How to Care for Pet Snakes

Pet snakes need housing appropriate to their size so that they have the room they need to move around with ease. The temperature also has to be kept consistent with that of the natural habitat of the snake, which is between 25 and 30. It is important to have a thermometer in the cage to let you know what the temperature is because if it is a few degrees higher or lower than what it should be your pet won

Is A Snake The Pet For You?

Pet snake care is not as simple as one might think. There are several things to consider before purchasing a snake, including determining whether or not a snake is right for you or your family. You must also bear in mind that snakes have certain dietary needs, and they also require a special facility in which the environment can be regularly heated. It is important that you do plenty of research so that you can prepare yourself and your family for the responsibilities of pet snake care.

First it is good to know what type of snake you are buying to know what the best care for the snake is. You wouldn

Exotic Pet Corn Snake Care Sheet: Feeding Corn Snake

Corn snakes,like all other snakes, are carnivorous. Meaning they feed only on the flesh of other animals. Corn snakes feed small rodents and sometimes lizards, although they have been known to take small birds from time to time. A pet corn snake owner, obviously, will have an easier time supplying his or her exotic pets with mice than anything else.

An active corn snake will eat every 10 days or so. It is recommended to feed your corn snake pre killed prey, especially if the snake has not been raised on live prey. A live prey may also turn on and attack a lazy snake that isn’t feeling too hungry and possibly causing severe harm to your pet corn snake.

When to feed a corn snake and how much

Hatchlings are started out with pinkie mice for feedings and as the snake grows, gradually increase the size of the prey by offering fuzzies, crews, then small adult mice or rat pinkies.

A young hatchling will eat a pinkie mice every three days or so. Gradually, as hatchling gets bigger; feed it every four, five or six days. Around the time it is getting out to six days, it will be swallowing down a pinkie in next to no time, so try it with another one just as the tail of the first one disappears. If it takes two pinkies ok, continue with this for two or three more feedings and then offer it one fuzzy instead of the two pinkies. It might look too large for you, but if the snake can swallow it without difficulty, it is not too big. If you feed too much at one feeding session, or feed a prey item that is too big, your snake won’t swallow it and will spit it out after trying. A general rule for food size is that up to 1+1?2 the snake’s body girth is acceptable.

After a several more weeks of one fuzzy, repeat the process you did with pinkies. When your corn snake swallows a fuzzy easily, then try to feed it with two. And after a few feedings with two fuzzies, try it with small adult mice. A full grown Corn snake can eat a medium to large mouse.

How to feed a corn snake

Frozen prey need to be completely thawed and warmed slightly before feeding. After thawing, place the prey on a small plastic dish and place the dish in the cage and leave the snake to it. If the snake won’t eat it after few hours, then remove it and throw it away.

Some snakes like their prey “jiggled” in front of them. To do this, pick the prey up by the tail with tongs (no sharp, pointy ends), and hold the prey in front of the snake for the snake to strike at.

Pet snakes that have refused to feed more than 2 times can be enticed into feeding by having the prey item slightly warmed, either by a heat lamp or soaked in warm water a few minutes before feeding. Don’t put it in a microwave, as they can explode. Another trick to try is “braining”, where you pierce the head of the prey with a knife point and liquid from the head exposed with forceps or tweezers. The smell of the liquid will entice your exotic pet corn snake to feed.



By: Avicenna

About the Author:

Avicenna writes various of articles about exotic pets, such as pet snake, Turtles and more

Some Interesting Facts About Reptile Species

There are many people who often love the idea of keeping exotic pets, like reptiles in their homes. Lizards snakes and alligators are always in demand at the pet stores. It is very important to have proper reptile tanks, reptile caves and other reptile accessories to put these reptiles into a set up that they deserve to be kept as a pet.

The problem is that often when people get tired of the up-keep of such pets they allow them to escape into the wild. Once the get away, sometimes they do not come back and if you have a male and female or a pregnant reptile which gets away, you can cause some real problems for the local eco-system. Thus it very essential to go through the various reptile books and understand the exact type of reptile foods and reptile products available in the market to keep your reptile friends in the most suited environments.

I read an article from Brandon R Cornett and found out these interesting facts about reptiles that he had stated in his writing. I have republished few of the facts for the people who are interested in reading and knowing more about reptile species before making a decision to keep them as their pets.

1. Reptiles are among the longest-lived species on the planet. For example, large tortoises such as the Aldabra tortoise can live for more than 150 years. Alligators can live nearly 70 years. Ball pythons, a popular type of pet snake, can live up to 40 years (consider that before getting one as a pet).

2. Snakes and lizards flick their tongues in the air to capture scent particles. They don’t smell through their noses like you and I. Instead, the use their tongues to collect scent particles and then pass the particles over something called a Jacobson’s organ to decipher the air around them. This is partly how reptiles hunt for food.

3. Certain types of snakes can go months without eating. This is especially true of the big constrictors, such as the Anaconda and the reticulated python. Snakes eat large meals (relative to their body size), and they have much slower metabolisms than we humans have. This partly explains how they can go so long between meals.

4. Most of the world’s snakes (nearly two-thirds) are non-venomous. Only about 500 snake species are venomous, and of those only 30 – 40 are considered harmful to humans. In other words, less than 2 percent of all snakes are considered harmful to humans.

5. “Cold-blooded” is not the best way to describe reptiles. Their blood is not necessarily cold by itself. But they are ectothermic, which means they get their body heat from external sources. Reptiles cannot regulate their body temperature internally as humans do.



By: Maximum Hit

About the Author:

Reptile Online is a leading retailer of reptile accessories, reptile books and reptile foods for all species of reptiles throughout UK.