Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I feed my corn snake fresh thawed fuzzies and was told that when feeding fresh thawed rodents the rodents loose some nutrients from the freezing process, is this true? If so what supplements should one use and how often to feed the supplements and how do you administer the supplements?

Thanks

machinegun

Almost everyone will say that there is no need to supplement, but when my snakes are still only eating pinkies, I will dip the pinky's rear-end in some calcium about once every month. If you supplement too much the snake may have problems going to the bathroom. I didn't realize this with my first snake and supplemented him at every feeding. He really had to struggle to defecate because his urates were so hard. I cut back the supplementing and his problems stopped.

If you do supplement, do it sparingly...but you don't have to supplement at all if you don't want to.
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alstiver@hotmail.com

1.0 2001 Hypo snow cornsnake
0.1 2002 Pastel Ghost cornsnake
1.1 2002 Bloodred cornsnakes
0.1 1998 Het Hypo, Het Caramel cornsnake
1.0 2000 Hypo Het Caramel cornsnake

While freezing/thawing does reduce the nutrients, it's still an open question whether the reduction is enough to matter.

As far as I know, freezing has no effect on the calcium and phosporus in pinkie bones. Adding extra calcium may do more harm than good. The calcium/phosphorus ratio needs to be in the right range, which it is in rodents.

OTOH, I have supplemented the diet of corn snakes with a good bird liquid multiple vitamin (A, B, C, D3, riboflavin, etc., but not minerals). Reptiles need D3, like birds, while mammals can use D2. I think extra vitamins are most helpful for fast-growing babies and breeder females. But even then I never gave more than one small drop a month. Unfortunately, the brand I've used has been discontinued, and I need to find a replacement.

Paul Hollander