Feeding bugs ever okay?

[Tavia]

I was just wondering if it is ever a good idea to feed some type of insect or worms to a snake species that doesn't normally eat them? Like a non eating corn, BP, KSB, etc? I was just wondering because that seems to be a big no no on care forums but it's something that lots of non snake people tend to think of and I've heard a number of vets recommend it for a number of reasons. My vet recommended that I feed some kind of insect like fruit flies or something else tiny to my 3 gram baby garter with an eye infection and a very swollen face, just to get something in her while waiting for the treatment to start to work. Luckily, I'd just had a guppy give birth to some fry the day before and she actually ate a few of those on her own.

What actually got me thinking about it though is that a friend of mine who kind of runs a snake rehab and gets called by Petco when they have a problem snake, just got a non eating KSB in horrible condition, the employees had been trying everything they could for her and she'd been to the vet a few times too. This friend tube fed her yesterday but today she was super lethargic and when the friend picked her up, she regurged a full grown mealworm. The friend was saying how she knows that the vet feeds insects to the babies but that she was pretty pissed about the mealworm and was wondering if it might not have been acting as a parasite. That just got me wondering if that is ever a good idea to feed whole prey that is not like anything the snake would normally be eating?

 

[obboi34]

I wouldn't recommend feeding any insects to a corn snake. They're relatively tough bodied and often have surprisingly strong jaws. you'd want something soft-bodied like a slug, earthworm, or maybe a hornworm, if fed anus first. Feeding a lizard-scented (or whatever scent you needed) rodent would be better.