing the snake to strike the rodent.
How to feed a snake in the wild?
Option 3 – Feeding Your Snake With Tongs. In the wild, snakes capture their prey by active hunting or by ambush. Either way, the prey animal is usually moving when the snake strikes at it. You can duplicate this natural behavior in captivity by offering thawed rodents with a pair of metal tongs.
What to do if a snake doesn't eat?
Don’t be worried if your snake doesn’t eat right away. Just leave the snake alone, and it will find the food eventually. If the snake is in shed, it probably won’t eat. This is normal, and that’s why it makes sense to check on the snake before thawing out a rodent.
How often should you feed a snake?
How often you feed a snake will depend on the age, size, and activity level of the snake. Younger and smaller snakes should be fed twice a week, while more mature, and larger snakes need to eat once every week. More active snakes also require more frequent meals.
Feeding snakes based on their age
Young snakes are still growing and developing, so it’s not a surprise that they naturally need to eat more often.
Feeding snakes based on their size
Just like with age, smaller snakes also need to eat more frequently. Their size doesn’t allow them to last long without constant nutrition.
Feeding snakes based on their activity level
It’s no secret that physical activity burns energy. This also applies to snakes. The more active the snake, the faster it burns its energy.
When should snakes be fed?
Snakes who are active during twilight should be fed in the evenings or sometime late in the afternoon. Nocturnal snakes, on the other hand, may not like to eat during the daytime.
What do snakes eat?
What snakes eat depends on what type of species they are, but one fact that applies to all snakes is that they’re all carnivores. So, the typical preys include rabbits, lizards, rodents, birds, turtles, frogs, and even other snakes.
How to feed snakes?
Feeding snakes can be tricky and harmful when not done properly. So, here are the usual conventions in feeding snakes.
Why is my snake not eating?
There are many causes for a pet snake not wanting to eat, from benign causes such as the stress of being in a new or disrupted environment, noise, lack of privacy, improper environmental temperature, hibernation, shedding, pregnancy, or breeding season anorexia, to more serious causes, including cancer, kidney failure, parasites, or other health issues. Your veterinarian can help determine the cause of your snake's decreased appetite by performing a thorough physical examination and appropriate laboratory testing.
How to keep snakes hydrated?
A good-sized dish may help maintain appropriate levels of humidity in the tank that are critical to keeping the snake hydrated and to helping it shed properly. Some snakes enjoy soaking in their water dish periodically, too, so the dish should be large enough to allow that.
Can snakes eat mice?
Since snakes eat entire prey whole, it is easier for their owners to feed them nutritionally complete diets and certainly prevents many of the dietary-related diseases commonly seen in other reptiles. Whole prey, such as mice and rats, are a complete and balanced diet for a snake. However, some people have an issue feeding whole prey to reptiles. If you are squeamish about feeding rodents to your snake, even though they are now commercially available already dead and frozen, and all you have to do is thaw and offer them to the snake, a snake is probably not the pet for you!
Can a mouse bite a snake?
Even a small mouse can bite and severely injure a pet snake by inducing a severe potentially life-threatening infection from the bite. Snakes should be trained to eat dead prey. It is more humane for the prey and safer for the snake. Snakes can be offered either thawed, previously frozen prey, or freshly killed ones.
