COVID-19 (Coronavirus) – an update for our clients.

CLOSE

Apex Vets has this advice for wannabe snake owners

July 14, 2022

To celebrate World Snake Day (Saturday 16th July), the team at Apex Veterinary Centre are using this event to share interesting facts about snakes and increase awareness of how we can care for and enjoy these wonderful creatures.

Call us about snake care

World Snake Day – Snake Facts & Care

Did you know there are only four species of snake native to the UK?

We have the adder, grass snake, smooth snake, and barred grass snake. Plenty of people however keep more exotic species of these wonderful companions.

Popular snakes for beginners include:

  • Corn snakes
  • Rat or Kingsnakes
  • Ball or Royal Pythons
  • Whilst they can make a great pet, choosing to keep a snake is not a decision that should be taken lightly. As well the specific type of care they need, there is the welfare aspect to consider too.

    Contrary to popular belief, snakes are neither cold nor slimy and most species are not dangerous to humans. Some can be relatively easy to keep in small spaces, as their lifestyle doesn’t require a lot of exercise.

    Where do you get a pet snake from? The animal’s welfare and wellbeing should be paramount when buying a snake, so it is important to research sellers thoroughly. Alternatively, some rescue centres in and around Stirlingshire may have snakes available for adoption.

    There is a lot to consider before starting your reptile adventure so here are has shared a few things below to get you started.

    Housing & Equipment

    • Being ectothermic, snakes rely on their environment to maintain the correct body temperature. For this reason, you will need not only an appropriate size and type of enclosure, but also appropriate heating equipment.
    • The size and set up of the enclosure for your snake depends on age and species. Like any new pets, make sure you do lots of species specific research before buying, and set up the enclosure in advance so you can make sure it gets to the right temperature.

    Nutrition

    • All snakes are carnivores and most like their food whole – be prepared to keep frozen rats, mice, and insects. Keep any other small pets well out of your snake’s reach!
    • Small or young snakes may need to eat twice a week, but some larger ones can go much longer between meals.
    • Like all animals, snakes need a plentiful supply of fresh water too.

    Exercise & Enrichment

    • Snakes need exercise and enrichment to stay happy and healthy. Some species may benefit from branches for them to climb up and rocks to slither around and under inside their enclosure or vivarium.
    • Some snakes like to have a pool in their enclosure as they occasionally like a dip – it is important that this is kept clean.

    We hope this article has inspired you to look into what it means to keep a snake as a pet.

    If you own a snake and have concerns about their health, call us on 01324 829 989 to book a health check.

    Keep an eye on our Facebook for further snakey posts.

    Strictly Necessary

    These cookies are required for our website to operate and include items such as whether or not to display this pop-up box or your session when logging in to the website. These cookies cannot be disabled.

    Performance

    We use 3rd party services such as Google Analytics to measure the performance of our website. This helps us tailor the site content to our visitors needs.

    Functional

    From time to time, we may use cookies to store key pieces of information to make our site easier for you to use. Examples of this are remembering selected form options to speed up future uses of them. These cookies are not necessary for the site to work, but may enhance the browsing experience.

    Targeting

    We may use advertising services that include tracking beacons to allow us to target our visitors with specific adverts on other platforms such as search or social media. These cookies are not required but may improve the services we offer and promote.

    Change Settings

    Welcome. You can control how we use cookies and 3rd party services below

    Change Settings Accept
    Learn how we use cookies