How to keep snakes healthy without having to feed them meat.

Why you shouldn't feed your snake meat?<br>Feeding your snake meat is the most common practice in 2024 but there are some negatives to this practice. When you feed your snake meat you are allowing them to thrive and grow but you are also giving them bad nutrient ratios. Everyone's goal with breeding and pet-keeping should be giving the animal the best nutrients you can. This is obviously a different path for some animals than for others. With meat you are giving your snakes a ratio of fat and protein that they are not supposed to have in the wild. Your snake in the wild will not be eating a mouse every other week. In most climates it would be more common for a snake to eat a frog or other small animal/carrion and then go months without food. One full grown mouse has all the nutrients a snake needs to survive for months. Therefore, the snake is storing extra nutrients allowing it to thrive but giving it pretty bad nutrient ratios.<br><br>Why are you still feeding your snake meat then?<br>This is a pretty good question. There's no doubt that it is much easier to feed your snake meat. It is very easy to see the benefits from feeding meat over other foods, but the negatives are there. You will have a snake that thrives on this food source, but you will also have a snake that will not live as long as a snake that is given the correct ratio of nutrients. <br><br>Is there anything better than meat?<br>The answer is yes. There's a variety of different snacks you can give your snake to achieve the correct ratio of nutrients. There's lots of foods that have different ratios of fat and protein. But you cannot feed your snake just one food source. Everyone knows about feeding variety to pet-owners, but no one knows about this with snakes. It is best to feed your snake a combination of different foods, including plant based foods. Corn is a great plant-based food source with low fat and high protein. <br><br>Why should I care?<br>Why should you care about the health of your snake? Isn't that what the pet-store is for? The answer is no. If you have a pet you have a responsibility to that animal. The pet-store is purely there for profit. They do not give a single shit about you or your snake's health. You should care and treat the snake like it is an extension of your family. I would assume that you want the best for your family. <br><br>Conclusion<br>In conclusion, you should feed your snake a combination of different foods including meat and plant-based foods. I recommend feeding your snake a frog every month and then feeding corn the rest of the time. The frog will give your snake lots of nutrients and the corn will give it a natural source of protein and lower levels of fat. Please do not feed your snake meat alone. You can do so much better and you owe it to your pet to give them the best you can.<br><br>tl;dr: You shouldn't feed your snake meat alone, you should feed it a combination of different foods including plant-based foods.