"All captive snakes must be converted to rats."

[Gabriel]

I hope I got this in the correct forums.

Anyway, this is what I am hearing. She is telling me she has "taken care of reptiles for years and worked with the Chicago Herpetological Society for even longer" and that she can "cite hundreds of sources saying all captive snakes must be fed an all-rat diet unless they are in a zoo or breeding program. If you don't, you must supplement them and provide UVB lighting."

I have never heard of any of this, except for the supplementing.

Greens snakes are fed insects and things is captivity. Asian vine snakes are fed house geckos. And there are others that are fed things that are not rats or even mice, so...


Just thought it would just be a interesting conversation.

[wilomn]

Sounds like you've got a nutter there.

Did she set up chairs for the CHS meetings? Because if that is truly what she thinks, she's probably not smart enough to do much more.

[stratus_020202]

I think the woman is crazy. Every single species of snake is different. Different habitats, different needs, and different husbandry. As far as bp's go, they are nocturnal. I see no need for providing them with UV when they don't get it in the wild.

And, are they on an all rat diet in the wild? I'm pretty sure if there are negative consequences to not supplementing with bp's we would have noticed. I can't speak for other species, but I'm pretty comfortable with what I'm doing for my balls.

[Gabriel]

Haha. I have no idea, wilomn.

Ball pythons were never brought up in the conversation, more like rough green snakes, smooth green snakes, ringneck snakes and vine snakes. And she said you had to supplement and have UVB lighting if you fed anything but rodents.
I have read about the supplementing when you feed certain prey, so I didn't doubt that for the most part...just everything else. It went from all-rodent to all-rat. I guess by that logic, people that feed their Burmese pigs should supplement?

[dr del]

Heh,

I strongly suspect she has to lower her trousers to be heard clearly.


dr del

[wilomn]

Heh,

I strongly suspect she has to lower her trousers to be heard clearly.


dr del

Ohhhh, now I get it. He didn't say she was a Scot.

[dr del]

Oh God,

Ohhhh, now I get it. He didn't say she was a Scot.

Is she?

**locks door and hides under the table**

There's a lot to be said for Scots women but very little of it a wise man would say to one.


dr del

[mainbutter]

My only response would be "good luck trying to keep eastern hognose snakes happy and healthy".

[ER12]

She sounds like she is suffering from idealism to the third degree. I wonder how she proposes to keep Rough green snakes, or Acrochordidae

[BuckeyeBalls]

Not all snakes, but i do agree boas and like balls should be

I may be wrong here but just going off of what iv noticed, it seems rats are more nutritional. I had a boa that i fed just stickily mice for maybe the first 6-8 months? He didnt grow very much... Soon as i switched him to rats this thing is growing like a weed.

So i will say to me it seems like rats are "better" than mice, but thats just because iv noticed a few snakes hit "growth spurts" after the switch from using all mice to all rats.