Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My daughter brought home a ribbon snake because the former owner didn't want it anymore and said they were going to release it ( this is third hand - she got it from someone else it had been passed to who didn't want it and also planned to release it in the spring). My daughter didn't want that to happen since it's so calm she feels it was captive born. It had been kept in a very small Tupperware container with no water or hide for at least 3 days so we put it in a 10 gallon with hides and a big waterbowl ( I know I need to get an escape- proof 20 gallon). He ate3 fish and spent most of his first day in the water. He's about 1 1/2 to 2 feet long. He's refused a f/t pinky. Is a diet of fish okay for him? Can we raise guppies for him ourselves to be sure the fish he eats are fed better? Any advice would be appreciated - the info on feeding I found online is a bit contradictory and confusing. Thanks.
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1.0.0 277 Graybanded Kingsnake, Boris Karloff - R.I.P.
1.0.0 Crockett Graybanded Kingsnake, Julien Sands
1.0.0 Ball Python, Frank Langella
1.0.0 Blue-eyed lucy, Ian McKellen
1.0.0 spider Ball python, Martin Freeman
1.0.0 champagne ball python, Norman Reedus
1.0.0 Sweet Rosy Bourke Parakeet, Didgeridoo
1.0.0 Ringneck Dove, Pimmdale Plumington
0.1.0 Smart & Loving Daughter

Chances are it may have been CB, just not CBB. People that breed Thamnophis usually breed garter snakes, not ribbon snakes. A diet of fish is best. Unlike their garter snake relatives, ribbon snakes rarely if ever take f/t pinks. I have kept dozens of Eastern Ribbon Snakes (Thamnophis sauritus) over my life and have always given them a diet of fish, cricket frogs, invasive greenhouse frogs, BABY toads, and earth worms.

Feeder fish are an okay staple but I would variate the diet as these fish are not as nutritious as a pond / lake captured fish. What I did is I did breed my own, but not a store-bought species. I filled up a 30 gallon storage container with water, mud, and some plants from the swamp behind my house. I let it fill up with mosquitoes for a few weeks and then I dumped in 40 Mosquito Fish. They ate up the mosquitoes, and began to breed and produce my own stock of mosquito fish. The mosquito fish will eat red worms, earth worms, black worms, and blood worms (mosquito larvae) as well so keeping them fed is no problem. As ribbon snakes get larger small sunfish and kilifish are good too. Point is, they are mainly fish eaters. A variation of fish is good to use, but from experience I just don't like using normal feeder fish as they are like junk-food and they tend to stop eating other fish. The chances are that the Ribbon Snake was wild caught as I said above, so catching fish from local ponds (if it was a local ribbon snake) should be no issue.

Adding small frogs to the diet if they are not protected in your area is good too. Thamnophis of all specific epithets love small frogs. Earth worms are very nutritious and these, unless you use pesticide/herbicide in your yard, can be obtained in your yard. I usually collect my earth worms from fertilizer free areas of a yard that does use fertilizer (my yard).

Eastern Ribbon Snakes are semi-aquatic snakes that also love to climb. A large water dish for their fish and soaking is good to have too.

Their land habitat must be kept dry. Despite being semi-aquatic the can develop moisture sores which can become lethally infected. I have always followed the advice of dry land to save myself the head ache. The snakes will go into the water when they are ready to be moistened again. I usually use cypress mulch kept dry with a handful of damp sphagnum moss in a corner. I mean damp, not moist, just enough so that it isn't dry and crispy. A good amount for 2-3 ribbon snakes the width of a pencil and about 1 1/2 feet long to hide in can be measured by:

Take several compacted 1-handfuls of dry sphagnum, drench and soak it in water. Take only compact one handful and squeeze it dry as much as possible, and then fluff it up and put it in an area where the snakes can hide. This acts as an effective "moist-hide" that many snakes that like higher humidity usually enjoy having.

A spot to climb under a heat lamp is good too because they really enjoy getting high up to get nice and warm. Its been about a year since I have kept an Ribbon Snakes so I don't remember the basking spot temp off the top of my head, I do know that I used a 75 watt heat bulb though.

As far as keeping up with water they do defecate in it which requires water change as soon as noticed, as they drink from the same water. Also, luckily you only have one, as only 2-3 fish should be kept in the water dish at a time, unless mosquito fish, another pro to this species, as they can withstand oxygen starved waters for longer periods of time compared to many other fish species used as ribbon snake food. If more than 2-3 standard feeder fish or guppies are used, they may die and foul the water. Just be sure to check water daily for feces and dead fish.

A heat pad on the warm corner of the cage works too, especially if you add a cutting of household carpet over it to avoid direct belly-glass contact which can be a little too hot for the snake.

Also a monthly substrate change is highly recommended.

Thanks so much for all the information! We're definitely going to use it all - moving him to a bigger tank, substrate and such, climbing items and a basking spot. I really appreciate your response.
He's already gained weight since we got him, I think he was too thin. I'm going to try to post a couple pics so maybe you can let me know what kind of Ribbon he is?
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1.0.0 277 Graybanded Kingsnake, Boris Karloff - R.I.P.
1.0.0 Crockett Graybanded Kingsnake, Julien Sands
1.0.0 Ball Python, Frank Langella
1.0.0 Blue-eyed lucy, Ian McKellen
1.0.0 spider Ball python, Martin Freeman
1.0.0 champagne ball python, Norman Reedus
1.0.0 Sweet Rosy Bourke Parakeet, Didgeridoo
1.0.0 Ringneck Dove, Pimmdale Plumington
0.1.0 Smart & Loving Daughter

Mind they are naturally thin snakes. At 20 inches, nose to tip of tail, a healthy one is about the width of a No.2 pencil. Ribbon snakes can and will OVER eat. I use to have a communal tank of 11 juvenile Eastern Ribbon Snakes. One of my females ate so many cricket frogs that she had one in her mouth, still kicking, because she physically could not swallow any more. I had to pull the live one out and then the first dying one that I could reach and put her in a different tank and then get a different one to eat the dying one via a pair of feeding tongs haha. A good size food item is 2 times the girth of the snake at its mid-body. These are good and filling and will allow the snake to grow at a steady and health pace. You can easily see where in the body the food has stopped either because its in the stomach or being blocked by more food. From experience you have some wiggle room with getting the amount of food to give the snake correct. I always kept the food in a separate enclosure (fish) and would introduce some frogs about once a month.