Evaluation of a balanced fresh paste diet for maintenance of captive neotropical rattlesnakes used for venom production

Objective—To evaluate efficacy of a balanced fresh paste diet for maintenance of captive neotropical rattlesnakes used for venom production. Design—Controlled clinical trial. Animals—40 healthy neotropical rattlesnakes. Procedure—Rattlesnakes were force-fed once per week (10% of body weight) for 19 weeks; 20 control snakes received dead mice, whereas 20 test snakes received a balanced fresh paste diet. Ecdysis rates were calculated, and body weight was recorded weekly. After 19 weeks, venom was extracted and analyzed. Results—Sickness or deaths were not observed; weight loss during ecdysis and weight gain overall were similar between groups. Snakes fed the balanced fresh paste diet had similar ecdysis frequency, venom potency, and protein concentration in venom as did snakes fed mice. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Results suggest that a balanced fresh paste diet has sufficient nutritional value to avoid weight loss and death and does not adversely affect venom quality in captive neotropical rattlesnakes. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2001;218:912–914)