What do you feed your snake and how many times per week?

My son (16 years old) came home with a snake he bought at a petshop but they couldn't even tell him what to feed it or how many times per day! All we know is that its not poisones and can be kept as a pet in his tank with a warm blanket and small bucket of water, but does it need any additional light?

Feeding schedules for captive snakes vary with the age, species, size, condition and specific requirements. Generally pet snakes are usually fed once every 1-2 weeks. Juvenile and adults for which a relatively rapid growth rate is desired can be fed more frequently, providing that the environmental temperatures are warm enough to allow complete and thorough digestion. Older snakes are usually fed less frequently, often once every 3-6 weeks. Overfeeding should be avoided due to the risk of obesity.You should watch out with rodents...A friend of mine gave his snake rats,but his snake once got bitten by a rat.It caused severe damage at its spine and died a few days later.Now he kills a rodent just before he gives it to his snake.So it is still warmblooded,but not dangerous anymore.You should go see a vet,because the size and species sometimes demands other food.Good Luck!!

I keep corn snakes and a general rule of thumb is to not feed food items greater in size than 1.5 times the diameter of the thickest part of the snake. Feed one suitable sized item (mouse, rat etc.)once a week and do not handle the following day. Allow the snake to digest the food. If there is not sufficient heat in the tank, the snake will not be able to digest the food item properly and may regurgitate it. It will also do this if the food is too big. I tend to feed frozen food items bought from the shop (captive bred so they have no parasites or disease). Thaw out prior to feeding, also no risk of food item injuring snake (mouse bites etc.)Go to snake web sites and try and find out what snake it is and find a relevant care sheet. Try http://www.petsnakes.co.uk/Gallery/gallery.htmlThis site has helped me out no end over the years, the guy is also very helpful when asked a question.

Oh boy!I actually like snakes, but if my 16 year old son brought one home (from a pet shop) you probably should have told him to take it straight back!You need a licence to keep them (depending on where you are from).I did the same thing with a baby chicken when I was 16 (brought it home on the bus!)and my parents made me return it. It taught me some valuable lessons and I had to fix my own mistake. It also made me realise that getting a pet, regardless of what it is, is not a decision to take lightly, regardless of whether it is small or large or has a long or short lifespan.It is good that you are trying to help your son by getting the information he needs, but perhaps, in the long run, you would be better off to teach him independance and stand your ground. Let him deal with it, whether he researches it himself or sells or returns the poor creature.I would also recommend that you report the irresponsible pet shop that sold it to him in the first place.I hope you can all look back on this moment in 5 years from now and get something valuable from it.

You need to find out what kind of snake it is before you do anything else and do your research on it or your other option is to take it back since they did not give him the information he needed to properly care for it. Anyone interested in getting any kind of pet should do their research beforehand so they know what they are getting into.

maybe 1 every two weeks

Yes, the snake needs a light, and a place to hide. It needs a special "heating lamp" and TWO thermometers. One side of the cage should have a heat lamp and be around 82-84F (28-29C), but NOT more than 90F (32C). The other side should be cooler, around 77-79F (25-26C) but NOT less than 74F (23C).This is for redtail boas, what I keep, but many other snakes are similar. It is important to find out what kind of snake it is. Even if the specific temperatures differ a little, the concept is the same. One side of the tank needs to be warm, but not too warm, and the other side needs to be a few degrees cooler, but not too cool.UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES buy a heating rock, whatever the pet store might try to sell you. Again, I will repeat: You must have a place for the snake to hide! Even if it is a cheap cardboard box with a small hole, it helps. As for eating, many snakes don't need to eat more than once a week. As they grow older, they need to feed less. After a few months, once every two weeks is fine, and if you have a really big snake it may not eat for six weeks or more!The size of the mouse/rat/etc should be about the same width as the largest part of the snake, or just slightly larger. Always feed it mice or rats from a petstore or breeder.If I were to make a todo list, it would go:1. Find out what kind of snake it is, whether taking pictures and posting them online, or going to a petstore and asking.2. Read caresheets online.3. Buy heat lamp and special day/night bulbs (normal bulbs are aggravating for snakes)4. Buy two thermometers5. Make a hide for the snake.6. Buy a gardening spray bottle and fill with water to spray and keep the tank more humid if your snake has trouble shedding.

2 mice once a week

Well, mine got a medium sized rat every 2 weeks, but she was a full grown, very large royal python. Although royals are very common in the pet trade, chances are that you have a smaller species of snake. You need to find out what species you're dealing with before you'll know for sure. Once you know, check the forums at http://www.kingsnake.com , they're pretty helpful. For that matter, you can post a pic of the snake and someone will most likely identify it for you. If I had to guess based on what's most common in pet stores, I'd start by looking for pics of corn snakes, king snakes, milk snakes and maybe even rat snakes and royal (ball) pythons. Be aware that there are variations, somtimes drastically so, in patterning and coloration on some of these species. The folks at Kingsnake will know for sure...