FaunaClassifieds - View Single Post - Please recommend snake vitamin supplement
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Old 02-12-2010, 10:51 AM   #4
Olexian Pro
I can definitely relate to your predicament. I lived in Grenada for 3 years during my veterinary training which is a second/third world country that I imagine to be quite comparable to the Fiji Islands. I agree with you in that it can be very difficult to come accross the resources required to provide adequate herp care while living in these areas, but resourcefulness can do wonders on that front and no less I have had great success in doing so as I imagine you have.

In general, Carnivorous reptiles (like snakes) require 25-60% of their Metabolic Energy (in kcal's) from dry matter to be composed of animal protein, 30-60% fat, <10% Carbohydrate and <10% Fiber.

In general, nutritional supplements ARE ONLY supplements. These only provide vitamins, minerals and limited amino acids at best. Nutritional supplementation IS NOT a substitute for feeding. Your animals will develop severe side effects from supplementation if they are not feeding properly. I only recommend that you supplent, while your animals are feeding. If they go off feed, let them be off feed until feeding resumes. Adding additional supplements during this time may offset their physiologic equilibrium and may cause more harm than good. Supplements should only be used with food, not as a substitute for food.

I would still recommend that you create a separate holding tank to gut load your geckos. As of right now, if your geckos are eating wild moths, they are deffinitely not gut loaded. Feeding insects is not the same as gut loading. gut loading is where you supplement the food being fed to prey items. This ensures that the prey items contain adequate nutrition for the predators that will eat them later. I think its great that the Gecko's are eating moths, but what are the moths eating? Do you know? I don't! Therefore we cannot say the moths are gut loaded, because for all you know the moths have been eating card board with no nutrition value what so ever.

Though I definitely think you are doing the best with what you have, I would still recommend capturing some of those while geckos and maintaining them in captivity so that you can gut load the insects being fed to the geckos, being fed to the snakes. Otherwise you have no way of knowing whether or not you are providing them adequate nutrition and other problems may occur as a result.

For some, going off feed may be a normal response to the stress of captivity, while in others, it may suggest something is wrong. Most of these problems are husbandry related as I am sure you know, so with that, I would start there. If the snakes are becoming so emaciated that nutrition is a concern, they need to be released into the wild (if wild caught) or hospitalized (if captive bred). Medically speaking, patients off feed who begin wasting fall into the category of are critical patients that may require hospitalization and total parenteral nutrition. This may, or may not be available to you, which based on my personal island experience is likely not an option for you.

Anyways I just wanted to clarify my previous statement so that you don't encounter problems using supplementation as a food replacer.The two are simply not equivical.