Feeding your snake

Snakes eat live prey in the wild, however it is illegal to feed live food to a snake in the UK. Most snakes eat rodents and day old chicks and larger snakes will eat rabbits and guinea pigs.

As your snake is kept in captivity, you will need to buy food for him. This will usually be frozen and must be stored and prepared correctly to prevent your snake from becoming ill. Always ensure that any frozen food has thoroughly defrosted and warmed to room temperature before being fed to your snake.

Some snakes eat eggs, fish and frogs, and there are examples of snakes eating snakes! The diet available to pet snakes is of course not as varied as in the wild. So, in captivity their diet is greatly simplified as we can only offer them food that is commercially available to buy.

The frequency with which you feed your snake will depend on his age and stage of development. When a snake is small, it is important to feed the correct size food; smaller snakes tend to eat more regularly whereas larger snakes will only eat around once a week.

Many snakes in captivity do not eat for long periods; although snakes are able to survive long periods without food, it can be dangerous for them if they start to lose a lot of weight. If your snake is not eating the food you offer then try offering the next size down, you could also try warming up the food.

Vitamin and mineral supplements are still needed; this can be provided by buying a multivitamin powder. These supplements are sprinkled onto the prey prior to feeding to your snake. Fish eating snakes are particularly prone to vitamin deficiencies. This is because freezing decomposes some of the B vitamins. Be careful not to give too much vitamin supplement as this can be equally as damaging to your snake.

All snakes need water to drink. It is important that the water is clean and regularly changed. Without water his body will become dehydrated and this can lead to many conditions including constipation. It may sound unusual, but if your snake were to become constipated he could severely affect your snake’s health

Humidity is also an important consideration when setting up your snake’s house. When water evaporates it forms an invisible gas called water vapor. Humidity is a measure of the amount of water vapor that is present in the air.

In hot dry areas, like deserts, there is not a lot of water vapor in the air which means that deserts have low humidity. Rain forests are also hot but they have lots of water vapor in the air and so they have high humidity.

The level of humidity required for your snake will depend on his particular species and the type of environment he needs to live in. You can use a gadget called a hygrometer to measure the level of humidity in your snake’s house to ensure that it is suitable for him. Ensure not to have the humidity too high if your species does not require it as this can cause bacterial  build up and possible infections.

Snakes also like to be able to totally immerse themselves in water; this can be done by providing a large tray full of water.