Yes, we use vitamin supplementation regularly but conservatively for our rodent/bird eating snakes in our collection (not to mention all of the rest of our herps including various lizards, turtles, crocs, venomous herps, etc.). My 35 year old ball python and 25 year old burm, not to mention many other long term captive herps, have been getting vitamin supplementation throughout their life and many of my other long term animals receive vitamins in their diet. But, too much of a good thing can be very harmful; vitamins included. We go with a fairly conservative approach (and as Joan mentioned, there really isn't any scientific data to help us understand the exact vitamin fecundity due to freezing of prey items). For example, our hatchling boas/pythons that feed on whole animal prey get the rumps of their prey dusted on one prey item weekly (this consists of a 50/50 mix of RepCal and Herptivite or we alternate with Minerall). I have a baby eastern diamondback that has tripled its growth in only three months due to a quality diet mixed with regular vitamin supplementation. As these animals reach maturity we cut back to once every 2-4 weeks (in the case of burms, we cut back to once monthly due to their slow metabolisms). The larger the snake, the larger the "pinch" of vitamin powder that goes on to teh moistened rump of the prey animal. I will also shove a capsule of Vitamin C into a prey animal every now and then. If you use vitamins routinely but sparingly you'll be erring on the safe side...a little vitamin supplementation is better than none at all. I would rather err on giving too little than too much when it comes to vitamins as a whole animal diet is pretty "rich" in everything a snake needs (even with the freezing process degrading some of the vitamin efficacy).



Now, if you are feeding live prey or freshly killed prey that has been raised on quality diets, I feel that supplementation is unnecessary.



My animals are active, outwardly healthy, vigorous, robust and we have experienced few health related problems (but there are MANY factors to longevity in reptiles; diet and supplementation is just one of many components....I'll throw in "truly blessed" as another component for my success).



Rob Carmichael, Curator

The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm

City of Lake Forest Parks & Recreation (IL)

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