Snake Food: Fish vs. Rodents

Snakes are carnivores and designed to eat their food whole. They have a wide range of foods that can be fed to them including fish, worms, lizards and other amphibians, insects and rodents.

For those of us that like snakes but also like rodents and don't want to have to feed live or dead rodents to their snakes for food, there are other foods available to feed pet snakes. But whatever you feed a pet snake you should also sprinkle a vitamin supplement of calcium and vitamin D on their food to insure proper nutrition.

What to Feed a Pet Snake

Anything ranging from worms and other insects to amphibians like frogs and lizzards and many types of fish is a good diet for a pet snake. The easiest fish to get for your snake won't cost you an all day fishing trip, you can find great fish for your snake right at your local grocery store. Frozen Tilapia, Trout and Salmon are great frozen fish for your pet.

Depending on the size of your snake, you might want to cut the frozen fish into smaller pieces for smaller snakes or larges fillets for larger snakes. Then wrap it all up and freeze it, taking out and thawing it only when it's time to feed your snake.

If your snake is not liking the frozen fish, there's a good chance he will like live fish he can catch himself. At most pet stores you can buy small fish like Guppies, Goldfish and Minnows and bring them home. If you want to save some money, get a small aquarium and let the small fish start to breed and you will have live fish for your snake whenever he wants to eat.

To feed a snake live fish you will need: live fish, water and a sturdy bowl. Put the fish and water in the bowl and put the bowl into your snakes cage. The snake will spot the fish swimming around and go fishing for food.

Another alternative to rodents are manufactured reptile sausages, according to eHow.com, "Reptile "sausages" are available that are designed specifically for carnivorous reptiles and pet owners who dislike feeding animals live or frozen prey. The sausages-made of processed beef, flaxseed mill, collagen and a number of vitamin and mineral supplements-are available in four sizes and are purchased frozen."

Sources:

http://www.ehow.com/list_6081217_snake-food-alternatives.html