Most snakes will in fact eat and do well on all the kinds of food items listed above, even if they are not part of the natural diet. Ill snakes that don't voluntarily drink should not be given saltwater fish as feeding such food to the snake may in fact exacerbate the ailment. Freshwater fish are therefore the fish of choice, if all things are equal. In terms of mice, those small mice which have just grown long hair (known as "hoppers") are often difficult to digest and many keepers (myself included) have reported them as being somewhat difficult for some smaller snakes to digest.įor fish, saltwater fish tend to take a heavy fluid toll on snakes and hence are only recommended for healthy snakes, for which they pose no serious problems. Small skink lizards are the most commonly used lizards for food and they tend to be digested fairly easily. Within these groups there are obvious variations, such as different kinds of lizards presenting different skins and hence their digestibility varies accordingly. The most commonly used kinds of food for captive snakes are as follows: In terms of ease and difficulty to digest food, the general trend is as follows in terms of difficult to digest and then easier at bottom. Some are given in this paper, so that other keepers may take advantage of these newly developed techniques. As a result of this and a general push to reduce regurgitation risks in general, especially with smaller and younger snakes a number of innovations were tested with success. Among the numerous symptoms of this was a reduced ability to digest food.
In 2003, I had a reovirus attack my collection of snakes (Hoser, 2003a). This is not a paper detailing the generalities of snake feeding in captivity, including such essential elements of caging like the need for a basking spot, temperature gradient, need for clean drinking water at all time, privacy for the snake digesting food and so on. Originally Published in Litteratura Serpentium (March) 24(1):33-47.įollowing are some new techniques trailed with success to assist in feeding smaller snakes and those prone to regurgitation. Park Orchards, Victoria, 3114, Australia.