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I caught a Florida Banded Water Snake about 1 1/2 weeks ago right in front of my condo the other day. It was raining pretty hard and my girlfriend noticed something squirming around near the front of her car in a puddle of water. I finally came to see what it was and I decided to catch it, scooped it into a shoe box. I bought a 10 gallon tank with some blue aquarium rocks as a substrate.

Ive got some chunks of wood/tree bark in there for plenty of hiding space. The 2nd day I had it, I went to Petco & bought some guppies to feed it. I basically poured the guppies into a nicely sized water bowl. After about 2 days, they all died and I threw them out and cleaned the bowl to prevent bacteria etc. A few days later I went back to Petco & bought 2 baby frogs & some minnows. I did the same thing, placed them all in the water bowl and after 2-3 days they all died and I know the snake did not eat any of them.

My question is, this snake is a juvenile, about 7 inches long. How do I feed this guy? Do I continue to throw live fish into a bowl & water, do I throw a dead fish somewhere visible? Do I just start to feed it rodents?

I have a read a few posts already, and I know they prefer hairless baby rodents, but I think this snake is so small, would it really eat something that looks twice its size?

Im just a little concerned as this little guy hasnt eaten anything in 1 1/2 weeks and I read on here that 3 small meals 3 times a week is good for them.

Sorry for the long post, but thank to anyone in advance who can help!

Pic1

Hi, stumbled across your question and figured I'd help. I have a banded water snake myself. Be very careful with the identification, as they look very similar to the venemous cottonmouth snake. Anyway, all you need to do is put a -very- large bowl of in the cage, one that the snake can get in and out of with ease. Make sure everything else is dry though, if it's not, the snake will get sores. It also needs to be cleaned every day (a pain in the ass, I know). Put as many little feeder fish as you can in there -- Bandeds are quite the eaters. So far, mine has downed a dozen in two days (and it's young - smaller than yours is). It will also eat tadpoles and treefrogs. If you need any more help, feel free to let me know!

Thanks for your response, I didnt think I was going to get one. Anyway, Im just a little curious as to how the snake will eat the fish, should I let them swim around in the water bowl and just wait until the snake decides to crawl in & eat? I just recently read too that juveniles wont eat until they finish their 1st shed. This little guy just finished shedding about 2 days ago so I assume he should be hungry by now. Im just concerned because its gonna be 3 weeks since Ive had it and I have not seen it eat anything at all.

Hello there. Your little snake should be in a terrarium as noted above, dry with good ventilation and 80 - 90 degrees during the day (90 under a light) and mid-seventies to eighties at night. It must have secure shelter. An inverted flower-pot dish would be fine. Mist half of the terrarium until damp every second day. It is important that the ventilation allows this moisture to dry completely within about 4 hours. This misting will inspire the snake to eat (don't spray the snake though, they hate that!!).

Offer your snake small guppies or goldfish, no more than twice the width of it's head in a very shallow dish. The water should be just above the back of the fish. Lay a sturdy branch across the top of the dish to permit the snake to anchor to something while it eats. Without this traction for such little snakes, they can lunge all night at fish and miss every time!

Remember, this is a baby and must be kept warm. This is what will trigger it's appetite. Cooling off too much at night is not "OK" since it's little body cannot hold the heat for more than a few minutes after the light goes out. And, if the snake is left too dry it will experience shedding problems so, mist every day, but this often only through it's shed cycle.

It may take a few weeks to build the "tadpole" up to eating 5-6 small fish at a time, but considering it's species, it will quickly become an eating machine!

Michael

Hi, don't know if you got your snake to eat / but I've been breeding snakes for 31 years and just caught 7 banded watersnakes and had 1 drop 11 babies last week. I have mine in cages with water / basking area and drop in about 25 feeder minnows every month and knock couple minnows every day or 2 to the gravel and they will readily take them
Hope this helps you out / you can catch small tree frogs and let them in the cage to be caught on will.

later,