Juvey snake eating insects

[mues155]

My boyfriend recently caught an Eastern Yellow Bellied Racer. A juvenille, about 10-12 inches in legnth
After having him in our home a few days we were letting him settle in before feeding him.
He had deficated in his cage and in the feces were the remains of a rather large grasshopper. Interesting?
Suppose in a juveys quest for food and if he got desperate enough he begun eating insects?
We put a couple crickets in his cage and alas more poop with insect remains. We of course have gotten him to eat mice now with no problem since in our home. But a curious thing for a snake to do? Or maybe most juveys do this. Has anyone ever heard of this before?

[cmack91]

thats just what they do when theyre young like that, in the wild insects are a majority of their diet, but they do also eat mice usually once they get bigger

[mues155]

Is this a colubrid thing or just a general snake thing?

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

No, it depends on the species. Like how in the wild kings are snake eaters, garters eat insects, fish, crayfish, etc. Rat snakes climb trees for birds. The queen snake primarily eats freshly molted crayfish.

All of these except the queen snake can be switched to rodents in captivity.

Some colubrids are insect eaters in the wild and will eat just about anything that they can catch when they are young.

[mues155]

Thanks
I thought it was very interesting!