New Ball Python

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Originally Posted by Bright202

What about little gerbils*yum*, they love them don't they?

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gerbils are part of their native food, BUT i wouldn't recommend feeding them, unless you have a solid supplier (breeder, pet store, ect.). ball pythons are imprint feeders, so if you feed them gerbils they might not eat mice/rats again. and gerbils can get pretty expensive from a pet store, so i would just be cautious when feeding gerbils.

hope that makes some sense...

Sorry, but Ball Pythons don't come from Mongolia, where Gerbils are native.

So, if you're willing to spend about $10 on one gerbil, go right ahead. Mice and rats work just fine.

My mom's boyfriend was like you should shoot them ChipMunks out side and feed them to 'rebel' "My Ball Python". I was like no... What do you guys think.

I think they prob have to many dieses or something and will get my snake sick. Although I seen a Corn Snake eat a Bat and its still healthy as can be. The snake had got out of its cage and went exploring and we found it outside with a bat in its mouth, Kinda wierd seeing something like that.

Actually: Gerbils are also from Africa, whether or not they are the natural food source, I have no idea.

Quoting Wikipedia "Once known simply as "desert rats", the gerbil subfamily includes about 110 species of Africa, Indian, and Asian rodents, including sand rats and jirds, all of which are adapted to arid habitats. Most are primarily diurnal(though some, including the common household pet, do exhibit crepuscular behavior), and almost all are omnivorous...

...One Mongolian species, Meriones unguiculatus, also known as the Clawed Jird, is a gentle and hardy animal that has become a popular pet. It was first brought to the United States in 1954 by Dr. Victor Schwentker for use in research."

And researching it further, Gerbils [jirds] are native to North Africa, the dry arid deserts and semi deserts. And to my knowledge Balls are from West Africa and stretching into Central Africa. So it is almost certain that the two would rarely if ever crossed paths.

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Originally Posted by Python420

My mom's boyfriend was like you should shoot them ChipMunks out side and feed them to 'rebel' "My Ball Python". I was like no... What do you guys think.

I think they prob have to many dieses or something and will get my snake sick. Although I seen a Corn Snake eat a Bat and its still healthy as can be. The snake had got out of its cage and went exploring and we found it outside with a bat in its mouth, Kinda wierd seeing something like that.

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You should never feed a pet snake animals from outside. It's even discouraged to catch insects from outside for lizards because you just can't be sure what they've been eating. The few people I know whose animals got out and ate some wild thing took their pets to the vet pronto to make sure they were ok.

Best thing to do is to find out which you would be comfortable feeding, mice or rats, and make sure you have a clean, reliable source for them.