How to Feed a Snake
Purchase mice or rats., Choose between live or frozen., Get the right size for your snake., Provide water as well.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Purchase mice or rats.
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.
If you have a large number of snakes, you might consider breeding mice or rats for feeding purposes.
Be sure to purchase mice from a company you trust.
Make sure the mice were fed properly and not treated with chemicals.
If you don't want to feed your snake mice or rats, you can feed certain species a combination of grubs, insects, fish and other prey that together meet the snake's full range of nutritional needs.
However, as snakes tend to be picky about what they eat, and giving them a variety of different foods increases risk of exposure to parasites, it's advisable to feed your snake an all-rodent diet.Don't feed a snake live crickets, since crickets can eat its scales and harm the snake. -
Step 2: Choose between live or frozen.
As snakes' popularity as pets has risen, more food product options have become available in pet stores.
Many pet owners choose to buy live mice or rats to feed their snakes, but getting frozen rats that you serve thawed and warmed is a viable, convenient, and safer option.
Do some research and decide which method is right for you and the needs of your snake.
If you choose to offer live mice, you'll be able to more accurately replicate the snake's feeding habits in the wild.
However, using live mice creates the need for a lot of extra effort on your part.
You'll need to either breed mice or run to the store to get more every few days.
And if you put a live mouse in the cage when the snake isn't in the mood to eat, you'll have to take it back out and store it until you can try again.
Many find that using frozen and thawed mice or rats is more convenient and safer for the snake to eat.
The drawback is that since this isn't how snakes acquire food in the wild, it can take some time before the snake is comfortable eating a dead carcass instead of catching its food live; however, keep in mind feeding pre-killed rodent will prevent your snake from being harmed or even in some cases killed by their prey if they were to fight back.
Many snakes start on live mice as babies and then can be worked toward frozen mice as they get older. , Mice and rats are sold according to their size.
Baby snakes and small snakes need smaller prey than larger snakes, which prefer large mice or rats.
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:
Pinkies: these are baby mice, called "pinkies" because they have yet to grow fur.
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.
Hoppers: these are adult mice, sufficient for baby ball pythons (which are quite large) and most adult snakes.
Rat pups and full-sized rats: this is the biggest prey available, and should be reserved for large adult snakes. , 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.
It should be disinfected every few weeks to kill bacterial growth. -
Step 3: Get the right size for your snake.
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Step 4: Provide water as well.
Detailed Guide
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.
If you have a large number of snakes, you might consider breeding mice or rats for feeding purposes.
Be sure to purchase mice from a company you trust.
Make sure the mice were fed properly and not treated with chemicals.
If you don't want to feed your snake mice or rats, you can feed certain species a combination of grubs, insects, fish and other prey that together meet the snake's full range of nutritional needs.
However, as snakes tend to be picky about what they eat, and giving them a variety of different foods increases risk of exposure to parasites, it's advisable to feed your snake an all-rodent diet.Don't feed a snake live crickets, since crickets can eat its scales and harm the snake.
As snakes' popularity as pets has risen, more food product options have become available in pet stores.
Many pet owners choose to buy live mice or rats to feed their snakes, but getting frozen rats that you serve thawed and warmed is a viable, convenient, and safer option.
Do some research and decide which method is right for you and the needs of your snake.
If you choose to offer live mice, you'll be able to more accurately replicate the snake's feeding habits in the wild.
However, using live mice creates the need for a lot of extra effort on your part.
You'll need to either breed mice or run to the store to get more every few days.
And if you put a live mouse in the cage when the snake isn't in the mood to eat, you'll have to take it back out and store it until you can try again.
Many find that using frozen and thawed mice or rats is more convenient and safer for the snake to eat.
The drawback is that since this isn't how snakes acquire food in the wild, it can take some time before the snake is comfortable eating a dead carcass instead of catching its food live; however, keep in mind feeding pre-killed rodent will prevent your snake from being harmed or even in some cases killed by their prey if they were to fight back.
Many snakes start on live mice as babies and then can be worked toward frozen mice as they get older. , Mice and rats are sold according to their size.
Baby snakes and small snakes need smaller prey than larger snakes, which prefer large mice or rats.
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:
Pinkies: these are baby mice, called "pinkies" because they have yet to grow fur.
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.
Hoppers: these are adult mice, sufficient for baby ball pythons (which are quite large) and most adult snakes.
Rat pups and full-sized rats: this is the biggest prey available, and should be reserved for large adult snakes. , 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.
It should be disinfected every few weeks to kill bacterial growth.
About the Author
Diana Garcia
Professional writer focused on creating easy-to-follow DIY projects tutorials.
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