How to Care for Pet Snakes

Pet snakes need housing appropriate to their size so that they have the room they need to move around with ease. The temperature also has to be kept consistent with that of the natural habitat of the snake, which is between 25 and 30. It is important to have a thermometer in the cage to let you know what the temperature is because if it is a few degrees higher or lower than what it should be your pet won't eat. Since the nights do get colder in the wild, you can lower the temperature in the cage at night, but it should never be lower than 24.

Along with being roomy, you should make sure that the cage in which you keep your pet snake is well ventilated , easy to clean and impossible for the snake to get out of. They can be made from wood and pegboard or plastic, but large aquariums also work well. The recommended measurements for such a cage are 12 square feet of floor space for foot that the snake measures. The cages also need to be off the floor by at least nine inches.

It is important to keep the snake cage clean. You need to change the bedding at least once a week. If you let the droppings build up, your pet can develop a condition known as Dirty Cage Syndrome. When you clean the cage, wash it out with a solution of water mixed with baking soda. This will help reduce any odor from the droppings in the cage. You can use a Chlorox disinfectant, but take care not to use any products such as Lysol or Pine Sol, because these are poisonous for snakes. Line the bottom of the cage with newspaper, outdoor carpet or shredded aspen. It is not a good idea to use sawdust or kitty litter because they do give off ammonia and they do not dry very well.

Depending on the species of snake you have as a pet, you may or may not need to have any lighting in the cage. Those snakes that require lighting need a light that emits ultra-violet light for their health. Sunlight coming in through the windows of the room is usually sufficient for most snakes.

Snakes will never eat plants and vegetables. You should feed them natural food, and mice and rats are the most common. You do have to make sure the food is dead because of the potential danger that live food poses to snakes. You don't need to feed an adult snake every day. Once a week is often enough, but if you have baby snakes, you will have to feed them more often. You can try frozen food, as long as it is thoroughly thawed, but some species of snakes will not eat this because it is still too cold for them. When you have a snake as a pet, you should also feed it vitamin supplements. Baby snakes and females that are breeding don't need these supplements, but all other adults do.

You have to be prepared for shedding when you have a snake as a pet. This happens every three months and when the snake sheds its skin it takes only a few minutes. If the snake does not shed all of its skin, as sometimes happens, you need to soak the snake in a container of water equal to the temperature of the cage for at least an hour until the rest of the skin comes off.

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