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vitamins

C

cocoasumatran

New member
I was looking on a website about corns (http://www.aboutsnakes.com/snake_food/corn_snake_food.html) and it says "When supplemented with a specialist reptilian vitamin and mineral supplement the best corn snake food of all is rodents - most notably mice."

I have not been giving my snake any kind of vitamins / minerals. Should I be? What do you guys do? If you do use suppliments, which are the best?

Thankyou in advance for your help :)
 
I am curious about that as well. I know i've read somewhere that some people dip the mouse in the vitamins before feeding it to the snake.
 
I have searched this site and can't find much on the subject... I've found a couple of threads with maybe 4 replies to each...

Does anyone out there use vitamin suppliments or are they unnecessary?
 
From what i have read in the past it is not something you do on a regular basis. It is something you would do if you wanted to add calcium for a female that was going to lay eggs to help her body from getting robbed of too much calcium out of her own bones. I have all so read that because there arent any exact measerments on the dosing for a corn that if you decided to give suppelments. You should only give them once or twice a year to allow the snake to absorb any excess or overdosing that may occur. I am new to cornsnakes and can only post what i have seen in the constant research i do to get a better understanding of things. I hope this helps.
 
Vitamin Supplements

:cheers:
I use both vitamin supplements and Nutribac for all of my snakes, as well as grapefruit seed extract in their water....I will explain why:
Nutribac is a supplement of 'good gut bacteria'. Gut bacteria is essential for digestion, and keeps 'bad gut bacteria' (Salmonella etc) in check. It is especially helpful for problem feeders and snakes that have problems with regurges. Normally, snakes would have access to this good bacteria in the wild. You can find more info on Nutribac at www.nutribac.com or Kathy Love has some great info in her website about it. I only use it about once a month (usually mixed in water and injected into the mouse).
Herptivite is a collection of vitamins I use for all of my snakes...again once a month or once every 2 months. In the wild, prey items eat a variety of things that contain essential vitamins...and snakes in the wild are not limited to mice...they get more of a variety (birds, lizards, etc.). These wild prey items have a more varied diet that the commercial rodents I buy from Rodent pro. They eat all kinds of stuff (grass, nuts, berries, etc..etc)that, in turn, is passed to the snake. Commercial rodents do not have that variety, so therefore neither do the snakes. Again, I try to mix it in water and inject it, but it clogs the needle, so I dip the rears of mice in it (A VERY SMALL AMOUNT).
I also add grapefruit seed extract to their water. It has a natural bacteriostatic (repels bacteria) property. I use a couple of drops added in a gallon of water. Even though I change my water frequently, it is still a place that bacteria can grow...Think about it...the snake poops, slithers through the poop, then soaks in the water. Even if I changed the water every day,(not feasible with the 40+ specimens I currently have), there would still be bacteria that gets on the skin. Grapefruit seed extract cuts down on that bacteria.
I am by no means an expert, and I know that there are several schools of though on this, I have just found that this is what works for 'my children'.
 
im no experience keeper but from wat i've read u dont need to add any vitamins. the companys like rodent pro ect that u get ur frozen mouse/rats from have the mother mouse on special supliments and feed the ones that dont drinks mils special food so vitamins arent realy nessacery
 
Just a note on that nutribac stuff. Once bacteria have set up shop in your stomach such as by using the nurtibac stuff. There is little need to continually replace it. This is because once you have the bacteria in your snakes system it should be fine and able to flourish. Now what I don't understand is the need to do it monthly if it properly works. The only way I could see it being needed is if you are giving your snake anti biotics because if given enough it will wipe out their system. For example if you get sick and need penicillin,cephalosporin tetracycline, etc These will take out bacteria in your system including in your stomach so they have to re establish themselves. So I can ask why are you feeding this monthly. Also what bacteria are natural to the corn snake digestive system and also in the nutribac how do the bacteria survive? Are they in spore form are they anaerobic or aerobic? I am just curious how these organisms are packaged.
 
I have linked to Kathy Love's site here http://cornutopia.com/Corn Utopia on the Web/Nutribac information.htm Hopefully this will answer your questions. It comes in powdered form...so I guess it's the same principle as yeast. As for being anaerobic or aerobic, since it lives in the animal's gut, it would have to be able to survive anaerobically, but is maybe dormant aerobically.
I use it to prevent the overgrowth of harmful bacteria that can be caused by many things--not just antibiotics, but stress as well....I use it monthly or once every two months on the same principle as my getting a flu shot---prophylaxis or preventative means. It costs about $7.00 for a 50gm bottle that lasts forever. Since the organisms are already present in the animal's system, it can't harm them.
 
A_Mc said:
I have linked to Kathy Love's site here http://cornutopia.com/Corn Utopia on the Web/Nutribac information.htm Since the organisms are already present in the animal's system, it can't harm them.
Click to expand...

Salmonella occurs naturally in our system. As do some other lovely little bacteria. So to say that if its there it cannot do harm and if it is there why are you boosting the naturally occuring levels of bacteria? Wouldn't they be at a constant high level if that was what the correct balance for the snake was? I don't believe Salmonella will do anyharm as long as it is contained within an animals digestive tract. It makes me think of people that constantly use chapstick and once they do their lips stop producing as much lipid so then they become dependant on the serving of chap stick.

Thank you for the info I am just curious. But the only people that should get a flu shot are those that immunosuppressed because they are in need of it to help keep thier immune system up.

Do you see a difference in your snakes? If anyone else has experience please post your positive results. It would be greatly appreciated I am very interested on learning more on this.
 
Naturally occuring bacteria in an animal's system needs to be replenished...it is not at a constant level all of the time. Animals in the wild can do this by varying their diets..and maybe eating a little dirt along with that mouse...We have taken the animal away from nature, so it is unable to do this. I feed Rodentpro mice...They are an excellent food source, but then again....commercially raised without the variety they would experience in the wild. My snakes are in clean cages without dirt and their feces is removed shortly after excreting. In this type of aseptic environment, the chances of my animals experiencing every nutrient/bacteria etc is slim. I replenish what they would naturally find in the wild as a precaution. If I can give them any advantage by doing this, then great! If it's 'overdoing it', then I'm out $7 and my snakes have a little less Salmonella in their digestive tracts. I have had hatchlings with regurg problems before using this, and I can say it has worked for them.
:-offtopic As for the flu shot...While you are correct in stating that immunocompromised people benefit from it, so do medical professionals such as myself that are constantly exposed.....That was just an example, and probably a bad one.... :-offtopic
 
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