Crickets for bp?

I know a guy with a very old male bp and he sometimes puts a few crickets in the cage between regular meals. He said this is beneficial to him because it stimulates him having a live prey item to hunt and provides extra protein in his diet. On all the care sheets iv read I never saw anything about crickets for bps. In fact, most of them say rodents are the 'only' acceptable food for them. But the old male I mentioned before was always very happy and healthy and has actually exceeded life expectancy. So I thought id seek out the experienced opinion of the forum members. Iv got my own baby bp, about 16 inches long. Do you think she would benefit from cricket treats?

I didn't even think they'd eat crickets....don't really know anything about the subject beyond my own unfamiliarity with it.

I can honestly say that ball pythons have no benefits from crickets. These snakes eat a rodent based diet and I have never heard of a ball python eating crickets. So, no, I do not think your snake would get any benefit from this theory whatsoever.

Alright, that's kinda what I expected to hear. Just curious tho, thanks anyways.

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Originally Posted by ballpythonluvr

I can honestly say that ball pythons have no benefits from crickets. These snakes eat a rodent based diet and I have never heard of a ball python eating crickets. So, no, I do not think your snake would get any benefit from this theory whatsoever.

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Agreed 10,000% and not just because it's a super moderator opinion. :P

I've seen MANY people try to pass this off at pet stores Because crickets bring them in a better profit. (Most of the time) I overhead someone buying a 4 ft RTB being told to feed it 10-20 crickets EVERY OTHER day... that blew my mind. I pulled the person off to the side and corrected it. But the truth still stands. They. Should never eat crickets. It might make them.more active, but I just can't see it.

I know we're all have our own opinions and maybe someone who agrees will join in. But regardless, I'd stray clear myself.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zeion97

Agreed 10,000% and not just because it's a super moderator opinion. :P

I've seen MANY people try to pass this off at pet stores Because crickets bring them in a better profit. (Most of the time) I overhead someone buying a 4 ft RTB being told to feed it 10-20 crickets EVERY OTHER day... that blew my mind. I pulled the person off to the side and corrected it. But the truth still stands. They. Should never eat crickets. It might make them.more active, but I just can't see it.

I know we're all have our own opinions and maybe someone who agrees will join in. But regardless, I'd stray clear myself.

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yea more active because 1 it has bugs crawling on it and 2 because its hungry!

My BPs won't even look at rodents that are on the small size for the snakes size. I can't believe that they would even notice crickets.

Forget the crickets :colbert:.

Yeah it's hard enough to get them to eat rodents lol

My fist BP I owned came to me as a hatchling from a client who was told to feed him crickets instead of rodents by a chain store employee...

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