Feeding a Ribbon Snake

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering what people here feed their ribbon snakes? We have a ribbon snake named Pete and he'll only eat feeder goldfish. We've had him a couple of years now and a few months ago we read that it's not healthy to feed them only goldfish. So we tried feeding feeder guppies instead and he won't touch them. We've tried it a few times, mixing them in with the goldfish to try and "trick" him and no go. He just won't eat them. Pete is normally fed once a week, so we tried waiting two weeks and then gave him feeder guppies, hoping he would be hungry enough to eat them. Nope.

Will they eat earth worms? Because I've read some articles that say no and some articles that say yes. I'm also willing to try feeding him a thawed pinky mouse that's been scented with goldfish. If that were to work, could he be fed only pinky mice? And would we have to continually scent them with goldfish?

Thanks in advance for your help.

I've heard of some ribbons eating worms, so they're worth a try. If he does like them, that would be great because worms are really good for scenting other items.

You can try a goldfish scented pinky. Or, take a frozen / thawed pinky, wash off the mouse scent, then put it in his bowl with a goldfish or two. The dead pinky will be much easier to catch (this is what I've been doing with my checkered garter). You could also try mixing the guppies and goldfish, but I've never been able to get an answer as to whether or not guppies have the same thiaminase enzyme that makes goldfish an unsuitable staple.

You may have to scent / offer in creative ways for a long time. I've got four garters, one never required scenting, one required scenting for the first couple of mice, a third required scenting for about two years and will now only eat unscented if the nose is bloody, and my fourth is a relatively new addition that I'm using the mouse in with the fish method to try to convert. Depending on how set in his ways your guy is, you may have to get creative and keep at it for some time.

Good luck!
Alice

Just wanted to say that I tried feeding my ribbon guppies for at least a month and he wouldn't touch them either. Then I switched to rosey's and he LOVES them!

if he doesnt eat any of the above try tree frogs. they always work. but thats if the problem happens again.

minnows.

phil here from pjreptiles2@hotmail.com i have a pair of green stripped ribbons feeding on pink's and growing like crazy you just have to sent them for a while the pink's are a better food for max growth.