Raising Ball on Mice?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SPIDERBALL

The closest pet store to me only go up to medium feeder mice. Two of mine are on f/t small mice. The other two refuse f/t, so they're on live. I just go buy 16 frozen and 16 live. Keep the live in a tub. Keep the f/t in freezer, and hope I don't confuse them for a tv dinner. Do that every month. May have to feed more often. And may end up being costly. But at $1.29 each, it hasn't been too bad so far.

Sent from my LGL64VL using Tapatalk

---

I have the opposite problem at my local store. They have retired breeder mice then "small" rats that are to big for my snakes. Got a small rat one day and there was no way my 300g snake was going to eat it. Weighed the rat at over 100g. I didn't think to check it til I got home. My bad. I've found rodentpro sells xlarge mice for $.80 ea. Or comparable sized weaned rats for $1.25 ea. Cheaper to feed mice for the time being in my case. The other thing is I would imagine a mature animal would have more calcium and other minerals than an underdeveloped one?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I remember years ago when it was said a rat was better nutritionally than mice. I remember when people used to say feeding multiple feeders at a time wasn't good for your snake. I remember when it was accepted and recommended to soak your snake for long periods of time. I remember a lot of things I was told in the beginning that aren't necessarily true today.

This is still an evolving industry. More people involved in the industry means more knowledge learned and spread.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aquajunky02

I have the opposite problem at my local store. They have retired breeder mice then "small" rats that are to big for my snakes. Got a small rat one day and there was no way my 300g snake was going to eat it. Weighed the rat at over 100g. I didn't think to check it til I got home. My bad. I've found rodentpro sells xlarge mice for $.80 ea. Or comparable sized weaned rats for $1.25 ea. Cheaper to feed mice for the time being in my case. The other thing is I would imagine a mature animal would have more calcium and other minerals than an underdeveloped one?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---

Yeah but shipping is what kills me

Sent from my LGL64VL using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SPIDERBALL

Yeah but shipping is what kills me

Sent from my LGL64VL using Tapatalk

---

They come to my local reptile show roughly once every 2 months. You may check your local shows and see if they attend?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I feed a lot of mice to my ball pythons, mainly because I breed them and always have way too many LOL. I have a huge Jungle Woma Spider female that is a big mouser, she will almost never take a rat, but she will take multiple mice. The good thing about breeding mice is that they never get too big for my snakes. I have to use my rats before they get to a certain size otherwise they grow up to be 1.25 pounds each! That's one of the reasons I bought my dwarf / super dwarf retics was to eat the big ol rats that didn't get used up in time. Most snakes that are picky eaters will take a mouse over a rat, so I like to have them on hand. Mice are great for ball python hatchlings! Cost isn't really an issue for me since I raise all my own rodents, I just fill the trays with food in my rodent rack and it keeps them pretty much the whole week without having to top off.

Here's my Jungle Woma Spider female. She is doing great on a diet of mice:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...oma_spider.JPG

cchardwick, how many mice does she eat?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RickyNY

cchardwick, how many mice does she eat?

---

Ditto. Big girl like that has to be several a feeding no? I have a male that's a lil under 600 grams. Little bastard will not take a rat it's driving me nuts. He will take 3 mice in one meal. Really want to get him switched as I breed rats. May just have to with hold meals till he take a rat who knows. Right now it's not such a pain as I'm at the pet store for dog food somewhat regularly anyway but I hate having to keep a separate enclosure for mice. And not for nothing they stink a heck of a lot worse than my rats. Have the rats in my basement and don't even notice long as I keep up on the tub maintenance. Have a few mice for a few days and I know right away [emoji90][emoji90][emoji90]

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

cchardwick, do you pre-filled before you feed? Or, do you feed live?