Mouse Question

[OregonHerpaholic]

What is the long term effect of feeding gartersnakes a all mouse diet??

Rodents are not a natural part of most garter diets, so how do a high fat, high protein lifestyle effect their overall health?? I have seen other herps(large frogs and monitors mostly) that have been given a mouse diet..with very negative results...fatty liver disease, bone problems, etc.

Has there been any studies as to the long-term effect on this "captive" diet?

Do Tell

Billie

[adamanteus]

Hi Billie,

The jury is still out on that one! It seems that in this forum there are two schools of thought about the use (or over-use) of rodents. If you look for the thread "Rodent Diet" in the husbandry forum, you could see what people on here think about it. I don't know of any long term studies myself, but other, better read members might have more info on that.

[snakeman]

you definitely don't want to overfeed them on a rodent diet.I give my adult males one pink a week.my females one mouse a week.They always want more.Even with one a week they are still fatter than their wild caught cousins.

[ssssnakeluvr]

Scott Felzer has his on rodent diets. He has very healthy snakes!!!

[mikm]

good topic Billie ... I do not know of any 'studies' with factual data. For myself I think I am going to try and mix it up a little now that Roy (Garter Guy) mentioned that his garters enjoyed a 'can of slugs' available at pet stores. Personally I like feeding 'things' (people, reptiles, insects, etc.) ... lol

enjoy your day !!
marian

[GarterGuy]

I think when it comes to garters, as long as they're not overfed (as snakemanhad said) rodents can make up a large percentage of if not all of their diet. They're not the first non-rodent eating snakes to be raised on all rodent diets. Many of the kingsnakes and milksnakes (Lampropeltis sp.) that are kept and bred now are actually other reptile eaters (lizards and other snakes) and western hognoses (Heterondon nasicus) that feed primarily on frogs, toads and lizards have been raised over many generations on rodent diets. For me, it's a primary rodent diet, just because of ease and the assurance that the food item is healthy and free of parasites.....but I also like to offer them variety, mixing in home raised earthworms, fish (whether whole or fillets) and now I can add canned snails to that. I think what it comes down to is that many snakes can be considered generalist who specialize. What I mean by that is that they can and will eat just about anything, but due to the environment they live in and the other species with which they are competing with, they specialize in certain prey items. In captivity, they don't need to do this and can be given prey they normally wouldn't eat in the wild. Just my little swing on the whole thing.
Roy

[Thamnophis]

I only give one rodent per snake once a week in combination with smelt and chickenheart.

[OregonHerpaholic]

Thanks all.. I will be haunting the threads.. I do like to vary the diet, but since my large female has decided she will eat adult mice I give her, I would like to keep it as simple as possible..with the worms and extras as a treat.. BUT I just adopted 2 cb babies, and will be working on thier diet..But prefer not to chop up pinkies..

I only give one rodent per snake once a week in combination with smelt and chickenheart.

Is that what you are feeding?? I have seen your website(love it).. and could not for the life of me figure out what you were giving the garters.. What is the white stuff in the middle?? Some kind of calicum or just "filling"??

his garters enjoyed a 'can of slugs'

I tried this stuff on my big red(oregon red-sided) and she wanted nothing to do with it.. HOW can I get my new babies to LIKE THE IDEA????????

BILLIE

[abcat1993]

I feed about 66.6% worms and 33.3% mice. Nothing else. But he/she isn't very old (probably not even a year) so I don't have a clue on the long term effects. It seems to be doing good though, other than when he/she stopped eating.

[Thamnophis]

I guess you mean this picture...



That is a piece of chickenheart with some vitamine/mineral/calciumpowder on it.