Adult nonbreeders do fine in captivity without supplements. And in my opinion, no rodent eating snake needs extra calcium, which can produce problems by throwing off the correct calcium/phosphorus ratio. However, it's a known fact that, in vertebrates, breeder females and growing youngsters need higher grade nutrition than adult nonbreeders.

In the wild, rat snakes go after eggs and baby birds. More than one has been caught in the act of raiding my pigeon cages over the years. Few get this sort of thing in captivity. Does this make a difference?

We see kinked spines and small or missing eyes every so often in captive bred snakes. This sort of thing almost never occurs in wild bred babies. There are lots of theories but nobody really has a handle on the cause(s).

Nutritional deficiencies commonly decrease fertility and increase the number of still births. I had a wild caught bullsnake female that bred in captivity four years in a row. She got fresh killed mice only. I saw a gradual increase in the number of infertile eggs. Coincidence?

I had a baby corn snake that was shedding every two weeks. After she got a vitamin supplement, she dropped back to shedding every 4-5 weeks. Coincidence?

In my opinion, we know less than we think about reptilian nutritional needs.

Paul Hollander

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