Do snakes eat moles, especially those from your yard? You may have thought of this idea that feeds your scaly pet while eliminating rodents that destroy your property’s landscape.
The good news is, yes, these reptiles can eat moles and other rodents. However, it’s better to know a few things before feeding these nasty critters to your slithering pet for your reptile’s health and safety.
For example, it’s better to feed a pre-killed mole to your pet. A living animal may fight back, hurt your scaly pet, and cause severe infection.
I’ve also gathered pieces of vital information that could help you feed your slithering pet properly with rodents and other food options. I included a few tips on catching moles for your snake’s meals, as these nasty critters are difficult to capture.
So, read on and know more about this potential food source for your scaly pet.
Do Snakes Eat Moles From Your Yard?
Snakes eat moles as rodents, like mice and rats, are some of their natural prey. So, you can collect some of these nasty critters in your yard or residential neighborhood to feed your scaly pet.
However, remember that some individual reptiles have personal food preferences too. For example, some of them love to eat lizards but not rodents.
So, know the food preferences of your slithering pet. You may also train a baby reptile to eat small rodents to shape their taste while still young.
How Snakes Kill and Eat Rodents
These reptiles kill their prey either by using venom or by constriction.
A venomous species will bite its prey to inject the deadly venom into the target’s body. On the other hand, non-venomous species usually wrap their elongated body around their prey to constrict or crush their meal.
These methods will kill the prey so the reptile can swallow it whole. Remember that these scaly creatures can also dislocate their jaws to swallow food larger than their head.
Benefits of Feeding Residential Rodents to Your Snake
Feeding rodents to your reptile bring some excellent perks like:
- Your reptile would have a quick food source as you only have to catch some rodents when it’s time for their meal. You can also ask your neighbors to give you the critters they catch in their place.
- It also means you can save money as you don’t need to keep on buying food for your pet. You can then spend the saved amount on other things your scaly friend may need.
- Feeding moles to your pet also helps you get rid of those nasty critters from your backyard. It’s excellent for preventing rodents from destroying your property landscape and damaging your plants.
How to Catch Moles
While moles are difficult to catch, you can still outwit them and get free food for your scaly pet. Here’s how:
1. Don’t Use Poison
Don’t use poison to capture these nasty critters, especially if you plan to feed them to your reptile. The hazardous chemical can harm other plants, pets, and kids in your yard, and poisoned animals are unsafe for predators to eat.
2. Locate the Active Tunnel
While moles create networks of underground tunnels, there are passages that they actively use at the current time. You must determine the tunnel’s location in your yard to position your trap correctly.
First, find the mole mounds in your yard to locate the active passage. These are the mounds of dirt that the critter pushes upward to the surface as they dig underground.
Flatten these mounds by walking on them and waiting for about a day. You know a tunnel is active if a particular area’s mound rises again.
3. Prepare the Traps
After locating the active tunnel, set up the trap to catch your target. Select a trap that can keep the critter’s whole body as you will feed it to your slithering pet.
For example, prepare a large bucket and place it into the active tunnel. Place it a few inches below the tunnel and cover its mouth with dirt. The mole will fall into the container while passing through the tunnel.
You can then take the critter as it would be unable to dig its way out of the container.
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Feeding Moles to Your Snake
Now, here are the points to remember when feeding these rodents to your reptile:
- Feed the correct size to your scaly pet. Most of these slithering animals can only consume food that is as big as the widest part of their body. So, avoid feeding large adult rodents to slithering baby reptiles.
- Only feed baby snakes once every five days and adults once every one or two weeks to avoid obesity.
- It’s better to feed freshly-killed food to your scaly pet instead of living prey. Living animals may fight back and hurt your reptile.
- As mentioned above, individual reptiles have personal food preferences. You should know if they want to eat rodents or not, but occasionally also try other food options for them to taste.
Other Food Options for Snakes
While most snakes love rodents, they may also eat other food options, like insects, lizards, and birds. You may also buy frozen feeders from pet shops.
Prepare insects and small lizards for hatchlings. Rodents are perfect for small and medium-sized scaly pets like corn snakes and ball pythons. You can prepare larger food like adult rabbits for giant snakes like reticulated pythons and Burmese pythons.
You may also ask other snake owners, veterinarians, and pet shop owners for more food suggestions.
Summary
Do snakes eat moles?
Yes, they do, and feeding them to your reptile may also bring excellent benefits to you and your slithering pet. You’d have a quick food source for your pet while keeping those rodents from destroying your landscape.
However, always remember to select the correct food for your reptile. For example, only feed fully-grown moles to adult snakes.
Remembering these points helps you prepare the best meals for your snake and keep them healthy under your care.
