just curious about the food

[DarkSmoke]

NOTE: this is not really a feeding problem but since i didnt know where to put it and its about food i puted it here, so if someone wants to move it to another forum or something its ok or correct me for next time.

so as the title says: i have some questions and im curious about the feeding cornsnakes in captivity so lets start.

many people here and on the net say that feeding corn snakes rats or other food is not good cause of high fat ratio and such things. but if so why then in the wild snakes eat big rats and birds etc etc and they are never seen as over weight ?
also i see video on the net as feeding chickens and rabbits to big snakes, so if only rodents are healthy for the snakes or mice, then those who have big snakes that have to feed them chickens or rabbits then are these captive snakes alway on an unhealthy diet, also what about the ones in the wild , are they always unhealthy cause they eat birds and big rats ? cause i never saw a snake in the wild which is over weight and in my country the snakes grow as much as the corn snake but they are another species not corns and they only eat birds and big rats.

or the recomandations to only feed mice is only because its the best diet but the other food wont hurt?

im really curious about this and the other thing that people say that snakes should be fed food more then x1.5 bigger and then i see video of a big snake eating a baby hippo which makes him x5 bigger then (i'll post link if requested)

 

[snakewispera snr]

The 1.5 x ratio is for corns (and a few other types of snake) Some ( eg.ETB's) have to have smaller meals, and some (eg Carpet pythons) can go bigger, but 1.5x for most others is a good average rule of thumb....
As for snakes in the wild, they hunt, which keeps them trim. And if they are not trim, they can't hunt. So it's a sort of self levelling playing field for them....
As for captive animals..... They can only get what we provide them with, so we look for a food item that is easy to get and will not pile on the weight and supplies the necessary nutrition to keep them healthy.... You can supliment the diet with gerbils, hamsters, cavies, birds, chicks etc. but if your animal takes a liking to something that is either hard to get or seasonal, then you may have a feeding problem.......

 

[Susan]

It's not really the issue of "rats are bad food", because they are not. Neither are rabbits and whole chickens. Rats have a higher fat content than a mouse of equivalent size and upon occasion, are fine. You could also feed them at every feeding, but you need to watch the frequency of feeding. Yes, wild snakes eat them all the time and are not obese. But then, a wild snake is out hunting it's food and may take a longer amount of time to find it. It is not sitting in a cage and being fed on a regular schedule. If you ate a pizza, a plate of spaghetti with meatballs and a large slice of chocolate cake every night and just stayed in your living room 24/7 with maybe 15 minutes a day to walk around the house once, you would probably get fat too. But if that was the only meal you got once every 4 days, and had to jog 20 miles down the road to get it, you'll stay slim. The calories in the food is the same.

Larger snake species are fed larger meals that are more appropriate for them. It's alot easier to feed a large python a rabbit than 5 rats or 30 mice and just as healthy a diet. Cheaper too.

As for the size of the meal in relation to the size of the snake, there is a good reason for it. Yes, you saw a video of a snake eating a baby hippo. Snakes aren't the smartest of creatures and will eat whatever prey item they come across first. What you didn't see in that video was the snake regurging that hippo later that day or literally busting a gut because the hippo was just too big.

 

[Buzzard]

or the recomandations to only feed mice is only because its the best diet but the other food wont hurt?

Pretty much.... You can fed chicks, mice, rats ect.. After females lay eggs I fed rats or ASF's to my girls to bulk them back up a little. But you still have to watch how much. Its not an exact science by any means. For reasons Susan mentioned above,captive snakes can get fat. Fat snakes can have major health, and reproductive issues. So watching what your snake eats and doing a little research as well as using common sense ( If the snake appears fat, space feeding out more ect...) will make for a healthy snake.

As far as snakes eating larger prey...or multiple prey items

Snakes sometimes eat like small kids. They will eat as much chocolate as you put in front of them. Then, they will throw up. Unlike a child, snakes do not recover as quick from regurging. Multiple regurging can actually kill a snake.

I like the question and I hope this helps....

 

[ceduke]

A wild snake has the whole big world to explore, a captive snake has a tank or tub.

 

[DarkSmoke]

thanks alot for the great use full info guy
also susan about the hippo video the snake did regargurate but because 5 people where teasing him to do so, cause they didnt sea the snake eating it they just found a big snake with an extra large bumb.

i apriciate very thankfull posts keep the info coming xD

 

[ladypunk123]

I've always just fed mice (to my non breeders), I don't want my snake to get a preference for something else because mice are the cheapest and contain everything it needs. I do find that rats are GREAT for breeding because you can really fatten up everyone before the cooling and laying periods.