Snakes eating Lizards?

[Jay_Bunny]

I've been reading around about some kinds of snakes that eat lizards. I read that some small corns will eat lizards. Is this true? If so, what kinds of lizards do they eat? Are they nutritious enough? Would you recommend it?

[mlededee]

for corns i think it is better and easier if they will take mice or rats. i've never actually heard of corns in particular eating lizards but there are other snakes that do. many times breeders of these snakes attempt to get them to eat mice or rats as well because it is easier. anoles are often used as a feeder lizard but i for one cringe at this, because i keep anoles as pets!

[Jay_Bunny]

I want to keep anoles as pets somewhere down the road but its like with any feeder. Some people both feed that particular kind of animal to another animal as food, and keep that same kind of animal as a pet. People do it with rats and mice all the time.

[mlededee]

yeah i guess that's true. it's a lot easier to breed rats though!

[Jay_Bunny]

Oh of course. I just thought it was interesting. I try to give my animals a varied and nutritious diet, so this sparked interest.

[Nifer]

In the wild when corns are young especially where the anoles are local they eat anoles and frogs.
From every source that I have taken in it is rather frowned upon to feed your corn anoles. The reasoning behind this, is some of them have a hard enough time as hatchlings being convinced that they should already be eatting mice and not lizards, to feed them the anoles might set them back and make it impossible for them to ever eat mice.
Not to mention anoles are also really expensive feeders. Plus I wouldn't trust feeding my snake reptiles from the local pet store.

[Evan Jamison]

Although some snakes will eat lizards, the risks involved with feeding herps (including amphibians) to other herps just isn't worth it in my opinion. There are just too many parasties that can be passed on. Seeing how no one breeds anoles or frogs for feeders, they all need to be frozen for a month or more before being fed out, and even then you are risking it. I can see going out of your way to feed a strict lizard or frog feeder if they absolutely refuse to eat rodents, but for a corn snake there is absolutely no reason you should ever need to feed anything but mice, even if they are opportunistic in the wild.


-Evan

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

If they take mice or rats, stick to it. they can easily be hooked on anoles or house geckos which are more expensive(for healthy ones) than rodents

[Jay_Bunny]

Thanks for all the replies. It was a topic I found to be very interesting. Trust me, Zim will stay on rodents. I wouldn't change her diet just to 'see something cool'. Thats why I asked all of you first. To get information. I don't think I would ever even try feeding a lizard to a snake. Its just something I found that made me go "Huh?" so I thought I'd ask.

[wildlifewarrior]

SOme people with finiky eaters (usually babies as said b4) scent the mice with the anole to get their reluctant feeders to eat. I know people who have done it with grey bandeds, and read about people doing it with corns.


~mike