Should i vary the diet?

[Snipes]

I got a corn snake and i see that pinkie mice are the way to go, but should i vary the diet a little? Should i use fish sometimes? Should I dust the food in some calcium or other nutricious dust?

 

[pitbulllady]

I've never, ever heard of a Corn snake, or other Ratsnake(Elaphe)species, eating fish, frogs, or other aquatic animals. Corn snakes are rodent eaters by nature, though some neonates will eat lizards. A lizard, though, would likely carry parasites. Besides, a snake is not a human; they don't crave variety, especially if they've only eaten one type of food item for their entire lives. It's not like a snake is going to sit there thinking, "I sure wish I could have a ____________ now and then to alleviate the boredom of having to eat a mouse week after week"! Most snakes go their entire lives eating only one type of prey, and I assure you, they don't miss what they've never had in the first place. Snakes, unlike lizards, do not need calcium supplements, either, as long as they are being fed the proper diet, and mice are the proper diet for a Corn snake.

pitbulllady

 

[Snipes]

thnx pitbullladay. I was just wondering cuz at Petco they have some sort of garder snake and they feed them feeder goldfish. It was pretty cool to see a snake fish.

 

[pitbulllady]

Garter snakes DO eat fish and frogs, but can sometimes, with patience and skill, be "switched" over to mice, simply because for most people, mice are easier to obtain. Some fish, if not fed live and fresh, produce enzymes upon death that can interfere with vitamin absorbsion in snakes they are fed to, resulting in death of the snake, and that is not a problem with mice. Corn snakes and Garters have different dietary requirements and feeding habits altogether.

pitbulllady

 

[jonnysebachi]

I agree with feeding the corn snake only with rodents. From my experience that is all most people feed and it works very well.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

I asked the same question about my corns at some point. To sum up the answers I got - Mice is all they need their entire lives, mice is what you should give them, their entire lives

 

[xelda]

When your corn is big enough, you can try feeding baby quail. They're about the size of hoppers. You can buy them frozen, just like pinkies. I've never had a problem offering them as just a treat. It hasn't spoiled their appetite like people said it would. My corns gobble them up with more zest and speed than any of my other colubrids do.

 

[Daisey_Boo222]

I've heard of people feeding their snakes gerbils when they dont eat the mice they give them. Then again their both rodents..

 

[Beardo]

Ditto what the above people have said....and to add to that, snakes do not need calcium supplementation because their diet consists of whole prey items. They get all their calcium from the bones of their prey.

 

[pitbulllady]

I've heard of people feeding their snakes gerbils when they dont eat the mice they give them. Then again their both rodents..

Gerbils(which are expensive boogers compared to mice)are sometimes a last resort for wild-caught, imported Ball pythons from Africa, since these rodents are native to Africa and the Middle East, and are a natural prey item for Ball pythons, whereas European House Mice(the species raised in captivity in various color mutations)are not. Even though they are both rodents, they do not SMELL alike, not even to MY nose, so a Corn snake might not recognize a gerbil as prey, not to mention it would get expensive after awhile.

pitbulllady

 

[Snipes]

Could anyone recommend a good breeder that i could buy frozen mice from instead of going to Petco?

 

[VesAn]

Try www.bigcheeserodents.com , I've ordered from them and received decent mice/services.