Shaving mouse?

Sometimes when we're learning something new and we read a compelling article...the "facts" from that article can stick with us pretty hard. Someone who has been doing the same thing for years might read such an article and just laugh...but for someone just learning, it can have a big impact. Maybe the article was flat-out wrong. Maybe you misunderstood it. But either way, your perception that rodent hair is bad for snakes is real to you. I get that.

I do hope you can understand that folks here are trying to help. That we've got combined experiences of decades and hundreds and thousands of snakes. There is a LOT of false information out there and it can be confusing for someone just starting out to try and figure out what's real and what's bunk. I hope you'll be willing to listen to the general consensus of a whole bunch of keepers who know what they are talking about....if for no other reason than to simply make life easier on yourself.

There is absolutely no reason for you to fret about hair on your rodents. Shaving is out, as you've already stated. But you also really don't need to worry about trying to find hairless rodents. These animals were created to eat WHOLE prey items and to make use of the entire prey. If you remove one significant element of that item, you are removing something that the snake needs to stay healthy. It's one reason ball pythons poop so infrequently...because they are so very efficient at using up the whole prey. Very little material is left over as waste and it takes awhile for enough to build up for them to eliminate. No matter what one article said, I can promise you there is NO scientific evidence supporting the supposition that rodent hair is bad for snakes that are meant to eat rodents.

The one that always makes me giggle is when people think that thawing feeders directly in water is unhealthy for your snake.. somehow a little water in a pet's diet will poison it.. :rolleyes:

Maybe it's just me, maybe something is rotten in Denmark, but I STILL smell fish.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JLC

Sometimes when we're learning something new and we read a compelling article...the "facts" from that article can stick with us pretty hard. Someone who has been doing the same thing for years might read such an article and just laugh...but for someone just learning, it can have a big impact. Maybe the article was flat-out wrong. Maybe you misunderstood it. But either way, your perception that rodent hair is bad for snakes is real to you. I get that.

I do hope you can understand that folks here are trying to help. That we've got combined experiences of decades and hundreds and thousands of snakes. There is a LOT of false information out there and it can be confusing for someone just starting out to try and figure out what's real and what's bunk. I hope you'll be willing to listen to the general consensus of a whole bunch of keepers who know what they are talking about....if for no other reason than to simply make life easier on yourself.

There is absolutely no reason for you to fret about hair on your rodents. Shaving is out, as you've already stated. But you also really don't need to worry about trying to find hairless rodents. These animals were created to eat WHOLE prey items and to make use of the entire prey. If you remove one significant element of that item, you are removing something that the snake needs to stay healthy. It's one reason ball pythons poop so infrequently...because they are so very efficient at using up the whole prey. Very little material is left over as waste and it takes awhile for enough to build up for them to eliminate. No matter what one article said, I can promise you there is NO scientific evidence supporting the supposition that rodent hair is bad for snakes that are meant to eat rodents.

---

Thats an extremely good, and i thank you all for the explanation.As a newbie to the whole ball python keeping thing i am constantly worried about everything i want nothing to go wrong so any thing i read that sounds threatened (ball python wise) i immdiatley jump on it and find out everything i could on the matter.I am going to stick with live mice,all of you gave great answers and the one i am quoting is by far best and very helpful thank you all!

:O I've never heard this before.

Don't shave your mice

Would you mind sharing where you read this information ?

Perhaps if we knew where this was coming from, we could help other people confused by the information without going overboard.

Judy put this in the best possible way, and I'm glad she has a cool enough head to explain things, that's why she's a Mod here!

Anyway, as confusing as the information out there on snake husbandry is, I found out the best thing to do is when I read something, I try to find out how many OTHER related sites carry the same information. If one site out of 15 says something is bad, and the other 14 says it's ok, I'll usually go with the majority.

Gale

Not only is the fur a form of fiber and a good thing for the digestion, but shaving a mouse will result in 'sharper' stubble that may actually irritate the snake's innards.

I admit I had a giggle imagining someone trying to shave a live awake mouse.