>>Hi Robert! Thanks for taking the time to write that! Great info! I hadn't actually planned on changing his diet until I saw this thread and it made me concerned that I needed to. When he gets to be an adult I will probably look to add some bird offerings and maybe a fish here and there, but for now I will probably keep with the rodents while he is young so long as I know it is not detrimental to do so. He seems to be thriving just fine and is growing quite quickly as well! I am thrilled with him and am so glad I made the decision save up and get me an Indigo! He is so totally worth it!

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My personal opinion, for what it's worth, is that what's best for the snake is to try to replicate it's natural diet. While I have no doubt they will eat an occasional rodent in the wild, all the data I've seen (which is not much, since I don't think there is a lot of data out there) shows that in the wild they eat mostly snakes and frogs, which are low-fat, high-protein and high-calcium relative to farm/lab raised rodents. When young, I fed my indigo mostly anoles, with an occasional mouse/toad or treat of dreaded goldfish. (I doubt an occasional goldfish is going to do any harm, but I understand the concern.) Now that he's over 6' long, I feed him rabbit pinks (lower in fat than rats) and quail. (I wish I could get feeder snakes and whole trout.) This is all just the way I do things, and I certainly don't consider myself an expert, and I'm not knocking anyone else. But if you do feed all rodents, I would recommend sprinkling the rodents with a calcium supplement.



Whatever you do, please share your experiences, since that is the best way we as hobbyists can continually improve on our husbandry practices.



BTW, I once fed my indigo some sort of oily ocean fish (smelt?). He quickly ate it, but when it came out the other end after a few days, it was the worst thing I've ever smelled, even worse than usual. I was literally gagging when I cleaned it up! Never again!

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