SNAKES
Information Compliments of:
Dr. Vanessa Rolfe
The Bird & Exotic Hospital, Inc.
6147 Lake Worth Rd.
Greenacres, FL 33463
561.964.2121
WHY WE RECOMMEND WELLNESS VISITS
Many of the diseases of birds, reptiles, and exotic animals are preventable and are often due to a
misunderstanding of proper care and feeding.
Since exotics may hide symptoms late into the course of illness, even “healthy” animals need
regular physical examinations. If problems are detected early they usually are more easily
treated. We have a special interest in these animals and keep up to date with new medical
developments in the field.
During your wellness visit we examine your pet to detect early signs of illness. We review your
questions and concerns and provide guidance on care and nutrition. We explain diagnostic and
treatment options. A partnership between us to optimize your companion’s care is one of the best
ways to keep your pet healthy and to minimize dangerous and costly illness.
THE BIRD & EXOTIC HOSPITAL OFFERS:
√ Wellness consultations for birds and exotic pets
√ Medical care for sick and injured birds and exotic pets
√ Grooming such as wing or nail trims
√ Boarding
√ Diagnostic, surgical, and x-ray procedures
√ Microchipping for identification
√ Vaccinations
√ Consultations for behavior problems and prevention
strategies
√ Demonstrations on handling, monitoring health, medicating,
and dealing with emergencies
√ Emergency care available
SNAKE CARE
This handout will not attempt to be an all-inclusive guide to the care of all snakes in
captivity. All species fill different niches, come from different parts of the world, and
therefore have different requirements. However, it does attempt to give some basic
recommendations on the care of the most commonly available species, namely, some boas
and pythons, and other constrictors.
It is always better to buy a snake raised in captivity, rather than a snake caught in the wild
and imported. Imports tend to have an increased chance of having parasites, being injured,
or being infected with many diseases. Breeding takes work, time, and money; therefore a
captive bred reptile will be more expensive. The increased cost is usually worth it after
taking into account increased medical costs and possibly a shorter lifespan with wild-caught
animals.
DIET
In captivity, reptiles with diets of whole vertebrate prey items have fewer problems with
nutritional deficiencies than others that depend on a proper mix of vegetable matter or
insects. This is because the snake not only ingests muscle, but bones and stomach contents,
which make the meal balanced.
It is very important to get your snake to take dead prey. Feeding live adult rodents is
dangerous, especially if you leave them in with the snake unsupervised. The prey will often
attack the predator and cause serious damage or death. In addition, the snake may become
afraid of the prey and may not eat for a long time. Most snakes will eat dead prey readily. If
yours will only eat live food and not pre-killed, it can be slowly “weaned” by offering prey
lightly stunned. As the snake becomes used to this, progress through heavily stunned,
freshly killed, and (if desired) to frozen and thawed (in a bowl of warm water) rodents. In a
very small percentage of cases a snake will not eat killed food. If you must offer live adult
rodents, closely supervise the cage until the snake eats. Tragedy can strike in thirty seconds
while you turn your back. Or even if the snake readily strikes and wraps the prey, it can
potentially reach around and bite at the snake during the feeding process.
Most commonly kept snakes eat mice, rats, other rodents, rabbits, and chicks. There are
some snakes that are hard to keep because their prey is hard to find. Because of the many
species in the world, prey varies from lizards and snakes to birds, insects, amphibians, fish,
earthworms, etc. In addition some of the largest boids (boas and pythons) at their mature
size require prey items along the order of goats and pigs. Research the requirements of the
particular species before you buy a snake. Verify that you will be able to provide food and
house both at its present size as well as its eventual size.
Do not use road-killed or trapped animals (including house mice) as prey. These may
transmit parasites to your pet. Find captive-raised prey or raise them yourself. If you can’t
find local suppliers, there are specialty reptile companies that advertise in reptile magazines
or the internet.
Do not feed any more often then 6-7 days in the case of a very young snake or every 7-10
days with a larger one. Most larger snakes will need feeding much less frequently than that,
potentially only every month or few months. You may feed as many properly sized prey as
your snake is willing to take at a time. However, the correct amount and time between
feedings depend completely on the type of snake, age, size, growth pattern, and ability to
keep weight. In fact, obesity is a common condition in captive snakes and it can be quite
unhealthy.
If you handle rodents before you pick up your snake, the snake might strike at you because
you smell like food. This is not viciousness, just hunger. Wash your hands after handling
rodents before handling the snake.
Unwillingness to eat (anorexia) occurs often. This can happen due to a variety of things,
including improper husbandry, disease, stress, obesity, seasonal changes, light cycles,
shedding, and breeding readiness. I will discuss this subject later.
HOUSING
Typically aquariums make fine snake cages. Custom-made enclosures of Plexiglas and
plywood are also appropriate; seal the wood with polyurethane to make it easier to clean.
Never use wire mesh as a wall because the snake may injure its face and get “mouthrot” (the
medical term for this is ‘infectious stomatitis’). If the top of the enclosure is wire mesh,
make sure your pet can not rub against this. If he or she can reach this, place a pegboard
(sealed with polyurethane) or cardboard with small ventilation holes against the mesh. This
will help reduce damage from rubbing.
For most commonly available species, substrate on the bottom should not be wood chips,
corncob, gravel, sand, dirt, or anything particulate. These can cause many problems,
including intestinal blockage, skin infections, mouth irritation and eventual “mouthrot,” and
respiratory disease. There are some exceptions to this rule, including some of the burrowing
snakes. We recommend using newspaper (black and white), carpet mats, Astroturf, or
indoor-outdoor carpeting for most species. These are easy to clean and are not expensive.
Lighting in the enclosure is important. Although it is not absolutely necessary for all snakes,
using a full -spectrum light that produces UVB (but not simply a regular fluorescent bulb or
a grow-bulb). It activates vitamin D and therefore helps calcium metabolism. A daily light
schedule will depend upon your species’ geographical origin.
Provide water in a shallow, wide dish, large enough that the snake can soak if it wishes. In
addition, for species from humid areas daily misting will raise the humidity. They also
benefit from soaking in a tub of warm water (100 degrees F), for a few minutes every few
days and daily before shedding.
Climbing and basking furniture, such as branches or rocks are important. Also provide areas
for the snake to hide, such as a cardboard box. This allows it to relax, becoming less
stressed and preventing nose scrapes from bumping into the walls. Placing a visual barrier
around the bottom few inches of the cage will help also if there is a great deal of striking
against the wall.
As many snakes usually do not contact each other except to breed or sometimes to den up,
beware of keeping more than one per enclosure unless breeding. In nervous snakes, the
stress from being forced to stay in the same space together may cause ill health and in some
species, anorexia. Certainly, separate them when you feed them to prevent them both from
grabbing the same prey and one swallowing the other. And obviously, don’t keep snakes that
feed on other snakes (such as kingsnakes) with other snakes.
You may find it safer to move your snake to a separate cage when you feed it. This helps
keep the snake from striking with hunger when you open its regular house, because it knows
it will go elsewhere to eat.
TEMPERATURE
Reptiles depend upon external heat to help elevate their body temperature, assist digestion
and keep their immune system functioning. Optimally, there should be several areas within
the enclosure at different degrees, allowing the snake to choose its own body temperature.
Most tropical snakes need to have one portion of its living space (a “basking spot”) at mid to
upper 90’s degrees F, with graduated scale down to mid 80’s degrees during the day. The
nighttime temperature should not go much below 80 degrees. Healthy snakes from more
moderate climates prefer cooler temperatures.
It is best to provide multiple sources of heat, both contact and radiant sources. An
incandescent bulb or a ceramic heating element can provide radiant heat. It is important to
make sure the snake will not be able to touch the bulb because of burns. A true heat lamp is
not always necessary but may be depending on your cage setup. A heating pad under the
cage will give contact heat. If one lifts one end of the aquarium up, a temperature gradient
will result (make sure the closest point does not go over 100 degrees F). Make sure there is a
basking area in the mid 90’s degrees F between both sources. Keep several thermometers
around the cage to monitor the temperature at different spots.
Some commercially available reptile heat supply units (“hot rocks” or adhesive heat pads) are
not well manufactured. They can cause burns or if too cold can result in inadequate
temperature. Therefore it is very rare that these are recommended.
WHEN SHOULD MY SNAKE SEE A VETERINARIAN?
Proper care can prevent the majority of illnesses seen by many exotic animal veterinarians.
Wellness visits can catch diseases early, because reptiles tend to hide their symptoms until
later in illness. If found early, many diseases can be more easily and less expensively treated.
Therefore, all pets even if thought to be healthy should receive initial and then yearly
examinations by a veterinarian familiar with the type of pet. Reptiles may also need fecal
examinations performed for detection of internal parasites, and deworming if necessary.
You should contact the veterinarian sooner with symptoms such as: abnormal behavior,
anorexia, wheezing, discharge from the mouth, slow growth rate, abnormal stool, skin
disease and anything else question-able in nature. It is better to take action sooner than later,
and to have a false call rather than an extremely ill pet.
Common problems are infectious stomatitis (“mouthrot”), anorexia, dysecdysis (difficulties
shedding), constipation, regurgitation, pneumonia, bacterial and parasite infections of the
skin (mites and ticks) and internal organs. these problems should be addressed by The Bird
& Exotic Hospital as needed.
Anorexia, as mentioned previously, can occur in sick and well animals. After being
examined and tested to rule out disease or other physiologic conditions (i.e., shedding,
breeding condition, time of the year, obesity) which may cause this, there are some
techniques that may work besides verifying the rest of the care is appropriate (especially as
regards to temperature and daylight schedule):
1. Leave the dead prey with the snake in the cage alone for a while or overnight, or try
placing the prey in the hideout for the snake to come across when it goes in (visual security).
Also place the killed adult prey or a live unweaned rat and the snake together overnight in a
paper or cloth bag closed and placed within the cage.
2.Try different animals: Change the size (usually smaller), color or type (i.e., try a gerbil or a
mouse instead of a rat). Try killed prey first but if necessary try live food and supervise;
remove live prey within a few minutes and don’t leave them together unsupervised.
3.If you have a recently imported snake that is refusing to eat (ball pythons commonly), do
not handle it excessively until it has eaten a few times. Although these snakes may seem
unafraid, capture has stressed them. After they have been examined and checked for
parasites by a veterinarian, handle them as minimally needed to clean the cage, until they are
eating regularly.
4. Get a small bucket with a lid: place the snake into it for a few hours. Then cut a hole in
the lid, place the snake within the bucket into the cage, and put the prey also in the cage.
Emerging may stimulate feeding.
5.Use a small bucket to place the prey within (try a live unweaned rat or a killed gerbil), cut
an entrance hole for the snake part of the way up, and place into the cage.
6. During your visit ask about force-feeding, tube-feeding, and reptile appetite stimulants.
7.Rubbing the prey on the nostrils and sensitive “pits” around the mouth, or tapping the
snake lightly on the nose with the prey may elicit a striking response.
8.If snakes are kept together (see “Housing”), separate them to feed.
9.Verify you are using the right prey. Research the natural history of your species to find out
if there is something else needed not being provided in captivity.
Some snakes become anorectic certain times of the year (some snakes start brumating, the
correct term for what many people call hibernating), for example ball pythons often will not
eat from October to April. Plan for this in the summer and fall and feed your pet more than
usual that it will not lose too much condition during the off months.
If you have questions regarding this handout or for more information, call the number on
the front page. This handout is not a substitute for veterinary care or advice.
COPYRIGHT THE BIRD & EXOTIC HOSPITAL, INC. 2008