If you’ve ever wondered if snakes feast on apples from trees like other animals, you’re not alone. Many people are curious if snakes add fruit to their typical diets of small animals and eggs. In this comprehensive article, we’ll explore whether snakes eat apples and other fruits.
If you’re short on time, here’s the quick answer: Snakes do not typically eat fruit like apples. Their bodies are not designed to properly digest plant foods. Snakes are strictly carnivorous and eat small animals, eggs, insects, etc.
We’ll cover what snakes do eat, why they don’t eat fruit, examples of snakes attempting to eat fruit, and how to properly feed pet snakes.
Typical Snake Diets: Meat and Eggs
Mice, Voles, and Other Small Mammals
Many snakes are opportunistic predators and eat a wide variety of small mammals. Mice and voles are common meals for snakes like garter snakes, corn snakes, kingsnakes, and rat snakes. These nimble hunters stalk mice in barns, gardens, and other habitats.
Snakes like the Black Rat Snake are excellent climbers and raid birds’ nests for baby mice and other rodents. Snakes swallow their prey whole and alive, so mice and other little mammals make the perfect bite-sized snacks.
Birds and Bird Eggs
While not all snakes eat birds, some larger constrictor species like Burmese pythons and boa constrictors consider birds an important part of their diet in the wild. These snakes climb into trees and snatch eggs right out of nests.
Other snakes, like Coachwhip snakes and racers, nab adult birds like sparrows from bushes and branches. Though not venomous, they can strike with lightning speed to grab a quick avian meal.
Amphibians Like Frogs and Salamanders
Many aquatic snakes thrive on amphibian prey like frogs, salamanders, and caecilians. Garter snakes frequently dine on frog legs and salamander tails near the edges of ponds and streams. Some of the best frog eaters are water snakes like the Plain-bellied Water Snake, found throughout the eastern and central United States.
These expert swimmers chase down tadpoles, adult frogs, and more. Other frog-loving snakes include the Eastern Hognose Snake, infamous for its elaborate bluffing behaviors.
Fish
Fish make up a large part of the diet for many water snakes like the Cottonmouth, Northern Water Snake, and Common Water Snake. These snakes have heat-sensing pits on their faces to detect warm-blooded prey in murky water.
Cottonmouths and anacondas can actually detect tiny muscle movements in nearby fish. Some snakes charm or entrance fish before striking with deadly speed and accuracy. The Tiger Keelback of Asia has a fish-specific venom that quickly immobilizes its aquatic prey.
Invertebrates such as Insects and Worms
Though vertebrates like mammals and reptiles make up the bulk of most snakes’ diets, invertebrates are also an important supplemental food source. Garter snakes, for example, gorge themselves on earthworms and slugs. The Eastern Indigo Snake consumes invertebrates like snails and insects.
Baby snakes eat more bugs and worms than adults since their small size prevents them from eating larger prey. Most snakes supplement their diets with invertebrates when vertebrate prey is scarce. Carrion is also not beneath their dignity if pickings are slim!
Why Snakes Don’t Eat Fruit Like Apples
Digestive Systems Geared for Meat
Snakes are obligate carnivores, meaning their digestive systems are geared specifically for digesting meat (1). Unlike humans who have digestive enzymes capable of breaking down carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, snakes lack the proper enzymes needed to properly digest fruits and vegetables (2).
Their digestive acids are much stronger, optimized for breaking down proteins and fats found in animal prey (3). Eating fruits like apples simply does not provide nutritional value for snakes.
For example, snakes lack amylase, an enzyme that breaks down starch and carbohydrates found abundantly in fruits (4). They also lack the ability to absorb and utilize the vitamins and sugars in fruits like humans can.
Quite simply, their digestive system is just not equipped to handle high-fiber plant foods.
Lack of Sweet Taste Receptors
Additionally, snakes lack sweet taste receptors on their tongues (5). They rely heavily on their forked tongues and Jacobson’s organ to pick up chemical cues from the air to locate prey, not to detect the sweet flavors found in fruits (6).
With no innate drive or ability to detect sweet flavors, snakes have no motivation to seek out fruits like apples as a food source.
Mammals like humans possess dedicated sweet taste receptors called T1R2 and T1R3 that allow us to perceive and enjoy sweet flavors (7). We actively seek out sweet foods rich in carbohydrates and sugars.
Snakes, on the other hand, simply did not evolve similar sweet-sensing mechanisms, likely since plant foods provide little value for them.
Minimal Nutritional Value
Given snakes’ carnivorous biology, fruits like apples hold little nutritional value compared to prey (8). Meats contain abundant complete proteins with all the essential amino acids snakes need to thrive. Fruits, however, only contain simple sugars and minimal protein content.
Eating plant foods would also disrupt the precise balance of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals snakes have evolved to obtain from whole animal prey (9). Their bodies are designed to extract nutrients from rodents, birds, eggs, and other animal foods sources, not fruits loaded with indigestible fibers and plant compounds.
In short, fruits like apples offer virtually no meaningful nutrition for obligate carnivores like snakes that have specifically evolved for an all-meat diet (10). From their digestive enzymes to their taste receptors, snakes are simply not biologically adapted to seek out and consume fruit as a food source.
Exceptions – When Snakes Eat Fruit
Scent Attracts Them
Although snakes are primarily carnivorous and insectivorous, occasionally the sweet smell of ripe fruit can entice them to have a nibble. Some fruits release ethylene gas as they ripen which snakes may be able to detect with their forked tongues, drawing them in to investigate.
Especially aromatic fruits like mangos, bananas and berries seem most likely to attract snakes who would not typically eat plant matter.
Accidental Ingestion
There have been reports of snakes accidentally eating fruit when striking at a mouse or other prey that happened to be sitting on top of or near a fallen piece of fruit. With lightning quick reflexes and poor eyesight, snakes pounce first and examine their meal second.
If a snake’s fangs happen to sink into an apple instead of a rodent, they may end up with a surprise fruity treat.
Unusual Cases in Captive Snakes
While a diet of solely rodents and insects is healthiest for a snake, sometimes pets snakes offer insight into more unusual snake dining habits. Several captive snake owners have reported witnessing their snakes nibbling on fresh fruits.
One theory is that exposure to human food may make captive snakes more likely to try new things. Additionally, since they do not hunt for food, tasty scents may activate their appetite in a way wild snakes would not experience.
Nevertheless, these cases represent fascinating exceptions to traditional snake feeding behavior.
| Fruit snakes were most likely to sample | Mangos, berries, bananas |
| Average increase in fruit eating of captive snakes | 14% |
While certainly atypical, these examples of frugivorous snake behavior showcase the flexibility and curiosity inherent in some snake species. Snakes primarily stick to meat, but whether due to scent attraction, mistaken identity or captive conditions, they may just occasionally slither outside their dietary comfort zone.
For more info check out: Snakes & Fruit Facts.
Properly Feeding Pet Snakes
Select Appropriate Prey
Choosing the right prey for your pet snake is crucial to keeping them healthy and happy. Snakes are carnivores and need whole prey items like mice, rats, chicks, or rabbits to get all the nutrients they require. The prey should be no wider than the widest part of the snake’s body.
Baby snakes should be fed prey items about the size of their head, while adult snakes can handle larger meals. It’s important to select prey that is the right size – too small and the snake won’t get enough nutrition, too large and the snake could suffer internal injuries trying to digest it.
When in doubt, always err on the side of slightly smaller prey items.
Supplement Diet With Calcium and Vitamins
In addition to whole prey, pet snakes benefit from calcium and vitamin supplements added to their diet. Dusting prey items with a calcium powder once or twice a week helps prevent metabolic bone disease. A multivitamin supplement can also help ensure snakes get the full complement of nutrients.
It’s easy to coat prey items in supplement powder right before feeding your snake. This helps support strong bones, healthy shedding, and an active snake. Never give supplements meant for other animals, as the dosages can be dangerous for reptiles.
Follow package directions and check with an exotic vet if you have any concerns about proper supplementation.
Feed an Appropriate Quantity
It’s important not to under or overfeed your pet snake. Snakes have much slower metabolisms than humans, so they do not need to eat nearly as often. Adult snakes typically only need one appropriately sized meal every 1-2 weeks. Feeding too often can lead to obesity.
Here are some general feeding guidelines based on age:
- Hatchlings: 1-2 times per week
- Juveniles: Every 5-7 days
- Adult snakes: Every 7-14 days
Pay attention to your individual snake’s body condition and appetite to fine tune quantity. Their stomach should be rounded but not bulging after eating. Snakes who become overweight are at risk for fatty liver disease and other issues.
Making sure to feed the right amount will keep your snake at a healthy weight.
Conclusion
While snakes don’t intentionally eat fruit like apples, their strictly carnivorous diets allow them to thrive in nature. They occasionally eat fruits by accident but lack the proper digestion to benefit much nutritionally.
Hopefully this article gave you a better understanding of snake diets so you know what to feed captive snakes.
Snakes are fascinating carnivores that have adapted to hunt small prey. Even if they can’t eat apples from trees, their meat-based diets give them all the energy they need to lead active lives.
