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Egg-eating Snakes As Pets:
Pros
Egg-eaters are mainly held as pets for their fascinating feeding habits.
Many people might also prefer them because they have reduced or
no teeth and cannot cause painful bites. These snakes
only reach a small mature size which makes them easy to handle
and keep. If fed correctly they
will only eat once a month or even less! Because of their
exclusive egg
diet, proper managed terrariums do not smell bad and faeces can
be removed easily and effectively from preferred substrates.
Cons
Unfortunately the diet can also pose as a problem. Eggs can be hard to get
hold off, especially outside the general avian breeding season. Although
there are other ways to feed these snakes it is not an easy procedure and can take a bit
of practice. In most South African provinces (excluding Kwazulu-Natal)
one needs keeping and transport permits from Nature
Conservation to own Egg-eaters. Refer to
the About Reptile
Permits page for more information on keeping and transport
permits for indigenous Egg-eating snakes. Most Egg-eating snakes are somewhat
aggressive by nature and can not be readily handled like
other pet snakes. They are also nocturnal (night living).
All-and-all these snakes do not make very
good or attractive pets, but hobbyists might want to keep them for the fascinating snakes they are.
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Obtaining Egg-eaters:
These snakes are abundant all over South Africa, and become
even more abundant in urban areas during the start of the winter
period. During these months it is not uncommon to hear of a few
cases where a snake or two were discovered in a garage or even a
house which ended up in a glass bottle (or sometimes killed by
the dogs or their owners). At this stage in time it is only Kwazulu-Natal (KZN) residents who can
legally catch and keep Egg-eaters
as pets or collect their eggs from the
wild. Pet shops in this province are also allowed to trade with
this indigenous species.
European and American literature also refers to these snakes,
meaning they are still being-, or were exported to these
countries in the past where they are available commercially
today.
Although Common Egg-eaters are abundant all over South
Africa, Gauteng residents need appropriate
transport and keeping permits to have one of these sakes in
their possession. These permits are only available from the
Gauteng Nature Conservation via an approved herpetological
association. Only registered professional "problem snake" removers
with catching permits are allowed to transfer wild caught
specimens onto a legal permit. Only permitted snakes are then
allowed to be transported between members of the same herpetological
association. Refer to
the About Reptile
Permits page for more information on keeping and transport
permits for Egg-eaters.
A wild caught or newly introduced Egg-eating snake should
be quarantined for at least 90 days before it should be introduced into
an established snake
collection. Refer to the
General Animal
Bio-security &
Quarantine section for more information on how and why
to quarantine Egg-eating snakes.
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The Bare Minimum For Keeping Egg-eating Snakes:
The minimum requirements for keeping Egg-eating snakes are
listed below. Refer to the General
Snake Care Sheet for more information on the basic keeping
of snakes before reading this section:
- a keeping permit (in South Africa)
- aquarium / reptile cabinet
- correct size eggs
- small to medium hide-box
- small to medium water bowl
- warm room or heat pad / heat strip
Suitable substrates for Egg-eating snakes include newspaper,
indoor-outdoor carpet and dry sand. Refer to
the Suitable
Substrates For Reptiles section for more information on
these substrates.
Average (non-heated) room temperature in
South African or tropical areas should be warm enough for
these species. Cooler room temperatures (below 23 ºC
/ 73 ºF) will need extra heating equipment like a heat pad or
heat strip to supply a warmer area on one side of the
terrarium. Refer to the
the Accessories
& Other Stuff for Herptiles section for more information
on adequate / recommended heating equipment.
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Captive Care
Environment For Egg-eating Snakes:
Summer temperatures should be between 22 and 30 ºC / 73 and 85 ºF. A
natural temperature gradient that exceeds both these temperatures should be
maintained for thermoregulation. The correct temperature range
in cooler areas can be obtained by installing a heat pad or heat strip on one
side of the terrarium.
Washed and dried play sand or river sand can be used as a
more natural and attractive looking substrate. When using
this substrate, eggs should be clean and dry or served on a
feeding platform to prevent sand from sticking to the shell
and getting swallowed by the snake.
Common Egg-eating snakes are arboreal
and like to climb. Tall enclosures with branches and artificial plants for climbing
are excellent for enrichment. In
nature these
snakes will
sometimes climb up trees and rob bird nests from their eggs.
Old, empty fink / finch nests make good hiding for smaller
specimens. Elevated old bird nests or small containers of
similar shape and size with nesting material is often the
preferred hiding for these snakes.
The rest of the environmental factors for captive snakes are discussed in the General
Snake Care Sheet.
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Handling Egg-eating
Snakes:
Because Egg-eaters are somewhat aggressive it is not recommended to handle them
a lot.
They might show aggressive behaviour when approached, but will
most often not try to bite after handling commences. These
snakes do not wrap snugly around an arm like pythons or kings. They tend to pick a
direction and go for it. Though they are small in body mass, they are quite strong.
Support the middle of the body and give free rein to the head.
The head can be gently guided into a preferred direction. Many snakes are
nervous when introduced into a new situation with new people and
should be given a couple of days to settle down before letting new people handle them.
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Egg-eating Snake
Behaviour:
Egg-eating snakes are nocturnal, spending most of the day hiding
beneath rocks, under loose bark or in bird nests. They will
sometimes climb up trees and rob bird nests of their eggs. Common Egg-eaters will
often spend their winter in empty termite mounds to brumate
during which they will not eat until its warm enough to come
out again (seasonal anorexia).
During the autumn months they are frequently found in- and
around homes and around urban areas seeking shelter for the
winter. In South Africa captive kept specimens can spend the winter
months in temperatures similar to the outside.
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Egg-eating
Snake Food:
 These
snakes have an exclusive egg diet. Entire, fresh, bird eggs
are all they need. Under natural conditions
it is speculated that hatchling Egg-eating snakes might also
eat gecko, ant and probably any other small sized non-bird eggs.
In captivity juveniles and
young adults will consume one to up to a few small quail, budgie
and pigeon eggs while adults will accept bantam fowl ("kapokkie") eggs
and in some cases small to medium chicken eggs. Very large adults
will easily consume regular sized chicken eggs. Refer to the
Eggs section for more
information on the size and contents of different bird eggs.
The correct size egg can sometimes be a problem to obtain.
This is especially true for hatchling snakes and during the winter
months. This problem can be alleviated by keeping laying birds
or by having a bird breeder in your area. Some pet shops might also be
able or generous enough to supply unwanted / unfertilized eggs.
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Feeding
Egg-eating Snakes:
Snakes should be fed until they are full and then
again only after it has defaecated. There should be no little meals in
between. All the eggs should preferable be fed on the same
day, but never more than two days apart. Sometimes a snake may
prefer only to eat over a two day period. Adult
Egg-eaters are known to gorge on a large number of eggs and then have a long fast (one to
two months), even when offered eggs. The size of the eggs to be fed will be discussed in
the eggs section below. Eggs can be placed on the floor of the container or under
a hide
box. It should be left alone for one to two days. Snakes will
be more likely to eat during the night or with dark surroundings.
Fresh, clean, intact eggs with no cracks or chips should be used. Eggs should be fed at room
temperature. Refrigerated eggs can be left for an hour or so
outside to
reach room temperature. Eggs should never be placed in the sun,
under direct light or be microwaved. Excessive temperatures will cause denaturation
of the egg proteins and rotting of the rest of the content. Rotten eggs usually smell bad or it
will float when placed in tap water. Fresh budgie or other small eggs will
also float because of their
weight : size relationship, but darker colouration is an
indication for development. Fresh budgie eggs should almost be
transparent where rotten eggs becomes more darker in colour.
Rotten or developed eggs can kill snakes and should never be
offered. Although Egg-eating snakes have the ability to detect
bad eggs, their judgement to select should never be used as a reliable way to
identify dangerous eggs.
Go to the Reptile &
Amphibian Feeding Problems page to see what
to try if an Egg-eater refuses to eat.
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Force Feeding
Egg-eating Snakes:
Although hatchling snakes can take up to twelve months to die under experimental
conditions, it is not recommended to let any Egg-eating snake without food for more than
two months.
Unfortunately these snakes will not drink or eat beaten egg from a bowl,
so the only alternative is tube- or force feeding.
Force-feeding should only be used in
case of emergency and not as an easy way out of collecting
eggs. Force-feeding should
only be attempted under supervision of an experienced herper
or veterinarian and is especially used to feed smaller
snakes or hatchlings.
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Eggs:
A hungry Egg-eater can consume an egg with a diameter of up to
ten times
that of its own head! When feeding captive Egg-eaters the diameter
should never be larger than four times the
diameter of the head. When force feeding a snake, the equivalent
quantity of two to five correct sized eggs should be fed.
Rather feed less often than feeding small quantities at a
time. A snake can eat five and sometimes more eggs of the
correct size and go without food for a
few weeks.
The size, appearance and average contents of different eggs
can be found on the Eggs page.
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Egg-eating
Snake Reproduction:
Although wild Egg-eaters usually breed at the end of winter
(after
brumation), captive bred snakes may breed more or less
any time of the year. Females are oviparous (egg-laying) and
in the wild six to 25 (avg. ten) eggs are laid in summer. They
apparently scatter their eggs rather than laying them
as one clutch. Under
natural conditions eggs will take two to three months to
hatch. Eggs
dimensions range from 27 - 46 by 15 - 20 mm / 1 - 1.8 by 0.6 -
0.8 ". In captivity a second clutch may be
laid without further matings although fertility is usually
low. Females are able to produce infertile eggs even if they
were not mated by a male.
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Marais,
Johan, 2004 A Complete Guide To The Snakes Of Southern
Africa. Struik.
