Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering what you guys use as far as vitamin supplements or regular medications. I have a lot of really nice "investment" snakes now and I just want to make sure that I am taking the very best care of them. Calcium powder and Bene-Bac Bird & Reptile Powder have both been recommended. I was just looking for some opinions of long time reptile owners!! Thanks!

Good question, I myself use NO regular supplements!!

IMO calcium powder would be a waste on snakes, duh, they get more calcium than they need hence the large quantities of calcium in the urates.

Bene-bac is a good product for any regurge problems and I really mean to get some - one day

IMO it's all in using good healthy feeder animals. I raise my own and I know what my feeder colony has been eating and my snake collection has been thriving on my homegrown food without any supplements for many years.

>>I was wondering what you guys use as far as vitamin supplements or regular medications. I have a lot of really nice "investment" snakes now and I just want to make sure that I am taking the very best care of them. Calcium powder and Bene-Bac Bird & Reptile Powder have both been recommended. I was just looking for some opinions of long time reptile owners!! Thanks!
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I dont do supplements on anything. The mouse is a perfectly balanced package. Make sure you have a clean mouse source and that's all you need. I dont supplement dogs or ferrets and I didnt supplement my horses. Feed a complete diet and supplements arent necessary - they can actually do more harm than good, especially the calcium.

very few snakes ever need suppliments..unless they are unhealthy due to illness or are rescues, then suppliments can be used to help give maximum 'bang' for what meals you can get into these very weakened snakes.

For otherwise healthy snakes, feeding them well fed and healthy feeder rodents is all you need to do. If you breed your own feeders, use a quality rodent lab chow instead of cheap dogfood. Dogfood is not designed for rodents so can be lacking in essential nutrients...rodent chows are designed for well, rodents..and are fully balanced diets. Dog foods also often have dyes that could be harmful to snakes...though they may not affect the rodents themselves..but 'taint' the rodent. I think its a red dye that has been known to cause problems in snakes who ingest rodents fed dog food with this dye... been a long time since I read it...it was somewhere online.

I used to feed dog food...but found a source of a quality rodent chow that cost not much more than the dog food...but my rats thrive on it.
-----
PHLdyPayne

Thanks a bunch. A couple people have recommended vitamins to me now, so I figured I'd ask about them. I haven't used any yet.

And I would like to start breeding my own rodents, but I just hate the little buggers, so I'm waiting to get a shed to put them in. Either way tho, thanks for the good advice on raising them... As Always... Much Appreciated!!