Can Corn Snakes Eat Crickets? (And Are They A Good Food Source?)

Corn snakes love to eat rodents like mice.

And that is what most corn snake owners feed their pet.

Frozen mice are easy to buy and store. They are also easy to feed and snakes love them.

But what if you don’t want to feed your snake rodents all the time?

Can corn snakes eat crickets or other insects.

And do they make a good source of food for snakes?

Keep reading to learn whether corn snakes can eat crickets, whether they should, and everything else you need to know about properly feeding your pet.

 

Can Corn Snakes Eat Crickets?

Corn snakes can eat crickets, but they don’t. If you own a corn snake and you’re looking for foods to feed them then, there is no point in including crickets, or other insects, in their diet.

Let’s find out exactly why corn snakes do not eat crickets. We’ll also cover what kinds of foods you can feed your corn snake, if you prefer not to feed it the standard rats or mice.

 

Why Corn Snakes Do Not Eat Crickets

If a corn snake comes across crickets in the wild, or even any other insects like roaches, chances are the snake will ignore them. Insects have a low body heat, which it hard for snakes to even detect them.

Snakes rely on body heat as a way to hunt out their prey. The ability to sense heat is an extra sense for them. That is why they go for small, warm-blooded mammals like rodents.

If you tried to feed your corn snake a cricket, it would probably not even register the insect as food. In all likelihood, it would simply ignore it. So what should you feed your corn snake, ideally?

 

What Can I Feed My Corn Snake?

You can feed your corn snake a variety of different foods. It is best to always feel whole prey, so that it gets all of the nutrients from the various organs. Corn snakes prefer to eat small rodents, lizards and even eggs.

The best thing to feed corn snakes is generally frozen mice. They’re nutritious and easy to store in your home. All you have to do is defrost a mouse and then feed it to your snake.

Corn snakes can also eat smaller reptiles like lizards, but these are usually harder to come by than mice. And also much more expensive.

If you want to add more variety to your corn snake’s diet, you can feed it poultry and eggs.

However, if you have a baby snake, I would recommend waiting until it is fully grown before you start feeding it poultry. Poultry is usually larger than mice, which makes it harder to digest for a smaller snake. Luckily, corn snakes grow rapidly.

In the wild, if a corn snake comes across a nest of eggs, you can bet it will end up consuming it. That means if you also want to feed your corn snake eggs, then you most definitely can. It will digest eggs in the same way as any other foods that your snake consumes.

 

How Many Days Can A Corn Snake Go Without Eating?

This depends on the age of the snake. An adult corn snake can go up to three months without eating On the other hand, baby corn snakes cannot go any longer than a week.

Baby corn snakes need to eat regularly and ideally every three to four days. Regular eating is important to ensure they’re taking in all the necessary ingredients to ensure they grow into healthy adults.

Adult snakes are able to go so long without food because they have slower metabolisms and are able to conserve energy for a long period of time. After an extended period without food, an adult snake will start to use its fats and proteins as a source of energy.

 

Can I Feed My Corn Snake Chicken?

Yes, you can feed your corn snake chicken. Just make sure that it’s raw. I wouldn’t suggest it as regular food in your snake’s diet, but feeding some chicken every now and then won’t do your snake any harm and it might even appreciate having some variety in its diet.

Mice are always the a go-to when it comes to feeding your snake, but raw chicken breast can be a good secondary option. Don’t feed your corn snake any cooked chicken, because snakes eat raw food.

Also, make sure the food isn’t seasoned. Any ingredients other than plain, raw chicken can make your snake sick. Just because you’re a fan of spicy chicken, doesn’t mean your snake will be.

Raw chicken is an easier option for you to store than mice. It and also much easier to buy, since you can just pick it up in your local supermarket.

So why not just feed you snake chicken all the time? Meat does not contain all of the nutrients snakes need. They get much of their nutrition from organs like the heart, liver, kidneys and more. In order to get the proper nutrition from chicken, you snake would need to eat the entire chicken.

 

Corn Snakes Can Eat Crickets: Final Thoughts

Corn snakes can eat crickets, but they usually don’t. Insects i general have a much lower body temperature than other animal. As a result, snakes, which hunt by sensing their prey’s heat signature, tend to ignore insects with their lower body temperatures.

You can certainly try feeding your corn snake crickets. They are not bad for it. But chances are you snake will simply ignore the cricket and not even register it as food. It is best to just feed these snakes frozen mice. That is what they enjoy and that is also what is easiest for you as the owner.