Give Your Snake a Healthy Diet

Snakes can normally be fed every five to fourteen days, so feeding schedules are fairly easy to maintain. The question that many have is whether to feed their snake live prey, or pre-killed stock.

Unless you know that your snake will quickly kill the prey, feeding them a pre-killed meal is recommended in order to avoid potential injury inflicted by its prey. Some pet stores will sell frozen prey, or fresh killed prey you can freeze for later.

Snakes will usually take well to pre-killed prey, particularly if started at a young age. If you get a snake that has been used to eating live prey, you may need to start out offering freshly killed prey at first. Frozen prey should be completely thawed and warmed before feeding.

Most snakes should be fed a size of prey that is about the same diameter as the snake's body at its widest point. As your snake grows, you will have to adjust the size of prey being fed to accommodate the snake's increasing size.

Caution has to be exercised when feeding more than one snake at a time. Serious problems result when two snakes choose to feed on the same prey. If one snake takes the front of a mouse and other attacks at the tail of the same one, neither snake will surrender its hold. Both snakes will continue to feed and eventually one will devour the other. When two snakes are housed in the same enclosure, they should be fed individually by holding the prey animal in long forceps or tongs.

After eating, snakes become dormant while the process of digestion takes place. When undisturbed, the digestive process is highly efficient. The snake's digestive enzymes will dissolve and absorb everything but the prey's hair and claws, which are excreted along with waste. At this time, the snake should not be disturbed, or it will often regurgitate its prey in order to escape a perceived threat

The following is a list of preferred prey animals for the snakes most commonly kept in captivity:

Boa Constrictors, Pythons, Rat Snakes, Gopher or Bull Snakes:
Warm-blooded prey is preferred (rodents and birds). They may also eat very small lizards and snakes. Some tree boas and pythons prefer lizards to mammals and birds.

Garter Snakes, Ribbon Snakes and Water Snakes:
Fish, frogs, salamanders, toads, earthworms, slugs and carrion are preferred. Many accept dead mice if they are covered with the external mucus of frogs or fish before they are offered.

Indigo Snakes, King Snakes, and many Racers:
Warm-blooded (mice, etc.) and cold-blooded prey (other snakes, lizards, etc.) are preferred. The indigo snake prefers frogs but may eat anything when hungry, including dog or cat food.

Ring-neck, or Brown Snakes, and their relatives:
Salamanders, earthworms, very small snakes and lizards are the food of choice.

Racers, Vine Snakes, and Coachwhips:
Lizards are preferred. Racers also eat mice and chicks of ground-nesting birds. The young of these snakes eat large insects, such as crickets and grasshoppers.