Cooked Egg Whites

[guidofatherof5]

wow, my natrix tesselata are picky picky pickyyy!!! I don't see how cooked egg whites would really do much harm... but what about the yolks?! I think the yolk is more nutritious? I do know this: snakes LOVE eggs. They won't eat the pasteurized ones because those no longer smell like eggs, but farm fresh eggs... they will gobble them up!!! My larger snakes absolutely adore fresh whole eggs!

When I came up with this idea I was thinking solely about a good protein addition to their diet. I knew egg whites were high in protein.
Since it's the yolks that can cause problems for us people I thought I would keep them out of the mix. I think that's were most of the fat is stored.

[wadih]

wow, my natrix tesselata are picky picky pickyyy!!! I don't see how cooked egg whites would really do much harm... but what about the yolks?! I think the yolk is more nutritious? I do know this: snakes LOVE eggs. They won't eat the pasteurized ones because those no longer smell like eggs, but farm fresh eggs... they will gobble them up!!! My larger snakes absolutely adore fresh whole eggs!

First the natrix tesselata I mentioned earlier is a very strange one; he is always hungry and never misses a chance to consume any type of food. He is getting larger and larger by the day, imagine he is as big as his mother!!! So I always use him to try new and strange food types.

Regarding the fresh eggs you suggested, I always heard people living in the village telling stories about snakes attacking the chicken nets and stealing the eggs. Most of the times they find the snake stuck inside the cage since the eggs (or even the bird) inside the snake stomach prevents it from escaping. However, I never thought these snakes were garter or natrix. Just to cut the story short, I will buy some quail eggs from the supermarket tomorrow and try them with my snakes... I will feed you back with the results.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

how do you feed them and which snakes eat them?

My bigger snakes, such as my king rat snakes, my whitesided black rat snakes, and even my carpet python ate one once! They don't get them very often at all, just as a little treat when I can get them. They have to be fresh and non pasteurized so that they actually smell to the snakes like an egg. I have also fed dove eggs (the doves at work never stop laying) to my smaller corns and rats, I never tried them on the garters before... but I have little doubts they would turn them down. If I had a source of quail eggs nearby I would use them more often! To feed them an egg I simply balance it in my tongs (even the chicken eggs) and put it in front of the snake... and they open wide and gulp it down. By the next day the shell is already completely broken down and there's no lump. Eggs are nutritious, the shell is packed with calcium of course....and yes, farmers always complain about the foxes eating their chickens and the blacksnakes eating their eggs! It's almost impossible to blacksnake- proof a chicken coop ! they go in through the roof! Snakes definitely readily view eggs as a food source, and in the wild, a convenient one at that! Think about it, if a rat snake is cruising through the trees in search of nests, most of the birds that nest in trees are far too small to harm him! And if they tick him off enough, he will simply eat them too!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

YouTube - bird vs snake

in this video, a large green rat snake of some sort is found raiding a woodpecker's nest. He's most likely just eaten her eggs, or possibly her chicks! The bird just doesn't quit trying! When the snake first pops out it almost looks like he's got an egg in his throat, but it may just be him puffing air as well.

[ConcinusMan]

It's not a rat snake, and it didn't necessarily eat any eggs. The "lump" you see is a threat display. Ask Stephan-A. He correctly identified the snake (from South America, I believe).

But yeah! Rat snakes will definitely eat freshly laid eggs. I imagine garters would too, if the egg was the right size, and smelled right. If I ever offered them to a garter, I would offer them without shells though. maybe even slightly cooked to avoid respiratory issues. You know, just cooked enough so that they could swallow pieces of the soft parts. I wouldn't give them shells since garters really aren't egg eaters generally speaking. I would say to Steve, go for it. I see no way that slightly cooked egg whites can hurt a garter. Or their "normal" food mixed with some egg whites. I don't see how it can hurt them. Just make sure it's not so "gooey" that it ends up blocking their breathing while swallowing. We've all seen milk come out someone's nose. We wouldn't want egg white bubbles coming out of our garters' noses while they are eating, possibly obstructing their breathing now would we?

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

It's not a rat snake, and it didn't necessarily eat any eggs. The "lump" you see is a threat display. Ask Stephan-A. He correctly identified the snake (from South America, I believe).

But yeah! Rat snakes will definitely eat freshly laid eggs. I imagine garters would too, if the egg was the right size, and smelled right. If I ever offered them to a garter, I would offer them without shells though. maybe even slightly cooked to avoid respiratory issues. You know, just cooked enough so that they could swallow pieces of the soft parts. I wouldn't give them shells since garters really aren't egg eaters generally speaking. I would say to Steve, go for it. I see no way that slightly cooked egg whites can hurt a garter. Or their "normal" food mixed with some egg whites. I don't see how it can hurt them. Just make sure it's not so "gooey" that it ends up blocking their breathing while swallowing. We've all seen milk come out someone's nose. We wouldn't want egg white bubbles coming out of our garters' noses while they are eating, possibly obstructing their breathing now would we?

It looks like some kind of green rat snake to me! Yellow bellied puffing snakes do this display but many other species do it also. Do YB puffing snakes come in green? But, the video's quality is lacking, so it's really difficult to ID anyways. And yes, I DID mention that it very well may have been a threat display... I have snakes that do it! EITHER WAY, whether its food, or a display, I would aly large sums of money that they snake has just eaten a nest full.

[ConcinusMan]

Nest full of something, that's for sure. But no, it's not a rat snake. ask stephan-a. This video was posted somewhere else and stephan took a shot at an ID. I looked up the name of the snake he had given, and sure enough, he was right. The video was filmed in South America. Notice how the snake is laterally compressed, suggesting an aquatic and/or abborial lifestyle, and listen to the human accents and background bird life. But yeah, my guess would be that the snake feeds largely on eggs and baby birds. I don't think garters are quite equipped to eat whole eggs in their shells, but if they'll eat whites, why not give it to them. Just do it in a way that's not going to cause issues with breathing.

[gregmonsta]

I don't think garters are quite equipped to eat whole eggs in their shells, but if they'll eat whites, why not give it to them.

Actually ... the egg-eating garter snake Thamnophis dasypeltissima of the Toronga Atol was presented in 2007 by Stumpke (German scientist). A few observations lists a thamnophis that specialises on eating groundnesting bird's eggs and shows extreme defensive behaviour (as a result of having to defend against parent birds). Diet outside of bird breeding season is unknown. We are talking about island populations. Apparently they utilise thir spines much in the same fashion as the egg-eating snakes of Africa.

I love EGSA puplications.

[ConcinusMan]

ahh.. I did not know that. But I'll assume we aren't feeding a Thamnophis dasypeltis sima.

[gregmonsta]

True .... but if an isolated group can convert to specialising on eggs then the dietary value must be sound. I'm sure there are plenty of egg types that could easily be swallowed by an ordinary thamnophis.