Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My son recently acquired 2 ribbon snakes from a friend - both appear happy and healthy, each about 2.5 feet long. We were told one male , one female..he is larger than her. Friendly,easy to handle, etc.
The previous owner told me to give them feeder fish, which I feed my cichlids anyway..so okay, done. Just the .12 goldfish feeders. They ate them..seemed to enjoy them and that was that. Then I read somewhere..feeders alone may lead to vitamin deficiencies ? I bought some sprinkle on "snake vitamins" but haven't quite figured how to get them to the snake. I dusted some crickets in it hoping they might eat them..but no, they weren't interested. I'm going to give guppy feeders as well,hoping the variety may help..but how can I ensure these guys are getting all they need? Will they do mealworms or anything else i can put this powder stuff on? Do they need this powder? I think it's a calcium based vitamin. I'm feeding them twice a week and that seems to be sufficient.
Any input / thoughts accepted. Thanks !
~katie~

Hello, Feeder goldfish, guppies, and rosy red minnows all cause the vitamin deficiancy. I feed my garters, toads (just like mice high in all the vitamins and minerals they need), worms (good also), trout pieces (very good only $$), you can find them cheap @ some markets. Pinkie mice and worms should pretty much be their entire diet with an occasional feeder fish treat here and there. The pinkies need to be sented so what I do is I keep toads or worms on hand, and even smelt (freshwater that u buy from the store, the small kind). I use smelt as a treat for them. They love it and no need to kille the feeder fish. The pinkies, and hoppers that I buy are also frozen from my local petshop. I just thaw them out and sent then on the head with smelt.

I don't know how big the pinkies should be for your ribbons, but day old should be good enough. You dont want to feed them to large of a meal, as they won't be able to digest it as good as the smaller meals.

I believe the best bet is to go with the pinkies (all year all the time), Toads (in the summer when u can catch them as a treat). Worms (occasionally, they love them!, but it causes runny stool). and the occasional feeder fish. If they are fed on a stict diet of feeder fish there are chances that they will begin to have uncontrolled jerking movements and fliping to one side out of control. I had this happen when I was mis-informed with my first garter snake. It never stopped and eventually it began to happen everyday, I had her put down. After several years of evxperiance, I have never had this happen again. Take care

Hope this helps,

Lu

Are you sure guppies have a high concentration of thiaminase? I thought they were relatively lower than roseys or golds. As for feeding toads, that is a good way to give your snake parasites. IMO, it is not worth it. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

You can also get certain baitshop fish such as shad or smelt, and those will work as well. I suggest freezing them first to kill all parasites that could possibly be transmitted to the snakes. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

I dont really know about how much the guppies contain, but I do know they do. I start my babies off with guppies and as soon as I can I get them off of them. The toads and parasites: very true, but that also goes with the guppies and rosey red minnows. The bait shop does sell minnows which are a good food, and your local superfresh/shoprite has frozen freshwater smelt which contains little Thiamine (as they clean them meaning they cut off the head n stuff, where I believe most of the thiamine is located. I'm sorry I forgot to mention that I do freeze my toads before they are fed, but i have no clue to whether that helps or not with parasites.........what do u say Andy??

Thanks for the reply Andy,

Lu

If they are frozen for a sufficient amount of time, it should help just like with any other feeders. I still would rather use mice and fish as well as worms instead of taking wild toads, but they can be used. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

well, if fish arent enough for a balanced diet, then what can I feed my 4 month olds gartners that are small enough for them to get into their mouths

Don't get me wrong. Fish are fine, just not pet store fish. If you take fish out of the wild or from baitshops and freeze them for a week or so they are good feeders. Pinkie mice might work depending on the size of the garters. Worms also work. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains