A Hypothetical Question

DISCLAIMER: This is a hypothetical question. I would never try anything like what I'm about to talk about, ever, and don't suggest anyone else does. Please don't post messages like "DUN DO DAT" because I know not to. I'm not an idiot. /DISCLAIMER


I was talking with a breeder friend the other day about some people suggesting he feed something other than rats (because rats are too smart, it's cruel, etc.) Anyways, the final joking suggestion was that he feed sausages. He remarked that his Retics are such voracious feeders that they probably would eat sausage.

So here's my hypothetical question. Do you think snakes could live on sausage?

What kind of sausage? Rat sausage?

Pork or beef sausage would be too fatty, I think.

I think the theory was pork or beef sausage. Chicken or turkey might be leaner?

i would not feed that. Will always stick to mice or rats.

Chicken sausage will still be fatty. And then there's all the spices and stuff added.

I've read stuff where people have fed raw meat to their snakes, I remember one was raw gizzards. That's not going to be nutritionally complete tho, maybe as a very occasional snack. But not to live on.

Don't they make sausages for snakes?

They could probably live on them for a while I would think, yes.

http://www.naturalbalance.net/zoolog...ptilediet.html

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Originally Posted by iCandiBallPythons

http://www.naturalbalance.net/zoolog...ptilediet.html

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Those are great but don't feed them too much. Eight is enough...

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Originally Posted by sho220

Those are great but don't feed them too much. Eight is enough...

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how did you come up with the number 8? lol

No..

Snakes require the bones and hair in their feeder items in order to maintain proper health. Feeding them something other than that doesn't give them the calsium and what not that they would need..

Unless you made them out of whole ground up roadents bones, brains hair and all.. everything but the squeal.

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Originally Posted by 771subliminal

how did you come up with the number 8? lol

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Did you check out the link? :D

A sausage type product has been tried before with very little success. Someone actually tried to package processed mice/rat and put it in a sausage. I read about it when I got my first little corn snake.

Its hard enough to get snakes to eat mice and rats, let alone sausage. Imagine how much it would cost to feed a retic a huge chunk of that stuff.

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Originally Posted by iCandiBallPythons

http://www.naturalbalance.net/zoolog...ptilediet.html

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BAHAHAHA! I had no idea this existed! Should have googled before I asked, I just didn't think it would have ever actually been marketed. I just imagine a little snake sitting at the breakfast table in a little snake robe (maybe a snuggie for snakes?) with with a big plate of eggs and sausage eating like the ones in those pictures. LAWL.

Well that fully answers my question; not only is it possible, it has been done haha. I agree with Freakie_frog that bones have important nutrients, but you could also roll the sausage in calcium dust haha. Thanks for the awesome link iCandi!

My BF and I were talking about this one day. He asked about it, said maybe there would be a market for it. I told him I wouldn't feed my snakes that, and I know alot of other people who own snakes wouldn't. We tried to figure out how one would master the snake sausage. It seems easy, just grind up everything and put it through a sausage factory... But when you think of the bones, the hair, the scent... I don't think it would be worth all the trouble.

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

No..

Snakes require the bones and hair in their feeder items in order to maintain proper health. Feeding them something other than that doesn't give them the calsium and what not that they would need..

Unless you made them out of whole ground up roadents bones, brains hair and all.. everything but the squeal.

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my snake always poops out hair and doesnt digest it. i think snakes could live off of it if some time and money was spent to get exactly what snakes needed in their diet like certain breeds of dogs. i like feeding rats but if a reputable herpotologist came out with something then maybe i would try it. its all personal preference.

Well. can anyone find out what the nutritional value of the average medium rat is? Then compare it to those snake sausages (LOLOLOL) and see how they compare..

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

Well. can anyone find out what the nutritional value of the average medium rat is? Then compare it to those snake sausages (LOLOLOL) and see how they compare..

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You ever read something and go "Haha, yeah, that would be rediculous..." and then like a second later go "I'm totally doing that right now."

Yeah that's what just happened. Check it out!

ADULT RAT (>50g)

Gross Energy kcal/g: 6.37ª
DM% 33.9
Crude Protein %: 61.8
Crude Fat %: 32.6
Ash %: 9.8
Calcium, % 2.62
Phosphoros, % 1.48
Vitamin A, IU/kg 151,389
Vitamin E, IU/kg 139.2


D. VAN PATTEN'S NATURAL BALANCE® ZOOLOGICAL FORMULAS™ REPTILE DIET...

Dry Matter % 31.0
Crude Protein, % (Min) 18.3
Crude Fat, % (Min) 10.3
Ash, % (Max) 3.2
Vitamin A, IU/kg 5,480
Vitamin E, IU/kg 145
Calcium, % (Min) 0.67
Phosphorus, % (Min) 0.35

I included only the nutrients for which I could find data from both sources.
I didn't calculate the Gross Energy for the Sausage, it wasn't included and I'm just not that mathmatically inclined at the moment to calculate it myself.
Here's how the sausage stacks up:

Dry Matter: -2.9%
Crude Protein: -43.5%
Crude Fat: -14.3%
Ash: -6.6%
Vitamin A: -145,909 (IU/kg)
Vitamin E: +5.8 (IU/kg)
Calcium: -1.95%
Phosphorus: -1.13%

Doesn't look good for the weiner! The biggest things I noticed was how high in protein rats are (protein shake anyone? Anyone?) and also how much freakin Vitamin A they have! Wow!

Sorry Mr. Patton, but it looks like we'd need to feed a whole lotta sausage to get as much as just one rat.

I think the sausage thing is great IN THEORY, but it's just not realistic. Can anyone find a price on those things? I haven't been able to...

EDIT: HAHA, The site censored D. Van Pattons first name when I put it in. Edited to eliminate all the D*ck from my post.

I too have moral inhibititions about feeding rat, mostly because I used to show and breed them, and bonded with all my ratties. The issue has always been size, its just not feasable or healthy to feed 6 mice instead of one rat

If 6 mice were ground up whole and put in a sausage form to equal one large rat-- I would go for it. If it was proven to be just as good, I would totally switch off of rats

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Originally Posted by MustBeSatan

You ever read something and go "Haha, yeah, that would be rediculous..." and then like a second later go "I'm totally doing that right now."

Yeah that's what just happened. Check it out!

ADULT RAT (>50g)

Gross Energy kcal/g: 6.37ª
DM% 33.9
Crude Protein %: 61.8
Crude Fat %: 32.6
Ash %: 9.8
Calcium, % 2.62
Phosphoros, % 1.48
Vitamin A, IU/kg 151,389
Vitamin E, IU/kg 139.2


D. VAN PATTEN'S NATURAL BALANCE® ZOOLOGICAL FORMULAS™ REPTILE DIET...

Dry Matter % 31.0
Crude Protein, % (Min) 18.3
Crude Fat, % (Min) 10.3
Ash, % (Max) 3.2
Vitamin A, IU/kg 5,480
Vitamin E, IU/kg 145
Calcium, % (Min) 0.67
Phosphorus, % (Min) 0.35

I included only the nutrients for which I could find data from both sources.
I didn't calculate the Gross Energy for the Sausage, it wasn't included and I'm just not that mathmatically inclined at the moment to calculate it myself.
Here's how the sausage stacks up:

Dry Matter: -2.9%
Crude Protein: -43.5%
Crude Fat: -14.3%
Ash: -6.6%
Vitamin A: -145,909 (IU/kg)
Vitamin E: +5.8 (IU/kg)
Calcium: -1.95%
Phosphorus: -1.13%

Doesn't look good for the weiner! The biggest things I noticed was how high in protein rats are (protein shake anyone? Anyone?) and also how much freakin Vitamin A they have! Wow!

Sorry Mr. Patton, but it looks like we'd need to feed a whole lotta sausage to get as much as just one rat.

I think the sausage thing is great IN THEORY, but it's just not realistic. Can anyone find a price on those things? I haven't been able to...

EDIT: HAHA, The site censored D. Van Pattons first name when I put it in. Edited to eliminate all the D*ck from my post.

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This is what makes BP.net so great! We have members that will actually do the strangest things :weirdface :rolleye2:

That is amazing. Those sausages arent worth the casing their stuffed in. Seems to me a snake on those would just get thinner and thinner over time. WHo knows what damage would come of it later on from being so low on all those nutrients..

Now my question is... Where on earth did you find the nutritional value for rats?? Mine dont come with that FDA required label that all other food comes with :confused:

It's more humane to feed Beef to a snake than Rats?

If you're comparing a Rat that was raised and euthanized humanely to a hamburger, I'll have to argue that the Cow was cuter:tears:

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

This is what makes BP.net so great! We have members that will actually do the strangest things :weirdface :rolleye2:

That is amazing. Those sausages arent worth the casing their stuffed in. Seems to me a snake on those would just get thinner and thinner over time. WHo knows what damage would come of it later on from being so low on all those nutrients..

Now my question is... Where on earth did you find the nutritional value for rats?? Mine dont come with that FDA required label that all other food comes with :confused:

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I actually couldn't believe how fast I found it, here's the site. It has alot of different feeder animals! Really neat!

http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp

And yeah, I think you could easily end up with a skinny snake or an overweight snake (from having to feed so many sausages to get the nutrients the snake needs and also giving the snake all the stuff they don't need along with it).

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Originally Posted by MustBeSatan

BAHAHAHA! I had no idea this existed! Should have googled before I asked, I just didn't think it would have ever actually been marketed. I just imagine a little snake sitting at the breakfast table in a little snake robe (maybe a snuggie for snakes?) with with a big plate of eggs and sausage eating like the ones in those pictures. LAWL.

Well that fully answers my question; not only is it possible, it has been done haha. I agree with Freakie_frog that bones have important nutrients, but you could also roll the sausage in calcium dust haha. Thanks for the awesome link iCandi!

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lol anytime! They came out with something similar back in the day that were actually call "snake-sausages".

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Originally Posted by sho220

Those are great but don't feed them too much. Eight is enough...

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Hahaha...classic. I guess I am old enough to get the reference.

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Originally Posted by CeeJay

Hahaha...classic. I guess I am old enough to get the reference.

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I'm glad someone else got it...:)