feeding question?? plese respond

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Originally Posted by exoticz

ok i understand but since im sooo bull headed im goin to get one and im goin to feed in snake sausages so ha and i am rationlised


im leaving this website

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Oh I am impress by the reputation point you left me

"shes a complete blunt headed now it all"

You come and ask questions, people here will tell you the truth and give you the facts, some answers you might like some you won't (Obviously). Why do we do it? For the sake of BP not to tell you what you want to hear.

im sry but you people just went completyl and utterly inxane didnt even but yourself in my shoes jsut immdealtly said no snake sausages are terrible and i understand for the snakes sake.

... My goodness... 14 year olds are really head strong...I hope that he soon realizes that is is making a mistake. before its too late..

Sometimes you have to be blunt to make sure you made a point. in this case Being blunt is completly justifiable. we arnt trying to be rude

Everyone here has treated you with respect and obviously the least you can do, is do the same, no need to be disrespectful because you do not like what you hear.

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Originally Posted by exoticz

Im New To The Whole " Snake World " I Have A Sugar Glider, A Bearded Dragon, And A Hedgehog And Thinking About Getting A Ball Python. I Was Wondering About Snake Sausages? My Mom Wont Let Me Get A Snake Unless I Feed It These Im Planing On Buying The Snake Farily New Born So It Isnt Use To The Mice. I Was Wondering If This Could Replace The Mice.

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Greetings and welcome to the forum,

I have never heard of these sausages and so, in all honestly I know nothing about them. What I wonder though,... if you explained to your mom that a ball python needs to eat mice or rats in their natural form instead of a "sausage" perhaps she would allow you to feed it rodents?

As we are a family friendly forum... I'd like everyone to take a deep breath before posting again...

in light,
Aleesha
Moderator

I have a ? for you please.Is it that your mom dose not want you to feed it live mice?Are just mice in general,the reason I ask is becuase you do know you can buy the mice frozen then you dont have to deal with a lot of the same things you do with live mice.And honestly they are really not that bad at all,you can unfreeze them in a little rubermaid container and im sure you can do this on your on so I would pitch this idea to your mom you can buy them at alot of pet stores now and i have even seen them sealed so you dont even now there is a mouse in it,so she would'nt even have to see it.But honestly would try to run that idea past her.As for what everyone is telling you they are not trying to be hard on you they just want you to have a great pet!But anyway Gl with mom.:sabduel:

My two cents:

Due respect, but I suspect this person is pulling our collective legs. The punctuation and ever-shifting capitalization and spelling on this person's posts suggests such. I know we're not supposed to insult anyone, but these posts, collectively, read like a drunkard's descent. Regardless, it's obvious that there's nothing anyone can do. There's plenty of information about ball pythons for any well-intentioned person on this Web site and several others. And, sadly, there are lots of snakes that die due to poor care from irresponsible owners. There's nothing anyone can do.

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Originally Posted by exoticz

i was just at the pet store and the guy there owns 1 boa constrictor and 1 ball python he feeds both of his snakes these and has had them for years and im going to trust his experince opinion.

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Hi exoticz,

Make him show you the ball python eating one.:)

O.K. Here's my experience with snake sausages ( I worked in a pet store when they first came out so had plenty of time to experiment with them).

At the time we had around 70 snakes in the shop of various species and sizes and got a load of them free to try and push them in the market. Out of everything we had a grand total of 2 snakes would eat them voluntarily (both king snakes and both "buckets"). In the end we used them to feed the monitors just to get rid of them. They are a good idea for force feeding in that there are no legs - but its tricky getting them not to burst.

They can also be used to "feed on" if an animal has the back end of a mouse going down as you can leave them joined by the skin to effortlessly get 3 of them into a snake at once.

However that is hardly ever a good thing to be doing to your snake either. :(

The main reason everyone is telling you that it's not going to be a good thing to try is the fact that ball pythons are "imprint feeders" to a great extent and can be tricky to switch between mice and rats nevermind onto something that looks totally alien.

Since the person you buy the snake from is ( and I gaurantee you this) NOT feeding his snakes on these ,relatively expensive, substitutes you are automatically facing an uphill struggle in all likelyhood just to get your pet to eat. This is hardly the start in the hobby you or your pet would wish for is it?

I assume you have checked how big they make these sausages (max in my day was small adult mouse sized) to see if they can do your snake its entire life and priced them out compared to rodents as an argument with your mum?.

The reason everyone seems so emphatic about this being a bad idea is that these are not new products nobody has ever tried - they have been trying to sell them for years and people have personally experienced that for 99% of people and snakes they simply do not work. They are designed and marketed with people with your mothers dislike of rodents in mind - not with snake nutrition or effectiveness as a food source.

I keep my frozen rodents in their own drawer in the freezer hidden within plastic tubs to avoid startling visitors ( out of sight out of mind :) ). Maybe doing the same would help persuade your family as long as you promised to maintain good hygene?

Incidently I'd be a lot more worried about a snake sausage ending up on my pizza cos mum was groggy one morning than I would be something with a fur coat and a tail. :P

I realise that your initial exposure to the site seemed a little strong ( I had a baptism of fire myself :cool: ) but they genuinely are giving you great advice from years of knowledge - and ,as previously mentioned, aren't trying to sell you anything. Sometimes on the internet we forget tone isn't always readily apparent and that what we assume is general knowledge after years in the hobby is not in fact general knowledge to everyone else. It's what makes forums such an exciting place to hang out. :D

I hope you stick it out and hang around - the amount of knowledge on this forum is truly stunning and should make your first ball python experience an absolute joy for both of you.


dr del

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Originally Posted by JLC

Since the nutritional requirements of ball pythons are not known...you can't know which rodent is "more nutritious" for them. I'm unaware of any true scientific studies done on which might be better...but I've heard tons of anecdotal evidence that suggests proper feeding routines with either rodent provides the same growth potential.

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While reading this thread I remembered reading this little tid bit. Now technically it can be used to argue on both sides. Who's to say that the sausage "IF" the snake will eat it won't be as nutritious as a mouse or rat. But then you could go on the other side of the fence and say well since we don't really know what a snake needs than how can they make a sausage that has what a snake needs.

Almost every other pet people own is fed a man made imitation of what it naturally ate in the wild.

I think the main point against this whole sausage deal would be will the snake eat it. What happens if you buy a snake and it won't take the sausage. Than that snake will definately suffer because you are not allowed to be feeding it rodents.

But to say the snake will suffer if IT IS eating the sausage is only an opinion and not a fact. Unless somebody knows of a snake that was fed sausages regularly and passed on. Then I'll take that statement back. But so far its only opinion based.

Someone did mention that they worked at a pet store and had used the sausages. The only negative thing was that only 2 snakes would eat the sausages. The sausages were then fed to monitors and he never mentioned any ill effects.

If the whole problem is your mom doesn't like the idea of rodents in the house. What about buying F/T mice or rats on the day of feedings. That way you're never storing mice in the freezer or having to keep live ones.

I hope that helps. Don't mean to stir the pot. But I'm taking an ethics course for my civil engineering degree. Its all about discussing hot topics and seeing both sides and I had a 3 hour debate so i'm still coming down. Just thought I'd fight for the little guy.

But that said I feed F/T rats and would never try the sausage. You might just have to wait till you're out of the house to get a BP like I had to.