Since suitable diets are essential for the health, welfare and maintenance of captive animals, objective research is required to improve and evaluate current feeding practices. Unfortunately, the husbandry of reptiles is frequently led by tradition, resulting in methods which are not evidence based.
Informal observations, how-ever, do support the hypothesis that snakes fed on DOCs can stubbornly refuse to accept other prey. Therefore, the question that must be asked in this case is whether this represents a substantial disad-vantage to captive husbandry.
Captive husbandry of snakes presents several basic problems. The biology of most free-living snakes has not been recorded and it may be impossible to match nature in a captive situation.
Captive hatched and captive bred snakes seem to adjust better to captivity and are better about eating on a regular basis. The process of feeding occurs in a few steps. First the snake identifies prey by the scent, color, size, movement, and temperature.
The origin of the snake (captive bred, captive farm or wild caught) should be identified. Fortunately wild caught snakes are now rare in the UK pet trade. When they do present some simply do not adapt to captivity often termed a maladaptation syndrome and fail to eat.
Feeding. The amount of food that a reptile requires depends on it size and species. Ideally, a large python will consume the equivalent of a large rat per week although it may be fed on a fortnightly basis. The idea is not to overfeed as obesity is sometimes a problem in captive snakes.
