Prey Model Diets for Snakes – Clelia and Boiruna

I’ve touched on the fact that we not only overfeed our snakes, we also feed them prey that they do not predominately feed on in the wild.

This has led to keepers losing their animals at an early age.  As “mussurana” of various species are finding their way into more and more homes, I’m hearing more and more stories of these animals just dropping dead.

Most of the time, the keeper does not bother with a necropsy.  However, I’ve talked to a few hobbyists who have.  Some of these animals are dying of fatty liver disease and other “lifestyle” diet choices – and doing so at a fairly young age.

In 2002 a study was done by Carla da Costa Pinto and Thales de Lema regarding the feeding behavior of Boiruna and Clelia species.  This study covered many things:  differences in how they subdue and consume various prey types, their diet preferences and the size of their prey.

At this point in time, I’m only going to focus on what they eat, not how.

The study showed that mussurana have a varied diet – a whopping 23 food items.  They included the following snakes and lizards:

Liophis Almadensis

Lystrophis Dorbignyi

Oxyrhopus Petola

Sibynomorphus Mikanii

Thammodynastes Spp

Philodryas Patagoniensis

Oxyrhopus Rhombifer

Echinanthera Cyanopleura

Liophis Miliaris

Bothrops Jararaca

Mabuya So,

Ameiva Ameiva

Tropidurus Torquatus

…with the additional of the following birds:

Gallus Gallus

…and the following mammals:

Akodon Serrensis

Oryzomys Nigripes

Metachirus Nudiancaudatus

The predominant prey type being other snakes.  The inclusion of gallus gallus being a nod to these animals sometimes encroaching into human settlements and preying on chickens and chicks.

In the most commonly captive kept mussurana (Boiruna Maculata), the predation of mammalian species was observed to be purely opportunistic.  In an “emerging” species tot he hobby (Clelia Rustica), rodents were observed to be a targeted and selected prey item.

What does all this mean?

Short answer, we are feeding these animals the wrong diet.

Long answer:

An adult rat has the following proximate composition and energy content:

Crude Protein:    61.8%

Crude Fat:   32,6%

Gross Energy:  6.37 kcal/g

An adult rattlesnake has the following proximate composition and energy content:

Crude Protein:  60.6%

Crude Fat:  3%

Gross Energy:  6.51 kcal/g

Bottom line – much less crude fat, similar protein and similar energy.  We are forcing more fat into these animals than they have evolved to handle….and it is affecting their health.

With house geckoes and anoles being sold via online vendors as prey items, along with availability of inexpensive sources of corn snakes and juvenile boids, a variety of more suitable prey model-appropriate diets are available for clelia and boiruna.

I would argue that there is a viable market for providing feeder snakes to drymarchon, clelia, boiruna and other ophiophagus snake species.

In the long run, filling this market niche – providing proper prey model diets for snake eating snakes – will not only make us better keepers, but will make our captive charges healthier.