Emergency food for Milk snake and Hognose

[Glenn VN]

Hi guys. In a bit of a fix here. I live in southern Vietnam and we are currently in a very strict lockdown that has gone on for 2 months. I have run out of food for my 18 month old Sinaloan Milk and a western Hognose. They are now going hungry as my usual supplier can not ship me the frozen hoppers that they normally eat. Bear in mind I can only order supermarket food at present. I tried quail eggs but they wouldn't take them. Tried slithers of chicken also scented with tuna for the hog. There are geckos outside and the traps mentioned talk about using fruit as bait which is no good for the carnivorous geckos we have here. I have one adult mouse left that is too big that is for my king who is well fed. Can I cut this up? or is it too messy? Any ideas guys? Cheers.

[poison123]

Hello and welcome. Sorry to hear about your situation. As for that one mouse yes you can indeed cut it up it may get messy but if the snakes take it than so be it. I have snakes that eat 2-3 times a week and I offer them organic tilapia fillets from my grocery store every now and then. I just buy a big bag and it comes with a lot just cut down to size. I have offered to some to my hognose in the past and he has accepted it maybe its something you can try. I would recommend this as a temporary solution as its not a whole prey and wont replace the whole mouse you were previously offering.

[chairman]

There is a whole prey replacement recipe that is generally referred to as the San Diego Zoo Diet. 2.5 pounds of ground turkey, 22.5 grams of steamed feed grade bone meal, and 1/4 crushed Centrum vitamin pill (the regular one-a-day, not men's, women's, children's, senior's, etc). You would need to place the mixture in a sausage casing to feed it to snakes.

You could also try pieces of rabbit that has been dusted with Calcium +D3 (rabbit apparently has little to no vitamin D3).

Once again, not as a staple, whole mice/rats are ideal.