Graphic: Is an all rodent diet really ideal?

[gregmonsta]

Sorry to hear that Shannon.

[Zephyr]

My condolences.
There is much work to be done in the field of Natricine snake diets, and this is no doubt a hideously good example of why varied diets are healthier for snakes.
Yet again, my condolences.

[MoJo]

The fat all seems to be collected in one spot - the rest of the snake does not appear to have much fat at all. Humans can get fat growths that are completely harmless. I can't help but wonder if that is what this snake had and the fatty deposits are completely unrelated to it's death.

I'm very sorry for your loss.

[snakeman]

I don't like the idea of grocery store bought fish at all.I would take my chances with goldfish first.Who knows it could be the rodent diet.Just like some people can eat and drink what they want and never get fat.Others get morbidly obese and die.That applys to all living things I would think.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

unless you breed the food yourself, no matter where it comes from you just really don't know what you're getting, be it rodents, fish, or worms. we all take a chance any time we feed something to our snakes of an origin we can't control, whether it's a fish or a rodent. I read a thread a few months ago on cornsnakes.com where a snake ate a f/t mouse and the next morning when it attempted to regurge the mouse, it couldn't because some a*hole had threaded Y shaped wire into the rodent so that when the snake threw up, the Y ends would impale through the snake's neck. When it's available, I use self-caught deep frozen trout. My next choice is blacknose dace in the summer which I also catch and freeze myself... or whole silversides from ocean nutrition or the same fish from the fish market. I rotate each feeding between fish of some sort, rodents, and earthworms. And sometimes frog legs as a treat! All my other snakes are looking robust, thick and healthy, and the young'uns are growing so fast, every time I blink they are bigger!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

The fat all seems to be collected in one spot - the rest of the snake does not appear to have much fat at all. Humans can get fat growths that are completely harmless. I can't help but wonder if that is what this snake had and the fatty deposits are completely unrelated to it's death.

I'm very sorry for your loss.

I still believe the fatty deposits are related, simply because they grew too large for anything to function properly. This was not an older snake, and the fat tissue started halfway down his body and went all the way to the vent. It was all entangled in between all the organs and it was very irregular looking, not nice and neat like the fat stores on a healthy snake would look. I did state however that it's not necessarily the rodent diet that did it, other issues can cause fat deposits. But, seeing as these are a snake that does not feed on rodents normally, diet is high on the list as a suspect. Many people will not feed eastern hognoses rodents, for good reason, and I am sure they are not the only species that would benefit from being kept on a more natural diet. Not every snake is going to be affected the same way, and some won't be affected at all - this appears to be a more extreme case. But, it would be better if no snakes were affected, at all. And this can only be ensured by following a closer-to-natural-diet feeding regimen.

[Stefan-A]

I'd love to be able to replace mice with something lower in fat. I'm still investigating the possibility of using quail and finch chicks instead, but naturally, finding a steady supply isn't easy.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Mice are definitely not a bad thing at all, I just think that exclusively mice are not what a semi aquatic snake should be eating is all. Everyone does it differently, and not everything works for everyone.

My mom came home from a trip to her parents today, with a big bag of fresh caught trout from my uncle!!! Boy am I happy!!! Trout is their favorite

[reptile3]

Sorry to hear about your snake Shannon.

[snakeman]

Rat pups are lower in fat.A mouse has a ton of fat.from what i've read.Was that snake cb or ltc?