a healthier feeder?

[OneWithNature]

Would a mouse or rat with a wheel to excercise on be any healthier/ more nutritious/ leaner meat, for a snake than just a feeder that hangs out in an empty tub all its life? any nutritional studies on this ever been done?

[blackcrystal22]

Would a mouse or rat with a wheel to excercise on be any healthier/ more nutritious/ leaner meat, for a snake than just a feeder that hangs out in an empty tub all its life? any nutritional studies on this ever been done?

Not that I'm aware of.. but if I already have wheels, and I remove them, the find other bad things to do..

I think Mike said they started killing each other and chewing up everything when he tried that.

[m00kfu]

Not that I'm aware of.. but if I already have wheels, and I remove them, the find other bad things to do..

I think Mike said they started killing each other and chewing up everything when he tried that.

I assume you're referring to ASF's with that comment. Our rats here are actually very well behaved, and most of them have had access to a wheel at one point or another. Certain ones would use it constantly, and there hasn't been any change to their personality after having it removed.

Our ASF's have also done fine without any wheels. It's definitely a benefit to give them a wheel as it keeps them busy, but I wouldn't say it's a requirement. As far as our ASF's go, we actually haven't had a single fight break out the whole time we've had them.

[blackcrystal22]

I assume you're referring to ASF's with that comment. Our rats here are actually very well behaved, and most of them have had access to a wheel at one point or another. Certain ones would use it constantly, and there hasn't been any change to their personality after having it removed.

Our ASF's have also done fine without any wheels. It's definitely a benefit to give them a wheel as it keeps them busy, but I wouldn't say it's a requirement. As far as our ASF's go, we actually haven't had a single fight break out the whole time we've had them.

ASF's for the Mike part, yes.
But my own experience is from mice, ASFs, and normal small rats (which I don't have anymore).
I think it depends if they were originally introduced with a wheel or not, because if they never knew, it won't hurt them.

[m00kfu]

ASF's for the Mike part, yes.
But my own experience is from mice, ASFs, and normal small rats (which I don't have anymore).
I think it depends if they were originally introduced with a wheel or not, because if they never knew, it won't hurt them.

Ours have had them and then had them removed with no ill effects. A lot of it can also come down to the genetics of the animal too though. I don't know how tame Mike's are, but we've rarely been bitten by the ASF's over here. That could very well be why ours do fine with or without wheels.

[littleindiangirl]

I wanted to amend that a little by saying the only ones who have had their wheels removed (and remember) would be our breeders as they have aged to the point where they hardly use them anymore. When I did remove the wheels, they were given a multitude of other things to destroy to help them relieve the stress of no longer having a wheel.

The weaners haven't been given a wheel in a long time, however I am giving them new nickel welded wheels back. The main reason I removed them was because the wheels were cheap and spray painted or something, the metal rusted easily and was a hazard.

Hopefully now though these new wheels will last me a very long time. I'm still not giving wheels to the breeders at this point. I just like to mix things up and try different set ups for these animals. I feel like the breeders can do very well with out wheels, as I have noted a marked decrease in the use while they had them. (They mainly just slept on them, or ran after I cleaned their tubs)

The animals I raise up though will have them, because the numbers are higher in those tubs, and there is more risk of altercations or other destructiveness.

[littleindiangirl]

As to the question from the OP, we can't really say one way or the other what would be better, since there has not been a study on the nutrition of ball pythons or other snakes.

Even to that, we couldnt say for sure if the fat content is an instrumental advantage or disadvantage for snakes in captivity. Could we speculate that breeding females do better with a fattier source of food than males do? Or can we assume that since the fatty deposits are inside the body, pressing against organs, that all snakes would benefit from a leaner prey? In general, snakes in captivity are much fatter than their wild counterparts.

At this point in time, I think I'd rather assume I know little of the physiology of my captive snakes to pointedly say a leaner meal is always better.