Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Man, work sucked tonight. I wait tables and the money can be okay sometimes, but tonight SUCKED. It was slow as hell tonight, and I only ended up making about $20. And then my last table ended up getting seated at around 8:30. They then ordered nothing but tap water and sandwiches, and THEY WOULD NOT LEAVE. Three hours later and their total tab is about $20. Which pisses me off because I know that I'm hanging around for three hours pouring free water for them, and that I'm only gonna end up getting tipped about three or four dollars.

So I'm pretty mad, when I go down to the garage to pick up some supplies. To my surprise, I see a cute little water snake. So I grab a to-go cup, throw the snake in it, and take it home. Work may have sucked, but at least I got a free pet to love and care for. And besides, I had to rescue the snake. You can't have water snakes hanging around in the garage of a restaurant. Either it's gonna get run over, or someone is gonna think it's a cottonmouth and kill it.

So anyway, now that I have the snake, how do I care for it? I had a pet water snake before, but that was like 20 years ago and I was only about 5 years old. What do I feed my snake? Do I feed it fish? I remember that I used to feed my old water snake minnows and guppies, but I was wondering if that's the ideal food. What to feed it? Frogs? Fish? Lizards? Mice? All of the above?

Also, how should I house it? It's a water snake, so it obviously likes water. On the other hand, I've heard of some people's pet water snakes getting sick because they sit around in a water dish all day. Should I give it enough water to soak in? Does it need to be in water, or do I just have to keep the humidity high? Also, what kind of temperatures do these guys like, and does it need the ultraviolet lights? I read that these snakes are nocturnal, so that makes me think that they wouldn't need the ultraviolet. But on the other hand, I've seen many water snakes hanging around during daytime.

Oh, and BTW, in case it helps, I think it's a Nerodia fasciata.

Anyway, how do I take care of this little bastard? What do I need to do to make sure that it's a happy water snake?

Congrats on your new pet! The setup for a watersnake is not much different than that for a kingsnake or other terrestrial snake; dry substrate in most of the cage, UV and heat sources, and a nice big water dish that he can soak in. Watersnakes will generally not get skin problems unless the whole cage is too damp.

Guppies or rosy reds are fine for now; it would probably be economical for you to set up a breeding tank of guppies to keep him fed, and that way you'll have better control over the quality of the guppies you are feeding him. Most people try to switch their snakes over to mice; you can try this by scenting a thawed pinky with fish. It may take a while.

try to lean away from rosies. I've heard from several breeders that they contain a chemical that can build up in your snake and eventually kill it. guppies, frogs and tadpoles will work. I just got a few watersnakes switched to rodents and it was quite a chore. Rub a frog or a fish on a live pinky, peach fuzzy or pinky rat (depending on size of snake) and leave it in a small container with the snake. A deli cup works great. Leave the container in a dark closet for about an hour or so. After a few weeks of this you should be able to get your snake to start taking prekilled rodents.

As for the cage, I'm using sterelite containers with ventilation holes melted into the sides. Use a soldering iron or a wood burning tool to do this. For substrate, use newsprint. Get a water dish big enough for the snake to submerge and put a heat pad under the opposite end. And give it something to hide in.

And get ready to start changing out that newsprint, because watersnakes are messy and smelly.

Good luck.
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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
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2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

I have my little broadbanded watersnake in a roomy snake condo that we built, with a pane of glass you slide off the front. he's roommates with a now very large ribbon snake. I recommend minnows, I catch mine in a ditch in front of our house with a fine net. about 10-20 minnows 2-3 times a week. Give him a branch to climb on, and a large water dish to sleep in, and he'll be fine. just be careful that the whole cage doesn't get wet, or he may get bubbles and blisters under his skin and die. I learned the hard way once.
put newspaper in the cage for easy cleaning. Good luck with your new little friend!