Basic
Feeding
Considerations
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WATER
Water should be provided at all times. Most snakes drink
infrequently but use a suitably sized container for immersing
themselves and soaking. Another advantage for including a relatively
large water container is that water evaporation contributes to the
relative humidity of the enclosure. This is especially true if the
enclosure is glass or plexiglass-lined. The water container should
be roomy enough to allow adequate soaking and heavy enough so it
cannot be easily overturned.
Water containers must be thoroughly and regularly cleaned.
Failure to do so encourages bacterial proliferation. Snakes drinking
of and soaking in this water soon become ill. Use an antibacterial soap or Roccal-D (Winthrop
Veterinary, NY, NY 10016) to disinfect the snake's enclosure and
furnishings at least once every 2-4 weeks.
FEEDING
Before specific feeding recommendations are made, it is very
important to make several points and cautions regarding the feeding
of captive snakes. The most respected of herpetologists and
experienced snake hobbyists all agree that captive snakes should be
fed dead or incapacitated prey whenever possible. This is because
such prey cannot injure the feeding snake. Providing killed prey
that has been frozen is convenient and economical for the hobbyist.
Snakes may be induced to eat thawed, frozen prey animals by clipping
hair from the coat of a live rat and rolling the proposed food in it
just before feeding.
Though freezing, thawing and subsequent feeding of whole prey
animals is a common practice among hobbyists and herpetologists, some
experts believe that such food sources should be "gutted"
(eviscerated) before they are frozen. This greatly reduces the
possibility of generalized bacterial contamination of the carcass.
To replace those nutrients within the viscera that would otherwise be
lost, the hobbyist can place a gelatin capsule filled with a
vitamin/mineral/amino acid supplement into the body cavity before feeding the thawed prey
animal to the snake.
Rodents (rats and mice in particular) left unattended and
unobserved within an enclosure with a supposedly hungry snake
sometimes turn on the "diner" and inflict serious bite wounds on it.
These "dinner becomes the diner" incidents are most likely to occur
when a snake is ill or otherwise uninterested in feeding.
If snakes do not accept freshly killed or well-thawed frozen
prey, the live prey must be stunned so that it is sufficiently
incapacitated and unable to injure the snake.(please be as humanely as possible this is for a captive snake's well- being and natural diet- not for sport.)
If it is not possible to offer anything other than live and fully
concious prey for a snake to successfully feed, the encounter must be
carefully supervised. If a snake shows no interest in feeding within
10-15 minutes after the prey has been introduced, the prey should be
removed and all of the possible reasons for the snake's lack of
interest in feeding should be investigated. If other similar attempts to feed the snake
within the next 1-2 weeks are equally unsuccessful, veterinary help
should be sought at once.
Snakes acquire a large number of infectious agents from the foods
they consume, especially because of the snake's habit of feeding on
whole prey items. It is not practical or possible to ensure that all
prey animals are absolutely free of disease-causing agents. However,
prey animals that are to be fed to captive snakes should appear
healthy and come from a reliable source.
Extreme caution should be exercised when feeding snakes. This is
especially important if a given snake is expected to be hungry and if
human-snake interaction is limited to feeding times. An over-zealous
and hungry snake is very likely to strike at a person immediately
after the enclosure is opened and as the prey item is introduced.
Large snakes can be especially treacherous and dangerous at these
times because of their ability to overcome and overpower their
keepers. Hobbyists and even a few expert herpetologists have been
seriously injured or even killed at such times.
Great caution must also be exercised when feeding more than one
snake within an enclosure. Serious problems result when 2 snakes
choose to prey on the same food item. If one snake attaches to the
front of a mouse and another attacks at the tail end of the same
mouse, neither snake will surrender its hold. Both snakes will
continue to feed and eventually one will consume the other! When 2
or more snakes are housed within the same enclosure, they should be
fed individually by holding the prey animal in long forceps or tongs.
Captive snakes, as a group, usually do not suffer from major
nutritional deficiencies, unlike the majority of reptiles kept in
captivity. This is largely because pet snakes are allowed to feed as
they do in the wild, on whole prey items. The prey species fed to
captive snakes are undoubtedly different from those present in the
snake's natural environment. Furthermore, the relatively narrow
diversity of prey animals that can be fed to captive snakes due to
practical and economic considerations is in contrast to the wide
variety of prey animals potentially available to wild-living snakes.
In spite of these major differences, the incidence of malnutrition
and malnutrition-related problems among captive snakes is quite low,
markedly contrasting the usual situation with most captive reptiles
and their seemingly limitless malnutrition-related disease problems.
Disease resulting from malnutrition tends to be greatest among
juvenile snakes fed primarily very immature vertebrate (rodents,
birds, reptiles, amphibians, etc) and invertebrate prey species
(insects primarily). These food items are not as nutrient-rich as
their more adult counterparts.
Feeding schedules for captive snakes vary with the age, species,
size, condition and specific requirements of the individual.
Generally speaking, pet snakes are usually fed once every 1-2 weeks.
Juveniles and adults for which a relatively rapid growth rate is
desired can be fed more frequently, providing that environmental
temperatures are warm enough to allow complete and thorough
digestion. Older snakes are usually fed less frequently, once
every 3-6 weeks. The number of prey animals offered at each feeding
is determined by the same factors discussed above with regard to the
frequency of feeding.
Overfeeding must be avoided because of the risk of obesity.
Too-frequent feedings and allowing a captive snake to consume
multiple prey animals at each feeding encourages rapid growth. It
also leads to obesity in older animals. The relative difficulties in
procuring food limits this phenomenon in the wild.
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