Just picked up a pair of Homalopsis buccata. Was wondering if anyone had any experience with this species. Ill post videos soon 
Homalopsis buccata (Puff Faced Water Snake)
- Thread starter ARKproject
- Start date
Yes
Number one: don't feed them just fish,add rodents to the diet, never feed them goldfish.
Feed them every few days,as they have a higher metabolism than many other groups of snakes.
Are these freshly wild caught or already established in captivity?
In my experience these guys are quite different from the more commonly kept water snakes (Natricinae). Here's a few things I've noticed and a couple tips;
1. Start breeding tilapia. You're going to need a steady supply of feeder fish that are big enough. I've only ever gotten one to eat rodents and it lasted for 3 weeks then never touched them again. In the wild, they eat primarily fish, amphibians, and maybe crustaceans (1,2,3,4). They will take frozen/thawed whole fish eventually so you can euthanize and freeze the tilapia (or whatever) at the right size and not worry about keeping hundreds of tilapia alive. They will require live to start though. If you're worried about nutrition, you can feed the tilapia a high quality diet, cut the frozen fish open and put a small mouse in (doesn't always work), or use some sort of commercial carnivore pellet/gel and insert that into the dead fish.
2. Give them a decent size tank. atleast 120cm/4ft, preferably much more. They need room to swim, and also need a big enough basking spot. Stocks tanks work fairly well, and are relatively cheap given their size.
3. They can be fairly messy. Commercial filters work but may need regular maintenance depending on setup. I prefer DIY filters made from a pond pump and 5 gallon bucket personally.
4. They are rear-fanged, though I've found no indication they are dangerous to humans (of course somebody could be allergic). So you know, don't be stupid with them just in case.
4. Last but definitely not least, get a fecal sample screened for parasites. There will always be a small parasite load in any animal, but there are some that "should" be removed.
In my experience these guys are quite different from the more commonly kept water snakes (Natricinae). Here's a few things I've noticed and a couple tips;
1. Start breeding tilapia. You're going to need a steady supply of feeder fish that are big enough. I've only ever gotten one to eat rodents and it lasted for 3 weeks then never touched them again. In the wild, they eat primarily fish, amphibians, and maybe crustaceans (1,2,3,4). They will take frozen/thawed whole fish eventually so you can euthanize and freeze the tilapia (or whatever) at the right size and not worry about keeping hundreds of tilapia alive. They will require live to start though. If you're worried about nutrition, you can feed the tilapia a high quality diet, cut the frozen fish open and put a small mouse in (doesn't always work), or use some sort of commercial carnivore pellet/gel and insert that into the dead fish.
2. Give them a decent size tank. atleast 120cm/4ft, preferably much more. They need room to swim, and also need a big enough basking spot. Stocks tanks work fairly well, and are relatively cheap given their size.
3. They can be fairly messy. Commercial filters work but may need regular maintenance depending on setup. I prefer DIY filters made from a pond pump and 5 gallon bucket personally.
4. They are rear-fanged, though I've found no indication they are dangerous to humans (of course somebody could be allergic). So you know, don't be stupid with them just in case.
4. Last but definitely not least, get a fecal sample screened for parasites. There will always be a small parasite load in any animal, but there are some that "should" be removed.
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What about supplemented fish fillets? I was thinking that I could possibly get mine to eat off a tong and place supplements or even whole pinky mice in the fish.
Fish fillets don't contain enough nutrients to sustain them. commercial supplements (dusting powders) help, but they usually only contain some of the required vitamins/micronutrients/macronutrients. Whole fish would be more likely to contain the required nutrients, especially if fed a varied, high quality diet. It would be like trying to keep a cornsnake on dusted chicken breast vs rodents or whole birds.
Fillets and supplements would work in a pinch of course, but I wouldn't rely on it as a staple personally. You can always buy older fingerlings from a fishery if you don't want to breed them. You can still tong feed whole fish.
It would increase nutrient availability, not necessarily nutrient uptake. Plus too much nutrients is just as bad as not enough.
Seeing as these are most likely wild caught, mixing (all other cons of that aside) would be a bad idea, especially with other reptiles. Also, since their diet probably includes crustaceans (see links in previous comment), there's always a chance, albeit probably small for small shrimp, that they eat tankmates.
What about stocking large feeder goldfish, but keeping them and gutlaoding them for a few weeks before feeding them to the snakes? I feel that would be much more manageable. Maybe even hiding pinky mice in large pieces of fish fillets?
