More and more people are adding unusual pets. Snakes, although they have been sharing their lives with us for years, are becoming more frequent in homes. If you share your life with a snake, you may have already learned a lot about pet snakes.
One of the most important aspects that we must know is its diet.
Therefore, in this article on our site, we are going to tell you all about feeding snakes. Keep reading, to discover the different types of food that exist, how often they usually eat and how it is best to feed them.
Classification of snakes according to their type of feeding
One of the first things that we must be very clear about when we acquire a snake is its type of diet. All snakes are carnivorous, but depending on the species of snake that we have as a companion, we will have to offer them to eat some animals or others. Therefore, below, we are going to comment on the different groups of snakes according to their diet:
Mammal and bird eaters
The vast majority of snakes that can be kept as pets belong to this group and feed on small mammals and birds. Although it depends on the size of the snake, they usually eat rats and mice, but they can also eat gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, quail, chickens, etc. Most of this type of snake accepts dead prey, pieces of meat and special preparations well. This group, in turn, can be divided into two subgroups:
- Small Snakes and Snakes: Snakes and those that can be considered as small snakes, usually measure between 60cm and 140cm. Some of the best known are kingsnakes such as Lampropeltis alterna, Lampropeltis mexicana, Lampropeltis pyromelana, and Lampropeltis getula. Others that are also very common are the false corals Lampropeltis triangulum and the corn snakes or rat traps Pantherophis guttatus.
- Boas and Pythons: They are one of the largest snakes, some specimens can exceed 8 meters although in captivity they do not usually exceed 5 meters. In addition, they are constrictors and are also the ones that most people look for as a pet. The best known are the Python regius, the Python molurus and the Boa constrictor.
Saur and snake eaters
These snakes are saurophagous, that is, they eat lizards, and ophiophagous, which eat other snakes. These types of snakes are not very common as pets and the only one that can be kept is the Lampropeltis, which has also become accustomed to eating mice.
Insect and arachnid eaters
The snakes in this group are insectivorous, that is, they feed on insects and also on very diverse arachnids. Above all they eat small grasshoppers, crickets, cockroaches, worms of various kinds, fly larvae, spiders, etc. They are snakes that, although small in size, are not the most suitable for beginners. Well, they need much more care than other snakes. Not many insectivorous species are traded. The most common that we can find to have as a pet is the Opheodrys aestivus aestivus or northern rough green snake.
Fish Eaters
This last group of snakes are ictivorous, feeding on freshwater fish whether alive or dead, such as goldfish, carp, guppies and other small aquarium fish. They are one of the easiest species to maintain and are therefore suitable for beginners. The most common in stores are the Thamnophis sirtalis, known as the garter snake or striped snake.
Now that we can identify what type of food our snake has, we will have to make sure that we provide it with the food that corresponds to it and not another, because surely he won't eat it.
How often should the snakes be fed?
First of all, we must bear in mind that reptiles are among the animals that can go the longest without eating food. Although if they must drink, they can spend quite long periods of time without eating anything and with little effect on their he alth.
The frequency of feeding in a snake depends mainly on its size In a very general way, since there will always be exceptions, snakes Less than 1 meter long, like land snakes and insectivorous and piscivorous snakes, they usually eat between 1 and 5 times a week. Instead, the small pythons that are between 1 and 2 meters long, eat 1 time a week. The largest pythons such as Indian and Caribbean pythons or boas are snakes between 2 and 6 meters that eat once every two or four weeks, that is, once or twice a month. Lastly, snakes longer than 6 meters, although not frequent in captivity, eat even less frequently. For example, they can eat large animals two or three times a year and with that have more than enough food.
Also, we should know that in general, snakes are more active in spring and summer, while they are less active in winter and autumnso they tend to eat less. You also have to take into account when giving them food, that most prefer to eat in the evening or at nightfall.
How should I feed my snake?
Regarding how to feed our snake, it will depend on if it is already used to a particular way or not Snakes taken from nature, there are still some in certain zoos, they will rarely get used to eating dead prey, because they have a great hunting instinct and no matter how much the prey is prepared as if it were alive, they will not accept it, so you will always have to provide them withlive prey so they can catch it. On the other hand, snakes born in captivity and traded can easily get used to prey dead, pieces of meat and meat derivatives prepared especially for them.
Preys and prepared pieces are sold frozen and must be kept that way until before offering them to our snake. This is to guarantee a good conservation of the piece and prevent our snake from eating something in poor condition that could make it sick. We will have to let the dead prey or the piece chosen to feed it thaw and, in the event that our hissing friend is a species without thermoregulatory pits, it will be enough to stimulate it by moving the food in front of it with a movement swaying On the other hand, if our snake does have thermoregulatory pits, the temperature of the prey will come into play, so thawing will not suffice and it will have to heat it minimally in the microwave or similar, so that together with the rocking in front of it, this provokes it to attack and gobble up its prey.
We must bear in mind that whole prey, whether alive or dead, offer many more nutrients than pieces of meat and meat preparations. This is because whole prey supplies snakes with calcium, digestive enzymes, necessary bacteria, etc. since it has bones, organs, fur or feathers. Instead, the preparations or pieces will only have the protein of the meat. What is normally done to compensate for these deficiencies when our companion is not fed whole prey is to administer nutritional supplements indicated for them, introducing them into the pieces of meat or by sprinkling them on top of food preparations.
