Learn what to feed a pet snake, how often to offer meals, and safe practices for frozen or live prey. Complete diet guide for healthy snakes.
To figure out the optimal diet for your pet, first focus on what species of snake you have. A king snakes dietary needs will differ from a corn snakes, garter snakes or rat snakes, for example. No matter which food your snake needs, its important to feed them high-quality, healthy prey animals.
You will primarily feed your small snake a diet of crickets, earthworms, and mealworms. Since these insects dont have bones, you may need to provide your captive snake with a calcium supplement, and even if you use UVB lighting, you will also need a vitamin D3 supplement.
Most pet snakes are fed frozen-thawed mice or rats because they are safe, convenient, and nutritionally complete. The correct prey size should be about the same width as the widest part of the snakes body, which helps ensure safe swallowing and proper digestion.
Common small snakes such as grass snakes and rough green snakes can live quite happily on a diet of insects and worms. Egg-eating or snail-eating snakes have obvious food preferences. Water snakes eat small fish, frogs, and other aquatic creatures.
