Why do you have to feed your snake rodents only?

why can't you feed it meat or any people food ?Why do you have to feed your snake rodents only?
rodents are the most nutritionally balanced. Some feed chicks and rabbits, but they are not as balanced as a mouse/rat. The calcium and protien ratios are as perfect as you can get.


You could feed your snake meat-if they would recognize it as food, but it is not nutritionally balanced- they derive a lot of calcium from digesting the bones of an animal.Why do you have to feed your snake rodents only?
Hello. I used to have quite a collection of reptiles, including different snakes and some iquanas also. As far as you question goes... snakes are wild creatures and you need to furnish it with what it naturally would eat in the wild. Usually that is live prey of some sort or another...not ';prepared'; foods as humans eat... for snakes also need all of what a prey nourishes them with, including the calcium from the bones. Depending upon the type of snake you have...depends upon what it likes to eat...what its body ';needs'; to eat in order to survive healthfully.


Take dogs for instance... they range from small to extra large in size. Mostly they need the same nutritions derived from dog food. Yet snakes are different. Not only do some only eat fish, some prefer birds (chicks), some do well on mice, some do well on mice when they are juveniles then graduate to larger prey as they themselves grow larger. I strongly suggest you ask your pet store employee (one that has reptile knowledge!), your vet, or purchase a book specifically for the kind of snake you have. Some snakes, such as Ball Pythons get so finicky... some Ball Pythons are not. What I am referring here is not only ';what'; you feed them, but the ';climate'; in their terrarium. Snakes need warmth in order to digest foods... so on one side of the terrarium you need a heat sorce of some kind. (The heat source should be OUTSIDE of the cage, unless it is designed to be inside, ie: heat rock). A Ball Python I had would not eat unless I misted his cage with a spray bottle for like half a day, and covered the top screen with a towel...to place humidity in the air. So, you not only need to know ';what'; to feed your snake, warmth needs to be provided on one side of cage, the ';size'; of the prey is important also.


A very big piece of advice also is... if you think your snake might be hungry and you offer it, say, a live rodent...please, please, please keep checking on your snake. If the snake has not eaten, or shows no sign of wanting to eat, remove the rodent. An acquaintance of mine once left a medium size rat in his snake's cage. The snake was not hungry. The rat then proceeded to chew/gnaw on the snake, thus later causing infection...and the snake ended up dying due to the severity of the chew areas plus the infection, even though a vet did treat it with antibiotics.


Also, do not offer your snake food when it is about to shed. The scales over its eyes gets a film in it due to the upcoming shed and they cannot see...therefore they typically do not feed during this time either. There is a lot to learn about keeping reptiles. My best advise to you is only feed natural food what it can find in its native home.


It also is up to you, when feeding rodents (sorry you many rodent lovers out there....)...whether to feed ';live'; prey or ';prekilled'; prey. I had a very timid 7'6'; boa constrictor who so preferred prekilled prey. That is the way I preferred to feed my snakes also. Yet, I did have one snake (ball python) who only ';wanted'; the live prey.


And to any of you reading this and who are interested in purchasing a ';pet'; snake.... please read up on the different kinds of snakes sold in pet stores before you buy. Those cute little snakes...some grow quite large! Also, some snakes seem to be better tempered for handling than others too. ';My'; preference for a child is a Ball Python...mostly such a docile animal... yet ';my'; preference is none other than the Columbian Boa Constrictor.


Have a great day and ....read! read! read info on your snake! You will be amazed at all you will continue to learn!
Cause thats what they eat! What else would you want to feed a snake?? Your dog?
that is what they eat in the wild and I am pretty sure they can't just cook themselves up a nice steak in the wild. depending on the snake you can feed them a variety of thing rodents chickens, rabbits, raw meat, lizards pretty much anything they eat in the wild. We don't feed them dog food or people food because it can be unsafe for them.
actually, there are snake ';sausages';. There are different types of ingredients in them. I have never used them, but it is an alternative to using rodents.


Some snakes eat lizards and other snakes.


Snakes have nutrition requirements. I doubt they would ever be hungry for a bowl of lucky charms.
Thats like asking why can't you feed a person wood chips because termites eat them...
because thats what snakes would eat in the wild. why would you want to feed it anything else? something that could possibly harm them?
Meat and people food is processed and doesnt contain the nutrients that a snake needs or is used to. Theoretically, you could feed some snakes fish (that are alive and placed in the water bowl) and lizards, however why spend that kind of money and not know what health that lizard or those fish are in. Mice sold at petstores have been wormed of all parasites and cant transmit anything to the snake. Most captive bred snakes prefer mice over the other anyway!
Also a snakes body can not digest cooked meats and it will kill them.
hi there


u don't have to feed ur snake rodents it's a choice because they are cheap and rodents are considered pest .. but u also can't feed ur snake people food ... birds lizards rodents small mammals they eat in the wild.... bigger snakes eat rabbits ,pigs ..what ever they can fit in their mouth....
because in the snake world- before man came along an picked it up an brought it inside -put in in a pen- then had to feed it----- the snake would in nature eat what it can catch-an that would be mice, small baby birds, an any other small living thing it could get its mouth around. also live stuff is the key word- not store bought ground beef!!!!
Snake strikes are directed at heat sources
because,don't want to use eggs.more interesting to watch,rodent fight for life,are you going to watch over snakes in the wild....
You don't only have to feed rodents, but you have to only feed live or frozen whole food items, processed human foods contain no nutrition for them.


Things you can feed a snake (depending on the snake's size):


Mice, rats, hamsters, gerbils, fish (some garter snakes and small snakes will eat goldfish from a water bowl), rabbits, chicks, quail, whole quail eggs (no chicken eggs!), baby ducks, small lizards (anoles are good)... you can definitely feed a variety of birds, mammals, and reptiles to your snake, but never offer it human foods- I doubt it would eat it, anyway.





BTW, the choice to use mice and rats has nothing to do with nutritional values of those rodents over all other food sources, they are simply the cheapest, easiest to keep and breed, and most widely available source of food for reptiles. Other mammals and birds are just as nutritious, and some snakes live solely off reptiles. It's all up to you.