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Nerodia subspecies feeding?
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by TheFifthDay on November 9, 2008
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I am interested in getting a Nerodia subspecies., and I would like to know if anyone out here owns them or has owned them? Can they be switched over to mice? And can/will goldfish really kill or harm them in any way? If there are any tips you guys want to give me I will gladly accept them.
Thanks in advance,
Jon Short
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RE: Nerodia subspecies feeding?
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by Cro on November 9, 2008
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Jon, some watersnakes can be really fun to keep in captivity, and some have really great colors and patterns.
In the wild, they will be eating mostly fish and frogs and even smaller snakes. Some of them will eat mice in captivity. The type of fish that you feed does not matter all that much, gold fish, or shiners, or small sunfish will all work.
The one thing that concerns me some is that the snakes digestive system is set up by nature to deal with fish and frogs, and I wonder if you switch that snake to 100 % mice, if it would get all the nutrition that it needs ? I also wonder if the fur from mice might cause some sort of intestional compaction.
It might be best to vary the diet, even if you do feed the snake a mouse from time to time.
Best Regards John Z
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RE: Nerodia subspecies feeding?
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by pictigaster1 on November 9, 2008
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I have switched neonates to pinkies with scent from a fish but I never raised them I gave them away all of the adults I ever kept I fed many kinds of fish to even cat fish chunks.
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RE: Nerodia subspecies feeding?
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by pitbulllady on November 9, 2008
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I keep and have bred several species of Nerodia. I love these snakes, which are very rewarding in terms of personality and colors, with a lot of promise towards new color morphs being developed. They are highly underrated as a pet snake, in my opinion. Nearly all of mine, with the exception of a young Florida Green I just acquired, are rodent feeders. They are very easy to switch over to rodents by scenting with minnows, or even catfish nuggets from the supermarket. On a rodent diet, they have far less poop to clean up, and it's more compact. I have never encountered any problems with the health of the snake. I don't buy into that "this species' digestive system is only designed to digest this or that" argument. In the wild, Hydronastes gigas is largely, if not entirely, a fish eater, yet most captive specimens are fed rodents, and do very well on them. Most Western Hogs are fed rodents, and live perfectly long and healthy lives, although they're mostly amphibian eaters in the wild. There are many breeders of Garters who feed their snakes, which are closely related to Nerodia, exclusively on rodents, but in the wild, Thamnophis, like Nerodia, are pretty much exclusively fish-and-amphibian eaters, with earthworms being included for young snakes. I just fed my Nerodia bunch yesterday, and every one of them ate a mouse...or two..or three...these guys DO have an appetite! I still have to scent for a couple of these, dropping a frozen fuzzy in with a bag of frozen fish and letting them thaw together, but for my larger ones, they'll pretty much eat anything I dangle in front of them with tongs(they are movement-oriented, so they will usually ignore anything, fish included, that I just drop in their enclosure). My big female hypo Midlands eats f/t large mice, unscented, without hesitation, and the two hold-back offspring from her last litter eat f/t pinkies. All of my Nerodia are ridiculously tame, calm snakes, probably the least likely to bite of all my snakes, including my Corns. If someone wants a fairly large, chunky snake that will be happy to just sit on your lap while you watch tv for hours, these guys will happily fill that spot.
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