Grasshoppers are one of the main delicacies for many carnivores in the wild. As grasshoppers are full of protein and other nutrients, therefore, they are also a favorite food for reptiles. However, snakes also belong to the reptile group but there is confusion about whether they eat grasshoppers or not. In this article, we are going to find out the answer to this question.
Do snakes eat grasshoppers?
Snakes do eat grasshoppers and for being carnivores, grasshoppers are one of their favorite foods. Green Mambas or Rattlesnakes love to eat grasshoppers but not all snakes eat grasshoppers. Grasshoppers belong to their everyday diet for small snakes like Milk snakes or Garter snakes.
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Snakes are known for their weird and wild food cycle. In fact, they can eat different types of animals because of their metabolism which helps them to digest any sort of food.
Therefore, sometimes big snakes like Anacondas or Pythons might hunt down bigger animals than their size.
But, in the case of small snakes like Garter snakes or Milk snakes, or even Rattlesnakes, they go for small insects or small animals like toads. Due to having smaller mouths, they can’t swallow bigger animals or insects.
Therefore, they always go for small insects like grasshoppers or crickets. Because these types of insects are relatively easy to catch as well as are easy to swallow. That is why sometimes the snakes even hunt down grasshoppers or crickets in the daytime.
For being in size as well as poisonous the snakes do not hunt those lubber grasshoppers. Lubber grasshoppers are also difficult to catch, unlike the other small grasshoppers.
They live high up on the tree, therefore they are pretty hard to catch. In addition, they are the only prey of only one predator which is a bird named loggerhead shrike.
The lubber grasshoppers usually grow more than 5cm and their head becomes larger than their size. Therefore, small snakes like Garter or Milk snakes will have a tough time swallowing the lumber grasshoppers.
However, big snakes like Rattlers or Mambas can be able to eat them only if they are successful in catching them.
Do all snakes eat grasshoppers
No, not all snakes eat grasshoppers because snakes are carnivores, therefore, they always go for big animals for meat rather than going for small insects.
In addition, not only bigger snakes but also small snakes have a prolonged metabolism which is why they are able to eat any sort of food.
However, small snakes cannot eat all types of animals, especially the prey bigger than them. Therefore, small snakes like Garter,Milk, or Rattlers love to eat small insects like grasshoppers.
Sometimes the small snakes can climb up the highest point of the tree in order to find those small grasshoppers.
In the daytime, some small snakes will hunt down the grasshoppers by raiding their home. Therefore, it can be said that not all snakes eat the grasshoppers but the small ones do.
Can you feed grasshoppers to your pet snake?
First thing is, the pet snakes might not have a metabolism system like the wild snakes. In addition, the grasshoppers are full of some nutrients like amino acid which can cause digestion problems for your pet snake.
Also, the outer coverings or the shell of the grasshoppers will be very hard for the snake to digest.
Furthermore, the grasshoppers have a salty taste on them which is because their body is full of alkaline salts, therefore, if your pet snake doesn’t have a strong digestive system, then it can cause several problems.
It is reported that most of the snake’s faces serious health issues because of eating food that doesn’t suit their balanced diet.
But if you want your snake digestive system to be strong and wild like the wild snakes then you can certainly go for frozen animals, which will make them able to digest grasshoppers.
Do these snakes eat grasshoppers?
As not all snakes eat grasshoppers, let’s get to know which of them eat the grasshopper’s below.
Garter snakes:
Garter snakes belong to the group of small snakes. Therefore, they won’t be able to catch big animals like the python or anacondas.
That is why they live by hunting small prey like grasshoppers. In fact, you can say that they live by eating grasshoppers everyday.
Rat snakes:
Rat snakes also belong to the group of small snakes. But they don’t eat grasshoppers or any other type of insects.
Rather they survive by eating small rodents like mice. That is why, you can have an idea of their food cycle from their name.
Black snakes:
Well, most snakes live by eating rodents like mice. However, they also eat snakes that are smaller than them.
Black snakes are one of them. They live by eating other small snakes. They also eat grasshoppers but as a supplement to their diet.
Grass snakes:
Grass snakes also belong to the group of small snakes. They mainly survive by eating small insects like crickets. Sometimes they also hunt down small mice as well as small snakes.
They also live by eating small grasshoppers. As they mainly live on grass or make holes under the soil, therefore, they look for prey that is easy to catch. Therefore, they go for those small grasshoppers which live on the grass.
Green snakes:
Green snakes don’t eat grasshoppers. Rather they go for the prey which is big in size. They go for mice, small snakes, Mantis, birds, etc. Green snakes basically live in the trees.
Therefore, they hunt down animals like squirrels or birds that live on the trees. Some green snakes can eat big insects like Beetles or big grasshoppers.
Corn snakes:
Corn snakes are basically constrictors which means they will terminate the prey by suffocating them. Therefore, corn snakes go for big sizes of animals. For instance, corn snakes hunt down mice, birds, squirrels, and even fishes.
However, sometimes the corn snakes can eat grasshoppers but only as a supplement to their diet.
Pythons:
Well pythons belong to the bigger-sized group of snakes. They are mainly constrictors which is why they will hunt down prey bigger in size. Sometimes the python goes for animals that are bigger than their size.
They mainly suffocate the prey to lose life and then start to swallow. In addition, the python has a bigger stomach and strong digestive system, therefore, they always hunt down bigger prey.
Therefore, the python doesn’t go after small prey like the grasshoppers.
Rattlesnakes:
Rattlers do love to eat small prey like grasshoppers. They basically live in the desert area where the temperature is very high. Therefore, they don’t have many options for prey like the snakes have in forest areas.
But one thing to be noted down is that grasshoppers live in this type of climate. Therefore, in their balanced diet the grasshoppers are their main prey.
Gopher snakes:
Gopher snakes can eat anything as long as they are able to catch and swallow easily. Their main food is small rodents like mice, lizards, etc. They can also eat small insects like grasshoppers if they are able to catch them.
However, bigger gophers don’t hunt small insects rather they go for bigger-sized animals.
King snakes:
King snakes don’t eat grasshoppers because they prefer to eat larger prey like squirrels or mice. However, you can count grasshoppers as a small part of their diet because the small king snakes survive by eating grasshoppers.
What type of snakes eat grasshoppers?
Grasshoppers actually don’t count as the main food for many snakes, rather they are counted as the small supplement to their balanced diet. However small snakes like Garter snakes or Milk snakes eat grasshoppers as they are able to catch the grasshopper very easily.
But not all the snakes eat grasshoppers as bigger sized snakes like python or cobra prefers bigger sized animals.
What other animal eats grasshoppers?
There are lots of animals that eat grasshoppers. Basically they are small sized animals because grasshoppers are very easy to catch and a preferable diet for small sized animals. The list of the animals that eats grasshoppers are given below:
- Birds
- Eagles
- Hawks
- Turkeys
- Chicken
- Wild Raccoons
- Mantis
- Snakes
- Spiders
- Bats
- Beetles
- Flie
What snakes are good for your garden and why?
You can have a great benefit by having snakes in your garden. They will eventually destroy the insect and rodent population in your garden. Also, they will eat all rodents in your garden as well as save your plants.
Small snakes like Garter snakes or Rat snakes are good for your garden as they are harmless and can destroy the rodent population in one season.
Final Thoughts:
Not all the snakes are fond of eating grasshoppers but small snakes like the Garter, Rattlesnakes, Milk snakes, Green Mamba, etc. prefer eating grasshoppers. Grasshoppers are considered a small supplement to the diet of the big snakes but the small King or Milk snakes live by eating grasshoppers.