Hello from Hamburg!

[adamanteus]

Hi Thor. Are your Natrix wild caught? If so, did you find it difficult to get them feeding? What are they eating now? Tell me everything!

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, Thor.

[Thamnophis]

Originally Posted by adamanteus

Hi Thor. Are your Natrix wild caught? If so, did you find it difficult to get them feeding? What are they eating now? Tell me everything!

I am not Thor, but have some experience with Natrix natrix...

We get every now and then Natrix natrix in our zoo. Always from the wild.
They start feeding as easy as most Thamnophis.
We feed them with a mix of:
Smelt
Other fish
Chicken filet
Chickenmeat with a piece of bone in it

[THOR]

Hello and Moinsen!

In Germany it is forbade by law to catch any reptiles or amphibes from the german nature. If you keep these species in Germany in terrarium, you have to declare them to the authorities (called: "Untere Landschafts- und Naturschutzbehörde") and you have to prove, that your natrix natrix natrix are not wild caught. For that you have to have a "Nachzuchtbescheinigung" .... a formless paper which is isued by the breeder and which says, that this reptile is born/slipped in captivity.

My natrix natrix natrix are all slipped in captivity. They were all feed with dead baby rats, baby mice and fish filet.
My last year own breed have been feed the first time only with fish and chicken hearts ... later cutted pieces of baby mice.

I keep my natrix in the same way as my thamnophis.

Greetz, THORsten

[Cazador]

Hi Thor,

Do you find any difference in the growth rate of your newborns fed chicken instead of mice/rats? Feeding chicken seems very popular in Europe. Also, a "Nachzuchtbescheinigung" sounds like a "receipt" in English. James (Adamanetus) recently acquired a beautiful N.n. helvetica, wasn't it James? How's it doing?

Rick

[Thamnophis]

Chickenmeat is an excellent foodsource for reptiles.
Ofcourse only when you add vitamins and minerals etc.
In the USA you are afraid for salmonella in chickenmeat?
I believe the chickenmeat in the Netherlands is very well controlled for diseases.

[adamanteus]

Originally Posted by Cazador

James (Adamanetus) recently acquired a beautiful N.n. helvetica, wasn't it James? How's it doing?
Rick

Yes Rick, it's N. n. helvetica. He's doing pretty good, thanks for asking. So placcid and easy to handle you'd swear he was captive bred. He was something of a reluctant feeder at first, but I offered him a smal frog and off he went! He's eating pretty much anything now (except shoes, he just doesn't seem interested! )

[drache]

Originally Posted by Cazador

Hi Thor,

Also, a "Nachzuchtbescheinigung" sounds like a "receipt" in English.

Rick

what it translates to is a certificate stating that this is a captive bred animal (an "after breed certificate")

[THOR]

Hello!

Hi Thor,

Do you find any difference in the growth rate of your newborns fed chicken instead of mice/rats? Feeding chicken seems very popular in Europe.

I don't neither feed my thamnophis nor my natrix with chicken meat. They get only mice, rat and fish. I only feed chicken hearts in some cases. I find out, that jung and adult snakes which don't want to eat for themselves, will eat chicken hearts by themselves. But I think a feeding with chicken hearts for a long time would not be the best for the snake. So I soon beginn to shuffle the chicken hearts with other food. And after a while the part chicken heart would be more an more less.


Greetz, THOR