what do you feed your ball pythons?

title says it all....:snake:

I feed my male normal live mice because that is all he will eat and I feed my female normal small f/t rats. My male is very stubborn about what he eats and I will continue to feed him whatever he will take for me.

I have some that feed on asf and others on rats.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Askook

I have some that feed on asf and others on rats.

---

Same here, no mice in my house or in my snakes :P
I feed asf's as they come to the size I need, and then alternate with rats.
Once they get over 300 to 400 grams they lose the asf's and get rats only.
Adult asf's that are done breeding become large snake food.

I feed mice or rats.

Oh come on guyzz.......you know we all just open up a can of "Ball Python food" every morning to feed our snakes...:P

I have over 40 snakes, so I feed all 3. I would feed only rats, but I have a few fussbudgets, and the new hatchlings often prefer mice at first.

I only have 2 snakes and they both eat rats.

I feed only crickets! You mean you dont??????:rolleye2:

Lol seriously I am just kidding. I feed FT rats to anything that will take it, FT mice if they dont take rats, and back to live if that fails.

I bought my colony from Mike C. over a year ago and only feed ASF's now.

I feed what works depending on the snake. :gj:

Mainly rats but I have a few that eat mice so I feed those too, some hatchlings also get started on mice.

Rats and mice. ASF's are illegal here, and gerbils are way too expensive.

Large Mice.

http://www.fastcharacters.com/wp/wp-...ckey-mouse.png

Normally, F/T mice. But I've just heard on here about the ASF's and was thinking of moving to something a little bigger for him. Not sure if you can get them here or even if you can get them F/T :confused:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Elise.m

Rats and mice. ASF's are illegal here, and gerbils are way too expensive.

---

How come there illegal in California?

i feed mainly rats except for the baby pastel, she's on mice right now, i hope to switch her this weekend.

All of my ball pythons are on rats, though on occasion, when I have a mouse I need to feed off, one of the ball pythons will get it.

F/T rats, no mice at all. If they are problem eaters, I go to F/T asf's which quickly works to fix that problem in most cases.:)

I feed everyone rats from first shed on. If they don't take a rat fuzzy the first couple weeks, I may consider offering a mouse hopper, but I've had to do this very few times. I tried breeding ASF's once, and I couldn't stand them compared to my rats. They were mean little buggers and chewed everything to bits. I've also tried breeding mice a few times and they always ate all of their babies. Rats just work for me, and they're nice because all of the animals I ever plan on breeding can stay on them their entire lives.

mine eat whatever i find hahahaha.....no seriously. my little one eats rat pups, but if i can't find any [[ yup it happens ]] i get a large mice, she's not a very picky eater, and my big boy eats medium f/t rats

I try to feed mostly ft rats. Have a few that are still on live... do my best to hold them off and get a submission to FT, but breeding season comes soon enough and the girls know I will break down and feed.

I fed off my ASF and mice colonies and only breed a small number of rats (deathly allergic to them all).

I also feed FT chicks to some. I know ya`ll are getting itchy Internet fingers and want to start furiously *tap* *tap* warning responses on the keypad. No need to. All my difficult feeders, and all my ASF only feeders were a breeze to switch to chicks. (and at .20 a feeder vs. 1.75 or so, it was an easy enough decision to make).

Bruce

I feed rats frozen and live

Live Rap pups!!!! They're so cute! But my baby boys gotta eat!

Kind of new sorry but what is ASF:confused:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SAR17

Kind of new sorry but what is ASF:confused:

---

African Soft Fur.:P

asf same with hamster ?
i feed each with 1 medium size rat every 4-5 day ...

okay so it looks like most of you guys/girls are leaning on the rat side :D maybe i should consider trying rats :Dinstead of mice....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mrgbb

okay so it looks like most of you guys/girls are leaning on the rat side :D maybe i should consider trying rats :Dinstead of mice....

---

im still on mice do to rats are expensive down here

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DShaw

im still on mice do to rats are expensive down here

---

but if they were cheaper would you feed rats instead?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mrgbb

but if they were cheaper would you feed rats instead?

---

I fed rats even when I was paying an arm and a leg for them. I have since found a private source for them and he's charging me about 1/3 the price I was paying before! I'm SO glad I found this guy, he's saving me SO much money! But even if I didn't have this source, I would still fork out the $$$ and buy rats. Just based on what I've heard from other people/research done on the net, rats seem to be a little better nutritionally. Now, I could be wrong, but my 1 bp (Elmo) has been on rats since day 1 and I've seen very exceptional growth out of him! So I really have nothing to compare it to, seeing as I've never fed a mouse, but I also like that I won't have to change prey items down the road. Rats have the perfect size prey for hatchlings all the way up to the biggest adult female. So if you start on rats, you can stay on rats!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by nightingale2k1

asf same with hamster ?
i feed each with 1 medium size rat every 4-5 day ...

---

isnt a med rat every 4-5 days a little much ?

I only have 26 snakes and they every eat rats.


0.11 Nominat
0.1 Mojave
0.1 Phantom
0.1 Citrus Pastel
0.1 Pastel
0.2 Yellow Belly
1.1 Clown
1.1 Bumble Bee
0.1 Lesser 100% Het Ghost
1.0 Pin
1.0 Pastel-Yellow Belly
0.1 Fire
0.1 Vanilla

Best greeting Rinaldo :)

Mice, can't get feeder rats where I live. Can't get any rats really, I'd like to start breeding them along with my mice so I'd have a supply. I've been trying to get the pet store to order in ASFs for me but no luck in months so that's probably not going to happen.

Why.. Reptile sausages of course! :P

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/zoo...ptilediet.html

Sometimes they like them grilled. Sometimes fried. Sometimes just plain raw on a small bed of rice.. :rolleye2:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

Why.. Reptile sausages of course! :P

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/zoo...ptilediet.html

Sometimes they like them grilled. Sometimes fried. Sometimes just plain raw on a small bed of rice.. :rolleye2:

---

really? lmao who would use those ? thats just crazy..... would a bp actually eatt that?:rolleye2:

wow, amazing :P

My smaller ball pythons eat adult mice or baby rats when I can get them. I haven't had any luck with convincing them to try frozen / thawed yet. My large adult ball pythons do eat frozen / thawed, and they get mostly rats but some times F/T baby chicks. I have never tried the ASFs. Can someone enlighten me as to what is so special about them? Where do you even get them?

:D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wendhend

I have never tried the ASFs. Can someone enlighten me as to what is so special about them? Where do you even get them?

---

i have no clue where to get them but i know that there alot cleaner than mice/rats while breeding them and i heard that there less aggressive and your ball python is gunnabegladto switch to them from mice because thats there natural diet in africa...... i think.:snake:

been feeding live mice to my normal female.. she is refusing f/t
just got my spider male yesterday and he is on rat pups.
i think on my next trip to the expo im going to grab some asf and try to raise them.

Quote:

---

i have no clue where to get them but i know that there alot cleaner than mice/rats while breeding them

---

I breed asf's, they pee as much as any rodent, just that it doesn't smell quite as bad, but believe me, they still stink!
I do get a longer time without cleaning them though, but not by more than a few days.

Quote:

---

and i heard that there less aggressive and your ball python is gunnabegladto switch to them from mice because thats there natural diet in africa...... i think.

---

Well, lol where to begin.
asf's are DEVILS and will run and jump into the air to latch on to anything they can to bite you.
They are WAY more aggressive than rats.
The thing I like about them is in general they have less fear than a regular rat and will approach a snake nose first quite often, making it easy for the snake to properly wrap them up.
Rats tend to hide if given a moment or two, throwing aspen at the rat, building a wall with it or with paper towels as bedding they will hide under the towel to keep from being snatched up.

I keep 1.4 groups of asf's in 20 long tanks with wire tops and they proliferate. You don't need to pull babies till your ready to feed which is nice too.
They make awesome food for small snakes.
BUT, if you haven't a steady supply, I advise not to feed them, ball pythons think they are walking pieces of candy and "sometimes" resist switching over to rats.
(so I've heard, it hasn't been an issue here except for one snake)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wendhend

Where do you even get them?

---

If you can't find any over there, and if you ever make it up to Portland, I'm just across the bridge in Vancouver, I'd be happy to set you up with a group or two.

While I was still breeding ASFs I moved them into a rack system with kitty litter pans. As soon as I did that I had ZERO aggression.

When they were in a tank system they were vampires and would routinely latch on and not let go, and yes, jumping up to get a grip on my hands/arm.

I think it had something to do with them being burrow dwellers? And being approached from above (hawks, etc.).

But move them into a breeding rack, I am sure they will calm out for you. I was seriously shocked, because they were so aggressive prior.

I handled all mine with bare hands and in a year never took so much as a nibble, could touch the babes, sort them, you name it. Same with jumping out, they never even tried to jump out of the racks when the tubs were open.

Bruce

Interesting Bruce, makes alot of sense actually.
Mine get card board boxes to den in and they burrow quite alot actually.

The tubs I use are black concrete tubs, and they chewed right threw them, so I gave up on racks for them.
I have 4 racks for rats, I wish I could rack them, that would make life easier.

I am making another momma rack soon(I pull preggo moms) so maybe I will try a "special" rack for the asfs and see how it goes.

ft rats, work well:)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kysenia

ft rats, work well:)

---

That would involve me spending either alot of $$ to buy them, or kill them myself and freeze them off, such a hassle for 20+ snakes.
I myself prefer live way more than f/t.

I feed f/t ASFs. Rats are too expensive for me, since there are no breeders around here, mice are too small, and a pet store near me had some ASFs so I bought a preggo one on an impulse.
I've been thinking about switching to rats, because these ASFs are sort of evil if they have a litter in the tank. They latch onto me if near, and recently one of my breeder females had her face half chewed off by her two female cagemates. Arg. Frustrating.
I would switch to a rack system, but mine are chewers and would escape within minutes. Maybe I'll just cover the sides of the tank with something dark so they feel safer?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NotaMallard

I feed f/t ASFs. Rats are too expensive for me, since there are no breeders around here, mice are too small, and a pet store near me had some ASFs so I bought a preggo one on an impulse.
I've been thinking about switching to rats, because these ASFs are sort of evil if they have a litter in the tank. They latch onto me if near, and recently one of my breeder females had her face half chewed off by her two female cagemates. Arg. Frustrating.
I would switch to a rack system, but mine are chewers and would escape within minutes. Maybe I'll just cover the sides of the tank with something dark so they feel safer?

---

NotaMallard! You have FizGig as your avatar! That is awesome! :gj: :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

That would involve me spending either alot of $$ to buy them, or kill them myself and freeze them off, such a hassle for 20+ snakes.
I myself prefer live way more than f/t.

---

I beg to differ .....I believe frozen are a lot cheaper than live ...atleast for me they are.. live rats are 4 dollars around me ..I just bought a bag of 25 rats frozen at the show for 30 bucks that's a savings of 70 bucks

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

NotaMallard! You have FizGig as your avatar! That is awesome! :gj: :D

---

All Hail fizgig..

And I feed f/t rats to my pastels, mice to my fire and bee since I cant get smaller rats and the fire is a pickypicky girl.

I see alot of talk about asf's ...can some tell me what that stands for ...thanks

what does asf's stand for?..Thanks