Mice Only Snakes?

[Thatjanelady]

Hi all!

I know there are threads about non-rodent eating snakes but the issue I have is that there is not a reliable source of rats near me. There are stores that sell frozen mice of all sizes.

Could I get some recommendations for snake species that stay on mice only prey? Preferably one that is still tolerant of some handling but I'm not afraid of nippy babies.

I have owned snakes before I moved here so I am not a complete new person to snakes.

[serpentgirl123]

Hi,

A few mice only/could stick to mice only, would be the most of common kept colubrids--king snakes, rat snakes, corn snakes, and milk snakes.

Also getting a hognose (that has been switched over to mice) would also work. I have both king snakes and hognoses--all are on mice and doing great. I tried to switch to rats with my king snakes (definitely big enough), but was a no-go. So I am perfectly fine with mice only.

[Minkness]

Welcome to the forum!

Hognoses will never need rats, especially males. I have 4 males and the largeat one still only takes adult mice. Not jumbos, just normal sized adults.

Kings and corns would be fine on mice as well, just may have to get jumbos.

Also, even if there are no rats available locally, you can always use online resourceful. I like Perfect Prey. Some people like Big Cheese. There is also Lane Labs I think. Rodent Pro is cheapest, but I didn't much like them.

You could also look into garter snakes. They would do fine on mice.

[dave himself]

I've got a BP that only eats mice :)

[toddnbecka]

Aside from most commonly available colubrids like king, corn (and other rat) or milk snakes the small boa and python species are also suitable candidates. Children's or spotted pythons, sand or rosy boas, even the Candoia species, though you do want to make sure those are taking mice, not recently imported wild-caught animals that need to be switched to rodents.
As for handliong tolerance, that depends on the snake. My Candoia pair are essentially miniature ball pythons. I can pick up either one and they hardly move at all. Amazingly fast to strike when they see a mouse, but I've never been bitten or even struck at by either one. My Jap rats and thayeri kings are very tolerant of handling, thought the female thayeri would try to eat a finger when picked up when she was younger, and had to be held under cold running water a couple times to discourage her enthusiasm. She outgrew that before her teeth were big enough to break the skin though, lol.
Even my adult Dominican red mountain boas could be fed 2 "jumbo" mice insteas of 1 smaller rat. Those never strike or bite, though they do occasionally musk if alarmed while handling. That wouldn't be likely if they were handled more often, and some never do, while others are more likely to musk.

[akane]

The rosy, rubber, and sand boas all stay so small most feed them mice and are generally easy to handle. Rosy are the slowest snake at a max of 1mph so they don't really try to run and the only bite I've had that drew blood was a starving one looking for prey. I haven't gotten any actual aggression out of them but of course a wild caught or never handled snake may at least take awhile to tame. Mine are all cb and even native Iowa snakes I have to buy cb or out of state because it is illegal to collect anything here. Out of the native colubrids though it came up in a conversation that fox snakes pretty much pop out of the egg friendly. I was thinking of getting a breeding pair from the same person I got my bullsnake over the minnesota border. They stay smaller, leaner, less aggression displays, easy to handle, have a fairly striking if simple pattern and the same hardiness to survive many conditions and diets. Some snakes can be supplemented with birds too Quail and chicks are often included in the diet of some natives or even suitably sized eggs depending on the species. Some colubrids are quite the pest on farms with small livestock since they sometimes will decide to eat as many things you want to keep as rodents you want to get rid of.

[Thatjanelady]

Thank you all for your responses. I will certainly do further research in these species.
I'll also poke around the online rodent sales. I've never ordered frozen rodents in the mail before but it could work!

[Thatjanelady]

Thought I would pop back in with an update.
I just purchased a 5yo male pueblan milk snake. He is a mouse eater. I do need to switch him over to f/t but I am not expecting any issue.��

[NeverLift]

Congrats on the milk snake! As long as you've got him feeding steady and a healthy body mass, you can skip a feeding or two then while hes hungry offer the pre-killed or frozen thawed mouse.

[SWDK]

Thought I would pop back in with an update.
I just purchased a 5yo male pueblan milk snake. He is a mouse eater. I do need to switch him over to f/t but I am not expecting any issue.��

Congrats on getting a milk. They're pretty cool snakes that eat well. You shouldn't have any issues switching to frozen. Try leaving it on the enclosure overnight and it should take it.

[Cricket1234]

Thought I would pop back in with an update.
I just purchased a 5yo male pueblan milk snake. He is a mouse eater. I do need to switch him over to f/t but I am not expecting any issue.�� Good for you! I have a Pueblan Milk Snake myself, they are such stunning snakes. Good luck!