Learn to care for a pet snake

A snake needs proper care, just like any other pet. But since they are not like ordinary pets, we already know a lot about how to care for them, in this case, you should make the effort to learn how to care for a pet snake before you buy one.

Snakes need all the usual pet care supplies of a safe and comfortable shelter, food and water.

Here is a little introduction to some of the specific needs snakes have to stay healthy and safe.

What do snakes eat?

When snakes live in the wild, they hunt and feed on small rodents and reptiles. So you might think that you have to feed your snake live rodents like mice.

But in fact, your snake may injure itself on its food trying to defend itself from being eaten, which is why good pet owners feed their snakes prey that has been humanely euthanized and then frozen for convenience.

That means you just get your supply of pre-killed meals and store them in the freezer, then thaw them before feeding your snake.

How often should I feed my snake?

Like many adolescent species, young snakes tend to eat more than adults because they grow so quickly.

Therefore, you should feed them a little more frequently than when they become adults, for example young snakes feed once every 5 days until they are 9-12 months old.

After that, they need to be fed every 6 days.

Once they are 3 years old or older, you only need to feed them once every 10 to 14 days.

So once your snake is an adult, you have a lot less work to do and less demand on your food budget since you only have to feed it once every fortnight.

How much should I feed him?

Obviously you also have to have an idea of ​​the amount of feed you need for your size and age.

It is normal to estimate the size of prey to feed by checking your snake’s girth and giving it prey that is about 1.5 to 1 1/2 times larger than the thickness of your snake’s body.

Are there any special requirements for water?

Your snake enclosure should always have a clean supply of warm or room temperature water, even if your snake doesn’t seem to be drinking it.

Snakes tend to bathe and even leisurely soak in their water bowl. Unfortunately, they also tend to defecate in it, so you have to be vigilant about replacing the water every day.

You should get a solid, heavy container that the snake cannot tip over when it climbs in, and the container should be shallow so that it can soak without risk of entrapment and even drowning.

What kind of snake cage is suitable for your home?

It is important that your snake cage is very sturdy and secure as some snakes are true escape artists who will butt their heads and push through every door and crevice to see if they can get out.

Very popular options are snake terrariums (and you can buy a lovely variety of affordable ones online at Amazon) or fish tanks/aquariums can be used, as long as you can secure the lid.

But make sure the tank has adequate ventilation once the litter is attached, as the snake needs fresh air and the ability to circulate air for temperature control.

Snakes need to feel safe and be able to hide when they want to sleep in privacy, so provide them with some of the snake caves you can buy made of rock, wood, or plastic.

To allow your snake to stay fit and toned, you should also provide some tree branches for it to climb and coil around.

The snake enclosure also requires suitable bedding for the floor surface, called the substrate. Newspaper, pine bark chips, and aspen shavings are all good choices.

Avoid using things like cedar shavings, corn on the cob, sand, dirt, or pine shavings. You can also purchase an Astro Tuft sheet mat that is easy to clean and recycle for your floor covering.

Do snakes always need a warm environment?

Not all snakes need it to be warm in their enclosure. You actually need to provide a heat lamp to connect to one end of the cage so that there is a range of temperatures with heat at one end and cooler at the other end.

You can also provide a heating pad instead if an overhead light isn’t convenient…but don’t provide hot rocks or anything the snake can burn on.

Here are some basic tips to help you get started, but you should learn as much as possible about how to properly care for your pet snake, so visit some snake forums and interact with other pet snake owners.

And there are some great books online that you can download to learn everything you need to know in detail, including snake health topics and even how to breed your snakes if that’s what you want to do.