Snakes And What They Eat
Snakes are one not typical eaters. Most snakes you have to purchase
their food from a pet store and their food is mice, rats, or even larger
animals depending on the size of the snake.
In general or the wild snakes eat worms, insects, lizards, mice,
rats, birds, or even frogs; and even some snakes like the Australian
bandy – bandy, feed on other snakes. Some snakes prefer eggs such as the
snakes out of Asia. These types of snakes have modified teeth and
vertebrae in their throats in order to break the shells. But typically
snakes grown in captivity eat mice or rats.
The first thing to remember is to try not to feed your snake live
animals. True it’s natural for snakes to hunt and kill animals but as
your prey can fight back it’s much better for all involved if the animal
is already dead. Your snake will still wrap around it and will even
crush it as is natural for a snake plus it will still taste the same and
your snake will still get full from it and yet will not run the risk of
being bitten. Snakes can get injured in the struggle for the preys life
and even the smallest scratch from the prey can get infected and mean
your snakes life. There are many places to buy already dead prey for
your snake and if you can’t find any contact your vet or local pet store
and they should have several source for frozen rodents. Another plus to
feeding thawed frozen rats or mice to your snake is that the freezing
process they go through kills off any parasites and parasite eggs
typically found on these creatures.
So you got a new snake and he won’t eat his dinner? It could be
anything from stress from loud noises, their time to shed, or something
as simple as bad lighting. Consider all these things closely and see
what can be done to fix them or if something different need to be done
to make it right.
Another few things you can do to encourage your snake to eat are as
follows:
• Try different food! If you feed it a constant diet of mice try rats
or something else maybe it just wants something new. Also try different
sizes and colors. Some snakes are just picky and prefer brown mice to
white ones.
• Another trick is to warm it up. This may give the snake the
illusion that it’s a recently killed carcass. Something else you can do
is slice open its belly which allows more of the scent to radiate around
the cage which will entice the snake more.
• Different lighting might make your snake happier and thus more
eager to feed. Some snakes prefer lower lighting when hunting and some
even like complete darkness.
• Put the food somewhere private versus right in the middle of its
cage. Hide it in return making it a game something it has to find which
makes it feel more like a hunt.
• There are several new liquid scents out on the market which give
off strong smells of different prey which might entice your snake
further.
So be patient and let your snake be a snake. Let it feel normal and
hunt or feed as a normal snake would. For in the end it will be worth
wild. |
