Any Snakes that can be fed on Insects?

[Waterrat]

Some snake species do feed on insects and other invertebrates.

Which ones? Apart from blind snakes.

 

[ryanm]

Well if Common Tree Snakes or File Snakes are not suitable for beginners, I suppose the question would be would a diet of chicken wings, drumsticks etc as suggested earlier in the thread have enough of the required nutrients and vitamins for any species to be healthy? If so, which would be the best species for this type of diet?

 

[swan91]

its the same with any animal/person.. if you only ate one thing your entire life.. sure you could be well fed.. but you would be lacking in some essential vitamins and nutrients.. chicken bone is different to mammal bone.. its less compact, and has a smaller blood supply, and the marrow would be a higher percentage if you were only feeding drumsticks and wings, which can become a bit 'fattening'.. a chicken wing/leg has mainly muscle, all blood drained out, ligaments, bone and thats about it.. a rat has everything, small bones/big bones/ partially digested food/organs/ blood etc.. id ASSUME, and correct me if im wrong that a diet ONLY consisting of chicken legs would be lacking in iron (as the blood is drained), calcium (as the percentage of calcified bone/ bone marrow is different in a single long bone), and many of the vitamins found in the gastrointestinal tract of the prey, as well as many fats (depending on how chubby the chook was)...and im sure there are others.. there is always debate about rats vs mice for nutritional benifit.. If you want a happy healthy snake, its best to feed as closely to their NATURAL diet.. this means a combination of many different prey items.. this is not always achievable in captivity and supplementation of feed stuffs can help to offset the nutritional deficiencies in some feed stuffs.. my snake wouldnt eat for a while, and i had a ckicken neck in the fridge, intended for the cat, but i gave it a go, made sure there were no sharp edges, and even made one end pointy by squishing the meat up, and the other end have a 'tail', from a bit of the muscle...lol.. it was mainly for my own amusement, and im sure my snake didnt care, but she loved it... it was enough to get her started on mice again, and now she is on rats! Variety is the key.. but if you supplement correctly, a diet primarily on chicken pieces 'may' work, however my worry is potential internal damage to the snake fater swallowing a cut chicken leg/wing/neck as the bones can be pointy and sharp where they are cut..

 

[ryanm]

ORRR... better yet.. get a snake.. and you feed it mice/rats when she is not watching... and maybe she might get confident enough to watch, then eventually do it herself..if she wants to own a beautiful reptile like a snake, you have to accept and admire all aspects of their lifestyle, including their diet.. im assuming she isnt a vegetarian, similar concept, she has probably eaten pleanty of little childrens much loved potty calves/lambs.. without a second thought..i love watching my snake eat.. its soo interesting to see all the scales move almost rhythmically and stretch to fit a big meal.. its not like you are feeding them live.. and your not feeding them your pets.. so i personally dont see the problem..

Thanks to everyone and thanks especially to AMS05, my GF read through the thread last night and paid particular attention to the quoted comment above and has agreed to let me feed the snake its proper diet mice/rats instead of potentially putting it at risk with an unbalanced diet. She's handled and loved the look of a Woma however she's not to keen on having a snake that can grow as large as Woma's can, so we will probably look into getting a Childrens or Stimsons Python instead.

 

[saximus]

If you really like Womas have a look into Tanami or Pilbara locality. They don't grow much bigger than a spotted from what I've read

 

[Carnelian]

Womas are great & some locales aren't much bigger than Stimmie or Spotted. If you get it as a hatchie you will get used to it as it grows with your experience & comfort level. Definitely get what you like, it is a life long responsibility & you want to be 100% happy with it.

 

[swan91]

WOW! congratulations! im sure she will absolutely love having a snake! im happy to know i helped your gf make an informed decision.. i wish her many years of happyness with her new snake. A tanami or pilbara Woma would be great for her, let her do a bit more research to figure out exactly what she wants, because a snake is a long commitment and you have to be happy with the decision. congrats! once again! im happy to be of help!

 

[Snakeluvver2]

Opheodrys aestivus feeds on inverts.
Not native though!