what else can a ball python eat?

Discussion in 'Ball Pythons' started by Shanna66, May 9, 2009.

  1. Shanna66

    Shanna66 Well-Known Member

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    my girl has been large enough to eat small rats for a bit and ve been putting off feeding her rats because A- ive still got a small bag of adult mice left, and B- i became a rat fan after getting my ball python. im not saying i wont feed her rats, i just want to know if there are any other options of food items.
    so what else can a ball python eat besides rats and whats their nutrition value compared to rats?
    ive heard they can eat young chicks but i dont know what size a small chick is and i dont know how they compare to the nutrition my girl would be getting compared to if i fed her a rat.
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. jflizi1458

    jflizi1458 New Member

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    I was wondering about the same thing... I wanted to try chicks too! So you are feeding frozen then? Do you know how long they can be frozen before they loose their nutritional value?
     
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. Shanna66

    Shanna66 Well-Known Member

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    yes, i use frozen. i have no idea how long they last though, that thought has never crossed my mind, i dont think ive needed to know though since my mice only stay frozen for maybe 2 months at most.
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. bruno

    bruno Moderator

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    Hi Folks,
    You can feed day-old chicks BUT the poo will be very runny and smelly so be warned.
    BP's that have been off their food and refusing to eat will very often take a f/t chick.
    All Frozen food should be use within 6 months.
    Generally speaking, rats contain all the essential vits, minerals and D3 that a snake need so thats the best way to go.
    The following list will give you an idea, it's listed in the following order.
    Crude Protein....Crude fat....Calcium...Phosphorus, the ideal Ca:p should be 2:1.

    These are show as percentages per dry mass.

    Day old Chick...64.9...22.4...1.69...1.22....weight N/A

    Adult mouse....55.8...23.6...2.98...1.72....weight 10 grs

    Adult rat....61.9...32.6...2.62...1.48.....weight 50g +

    As you can see the mouse and rat have a better Ca:p ratio than the chick but the chick has higher Protein and less fat than rat/mouse.

    All this info and more, can be found at Rodent Pro

    Personally I would stick with the rodents as this would be their normal type prey in wild.

    Hope this helps
     
  8. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  9. Shanna66

    Shanna66 Well-Known Member

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    that is helpful, thank you. ill probably just stick with rats then.
    i dont supose anyone would know this seeing as how this is a reptile forum, but would anyone know if my rat boys would be freaked out if i fed my snake a rat in the same room as them? i do it with mice all the time and they dont mind, but then again mice are part of a rat's natural diet.
     
  10. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  11. BooBah

    BooBah New Member

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    well i dont have any experience with this so i wouldnt know but i wouldnt think so, but if your worried about it just make sure the rats cant see the feeding process
     
  12. Shanna66

    Shanna66 Well-Known Member

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    i guess ill just feed her in the hallway or something then where the boys dont go too often
     
  13. lil_shy_aries

    lil_shy_aries New Member

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  14. lil_shy_aries

    lil_shy_aries New Member

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    hello Shanna66,
    your ? was what other pray items with a bp eat. in the wild they eat gerbbels, that is their main pray item. i wouldnt feed one to my bp for they are mean they have a tazmainian attitude and nails and teeth of a rat. they also will eat hamsters pretty readily. I feed live. i dont feed dead.
    this info has come from a vet that specializes in snakes. of our ilk. im a proud owner of my bp. lol. shy
     
  15. Shanna66

    Shanna66 Well-Known Member

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    well i prefer to avoid live feedings, plus my girl is an idiot and i just know she would be killed by live food. i love her, but she is just really slow. and i dont have the money to pay for hamsters all the time.

    i do plan on breeding natal rats after my boyfriend and i get a house.
     
  16. jennstairs

    jennstairs Embryo

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    When I first bought my BP, he was very sick. He had a vitamin deficiency along with a GI type infection. After he saw a vet, took his meds and got rid of all infections he refused to eat. I had to put him on a liquid carnivorous diet for 6 weeks, then force feed him 5 pinkies a week, which was pretty gross! ;) This went on for a good year and every month or two I would try to introduce a live mouse, but he would absolutely refuse to eat it. Then I heard about gerbils and gave it a try. He practically inhaled it!!! He ate gerbils for four months then slowly switched to mice only and now he is on a mouse diet. I can not bring myself to feed him rats because of the serebral spinal fluid that leaks out of them so he eats 2-4 mice a week. His vet says that's fine and it's just as nutritious as feeding him a larger rat.
     
  17. jeffg46

    jeffg46 New Member

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    This web site has a very detailed breakdown of different animals and their food value.

    http://74.125.45.132/search?q=cache:EgK1bF...;cd=1&gl=us

    Just be careful what you ask for. If the snake likes what you feed it better than the mice/rats it's used to it might not go back. Inducing a feeding issue in an otherwise eating snake is not easy to fix, nor the smartest thing.

    FWIW, I did try a hamster once. A local pet shop had one that was too aggressive to sell as a pet and asked if I would just take it and put it out of their misery. I have a BP that is a picky eater, so I thought maybe she would take something different. She wouldn't even look at it. I took the hamster back a week later, after a couple of tries. If you are looking for something other than normal rats, African Soft Furred rats are very good. My difficult eater takes those every time. I actually started breeding them because of it. I still will not feed them to my other snakes though. I don't want to get them used to it when that is all my other one will take.
     
  18. Shanna66

    Shanna66 Well-Known Member

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    what are soft furs like? can a corn eat them too? or do they get too big?
     

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