Reptile & Amphibian Forums

im pretty sure i have a nerodia fasciata pictiventris or southern folirda banded water snake. when i bought it the store owner knew nothing about it and said to just feed it goldfish. well my question is can i feed it something else? i heard i can use waterdogs or small frogs but i wasnt too sure. any help you can give me is extremely appriciated thanks

Ok, seeign as you are new to water snakes I am going to go ahead and tell you that you do not need alot of water. You should on have a bowl in there big enough for the snake to soak in. It realy does not have to be that big if you will take the snake out and soak it in some kind of container for about 30 minutes every few days (the water should only cover half way up the body). But make sure you have water available at all times. The reason I went ahead and said all this is because most people get the impression that "water" snakes have to have alot of water. Actually alot of water can cause terrible blisters and will in the end kill the snake if you do not correct the problem. I only use a water bowl for drinking purposes and I soak the snakes about once or twice a week.

Now that I said that I will type about feeding.
You should allow the snake a few days before offering food.
Once you start feeding it well on fish you can switch to rodents (preferbly hairless) and they will grow better. Go to the posts below and read about how to scent with them. I know I have typed it out to many times already.lol. I highly reccomend not to use goldfish as the goldfish breeders put a certain chemical in the water to kill algae and it does not hurt the fish but they still carry it and when the snake eats them on a regular basis it will screw up their liver. Oh and seeing as goldfish are in the carp family, you would have to worry about thiamine deficiency. Look on previous posts about that too. I would suggest getting some shiners or catching minnows for the first few fedings and then start the scenting process. DO NOT FEED FROGS!!!! You will be giving parasites a free snake to infest!!! Frogs are terrible for captive animal in my opinion. Only unless the animal will refuse everything else should you use frogs. I realy see no point in feeding them water dogs, they will eat them but why would yo want to? Any other questions on the maintanence of these little snakes feel free to ask. Good luck with the little fellow. Oh! and lets see some pics so we can correctly ID the snake. I never trust pet stores. They will sell you anyhting and not even know what it is. There is even a possiblity it is just a rat snake.
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Justin