Red Rat Snake

The red rat snake also more commonly called a corn snake.

Three websites found that gave a good overview of a rat snakes diets are:

myfwc.org : Its type of site is a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

There recommended diet for a wild rat snake was : wild rodents, lizards, birds and bird eggs

Second, www.anapsid.org

Type of site: Help core collection

Recommended diet: depending on the size of the snake a large mouse or small rat as well as every so often quail eggs.

Three, www.petco.com

Type of site: Care sheet

Recommended diet: thawed, appropriately sized frozen mice, warmed to room temperature every two weeks.

I found that the best information surprisingly came from the petco site. This being because while the first site is the best diet for a wild snake, most people are not going to go out and buy their snake a dead bird or lizards. Petco was the only site that I found that said feeding live mice or rats can be dangerous for the snakes well being.

www.anapsid was the least helpful because it did not say anything about feeding dead prey being safer for the animal. The first site would not be least helpful because its not talking about feeding captive snakes it talks about wild snake feeding.

Juvenile Rat (DM basis)

DM%    CP%        CF%     Ash%     k/cal     EE     Ca    P      NDF

530.0   56.1        27.5        14.8       5.5      N/A   N/A  N/A    N/A Well studied domestic species: I picked Milk Snake because they are another common pet snake
 * information found from www.rodentpro.com

Diet Comparison:

The diet for both of these snakes is the same, they both should be eating frozen/killed prey. So that being said, the diet depends on the size of the snake, this will depend on the size of the rodent. For snakes under 4 feet measure the widest part of the head of the snake -- the rodent should be twice as fat as that measurement. These snakes also require vitamin D from a lighting source.