#reptilinks

[omg-snakes]

You have hoggies right?

What do you feed them? Cause in the wild they would eat more amphibians and some reptiles and I’m feeling very conflicted on getting one cause in captivity we generally feed them rodents.

What are your thoughts?

Hey there!

Though I have moved away from hognose snakes and only have one left, their diet and nutrition is a subject very close to my heart. I spent a lot of time reading and researching hognose diets and trying to determine how best to feed them in captivity.

You're right, they predominantly feed on amphibians and reptiles in the wild, and hognoses in captivity are prone to obesity on a rodents-only diet. Though they can be managed with smaller meals or less frequent feeding, it's not exactly ideal to feed them nothing but rodents while it's not exactly economically feasible to feed them nothing but amphibians and lizards.

Enter a solution: Reptilinks sausages for reptiles. Though meal-replacement sausages for snakes have been around for a long time, they are historically maligned for offering poor nutrition and marginal convenience at best. At some point one of the reptile diet producers (Purina I want to say??) tried offering one that was made with beef and it was just... all wrong. The product was targeted at giant snake species who would already be conditioned to eating chickens and rabbits so they wouldn't accept a Delicious Cow "Meat" Cylinder™ without some serious cajoling, many giant keepers at the time were notoriously edgelords who got giant snakes BECAUSE they liked watching them eat whole prey, the meat was heavily processed and mostly low-grade cuttings, the product came in a plastic non-digestible casing and fell into hamburger meat immediately when you cut the casing, and a recall over salmonella concerns pretty much put the final nail in the coffin. It was a good idea, but a bad execution.

Reptilinks are different because it's whole prey ground up in a digestible human-grade sausage casing, the product is small batch, the prey types are varied for different species of reptile, and they can be mixed and matched and even customized to meet your reptile's nutrition needs. Meats offered include frog and iguana, which are both excellent choices for a hognose. I've used Reptilinks on rotation with rodents to feed all of my snakes, and I know of keepers who use them exclusively. They're a little spendy but overall less expensive than whole reptile and amphibian prey, and they provide the peace of mind that you're offering complete nutrition to your reptile pals.

Please note that I am not affiliated with Reptilinks in any way, I just really love their product and I think it's a great idea to help keepers offer the best possible husbandry.

[ramenreptiles]

My reptilinks for hatchling tegus came in the mail! Here's the packaging for anyone interested.

Everything but the two packages of larger links is what comes with the reptilinks hatchling tegu package. I bought the size up so I'd have a longer supply. These links keep for 1-2 years frozen.

We'll see how Tarot likes them, but these links should work well as a staple diet that variety can be safely added to without the risk of running into nutrients deficiencies.

[fbwzoo]

What would you say about Reptilinks for hermit crabs? I was just looking into them and was wondering if the crabs would enjoy them. I the one I was looking at was rabbit, organic green beans, collard greens, dandelion greens, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, and endive.

I think they’d be just fine to try on them! I’ve been wanting to get some for ages to try with various animals, but haven’t justified the cost to use them primarily as treats yet, especially in case the critters collectively go “ew gross”. But if I get a blue-tongued skink at some point in the future, then I’d like to have them on hand for part of a skink diet, which would give me a chance to try them on everyone else too. I’d love to know if your crabs like them!!

[kaijutegu]

Hi there! I'm sorry if this has been answered before (and if I've asked it before <.< I asked someone but I don't think they ever answered. And honestly I don't remember who I asked.) I was wondering if Reptilinks are an acceptable diet for any particular kind of snake? I think snakes are fascinating, but the whole prey aspect of their care gets to me. (For context I do not own a snake, nor will I for a while. Maybe never if I can't rectify diet stuff.)

Yeah!

So the cool thing about reptilinks is that they are whole prey. Everything’s in there- fur, bone, guts. The only thing they take out is a chunk of the lower intestine (aka where the poop is). I actually dissected one and you can see that it’s definitely not homogenous. 

They’ve got some really good, nutritious blends. If you join the Facebook group “The Linkside,” you’ll see a lot of people talking about the successes they’ve had with different species!

[thlpp]

This prolly sounds dumb, but what sorta snake would be best for a beginner? are there any snakes that dont reqire mice/rats as food?

As I said in an earlier post, I’m not a fan of “beginner snakes.” I’m a fan of getting the species you want after researching the heck out of it. Snakes live a long time, and it’s only fair to them to commit to keep them for life. There are too many unwanted snakes already.

Most of the commonly kept species (corn, rat, milk, garter, and hognose snakes; ball pythons, common boas and sand boas) are fairly straightforward in care, so as long as you prepare their habitat well ahead of time, and do the “dress rehearsal” to make sure it functions to spec, you can start with the exact snake you’ve always wanted.

Now about their diet.

All snakes are obligate carnivores. They will require animal-based food to thrive.

If you’re only squeamish about offering snakes live rodents, have no fear! Frozen rodents are readily available, and most captive snakes happily eat them, just warm them up to 95 degrees or so and you’re good to go. It’s even better to feed frozen/thawed (f/t) because of reduced risk of injury to the snake and a more humane way to dispatch the rodent (usually it’s CO2).

If you’re not okay with rodents at all, you can substitute whole prey with Reptilinks. Some snakes can convert to eating them, others refuse. So maybe before bringing the snake home, ask its keeper (breeder, store keeper, rescue employee, etc.) to try offering them a Reptilink (that you bought).

Garter snakes can eat fish, slugs, earthworms, and other non-mammalian prey, but those are harder to source and you’ll have to be very sure that the feeder fish you buy is free of parasites (not usually the case), and that the slugs and worms from the garden are pesticide-free.

In conclusion - there are options other than r4ts and m1ce to keeping your snakes happy and healthy. None of them are vegetarian/vegan though.

[fimbry]

I've heard that reptilinks are pretty dubious as a sole food source, but are they a decent supplement for variety? My lil guy eats f/t mice and he's a great eater, but always worry a bit if theres just even a little nutrition that he's missing out on eating only one thing his entire life.

It was dubious back when the only options were venison (high in fat), but a lot of the current mixes are just fine if you’d wish to use them as a single prey source. They are simply ground up whole prey (bones/fur/feathers included) minus the intestine.

Personally I can’t wait to order more and try some of the newer mixes in addition to the fr0g/qu.ail. Supposedly they might be easier for white lips to digest because the fur is all pre-ground up, so I’ll be using them mostly for that. (White lips typically do not digest fur and spit it back up as a fur cast.)

Also variety is a good thing! I regularly rotate between b.irds, gui.nea pi.gs, r@ts, and mi.ce.

Also edit: There are some great new podcast eps about Reptilinks on Morelia Python Radio. I highly recommend giving this a listen for anyone with the time!

[dogpantry]

Anyone know anything abt Reptilinks and BPs?

[omg-snakes]

Chammers was making a wonderfully derpy face while swallowing the last bit of his dinner.