Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok,
The adult Southern Ringneck that Buddy gave me is a monster, last night it ate 3 goldfish and 3 guppies! I never would've thought the snake's main food would be fish. So far it ate 8 fish, took 2 out of a waterbowl and 1 I hand-fed to it. Buddy I don't know what you did with this snake but it is incredibly tame, it just doesn't like being held. Many many times there have been reports, etc. of goldfish being fed to snakes and the snakes would start to spasm and get to the point of dying if not resulting in death. I could say confidently that not many people have used fish as food for Ringneck Snakes, I know Bianca does and Will Still does. What are the chances of my Ringneck Snake getting "messed up" from eating a large amount of fish( 6 or 7) 2 times a week(like Tuesday and Saturday)? Any thought or comments will be appreciated here. I also have a pic of the snake eating a guppy that I will share soon.
Michael

Hi Michael,
I'm glad it is eating for you. I only saw it eat anoles but every once in a while I would put some earthworms in the terrarium. They would disappear but they may have burrowed down in the potting soil. Good luck with it ,you may want to vary the diet when possible. Oh I have another one bigger than the hatchling but still young. I'll repost the picture I took when I had it. Buddy.

Hi Michael,

I have heard first and second hand reports of common and short headed gartersnakes suffering from symptoms of thiamine deficiency from a mostly live fish diet. The literature states that snakes can suffer the symptoms of thiamine deficiency you mentioned from eating a diet of frozen, thawed fish. It was once thought unlikely that snakes fed live fish would suffer the same effect, but I know of highly skilled, experienced keepers who have seen this problem in live fish feeders. I dust the guppies (as the snake swallows them) with Nekton vitamin suppliment, which contains thiamine, once a week. I don't really know what the risk is, but I'd rather avoid it if possible. Gook luck.

Will

PS - The albino is still doing quite well, the normal sib died in December, never ate.

I could dust the food once the snake grabs but chances that I'll actually get dust on it is slim to none. I watched it grab a goldfish and smallow it head first in less than 10 seconds and the goldfish was around 4 inches long. You said there have been reports of Shorthead Garter Snakes eating fish? I highly doubt that, I may be wrong but as far as I know, people have only gotten captives to eat worms and nothing else. Oh that sucks that the sibling died, I may be wrong here too but since the other was albino wouldn't that mean the normal was het for albino?
Michael

It was a good friend and experienced herper who reported to me about his own long term short-headed garter colony consuming guppies and small goldfish. I trust his first hand experience more than any outdated, or worse, made up, book info. Which is unfortunately the case with much of the published crap out there.

That's why these forums are so valuable, because there is such a huge collective body of experience out there. A smart keeper can wade through the bs and extract valuable info from other observant herpers. Info that may never be published in the glossy, watered down trade mags or books, most of which aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Peace.

Will

Yes, the sibling could have been a het albino, depending on the phenotypes of the parents(het x het or het x albino).

But I have heard many cases where people attempted to feed Shortheadeds fish, frogs and salamanders and they would only take worms. I guess after they are established in captivity for a while they begin to take different prey. You said that you sprinkle something on the fish while the albino is eating? Just pour the stuff in with the fish and the fish will eat it, it makes it alot easier. I hope that albino lives for a long time, you gotta breed it in 2 or 3 years and let me get one of the babies.
Michael

As soon as the snake begins swallowing, dust the fish with whatever you are using to suppliment. Even if you only get a little bit on the fish, it will be effective because those preparations are pretty concentrated. The powder will stick in the fish's slime coat and get swallowed with the fish. This technique has worked for me for many, many years.

Feeding the suppliment to the fish will not work for two teasons: 1. At such a concentration, the vitamins & minerals will kill the fish very quickly if they swallow any and 2. The vitamins will very quickly dissolve and foul the water killing all of the fish. Give it a shot dude, but I think you'll come to the same conclusion.

It may be difficult. For 1- the snake grabs the fish and swallows it extremely quick. It grabbed and swallowed a 4 inch goldfish in less than around 10 seconds. For 2- when the snake grabs the fish it goes under it's hiding spot under a piece of slate to eat and under the slate it is usually buried underground. It already ate 1 guppy today, I'll feed it another and try to get some stuff on it. I wish I could get my baby Ringnecks (1 Northern 1 Southern) to eat though, I had the Northern since August, it's sibling died in November and I recently pulled it out of hibernation in hopes of getting it to eat. The baby Southern that I got from Buddy completely refuses guppies. I think that you need to give Ringnecks time to get adjusted before you start feeding them, it was 2 months in captivity before my little ringnecks would even start eating, and from there I couldn't get them to stop.
Michael

It took a bit of work, but I was able to dust the guppy before the snake dragged it away. Honestly, I had more trouble catching the guppy!
Michael