Gerbils for regular feeding?

So my snake has been on a bit of a hunger strike. She at a regular sized meal in August(Rat), managed to get her to eat 2 live mice in October that were a bit on the small side(combined smaller than the rat).

After that, she refused to eat all winter and even as recent as last week. One of the guys at PetCo who owns a BP said Gerbils are great for getting them to eat again. So yesterday I picked up a gerbil and she went for it instantly. Obviously this was a huge relief to me since she's been losing weight(down from 950g to 800g). But now I'm trying to figure out what to feed her going forward.

It seems like she doesn't want to take rats(the august feeding was only the third rat she'd taken) and mice seem like I'll need to feed a lot since they don't get that big.

Other than the cost, is there a disadvantage/risk to feeding gerbils on a regular basis? I was considering breeding if she proves to be good about eating them.

Here is a good thread talking about feeding, with discussion about gerbils.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ghlight=gerbil

Gerbils are fine for them...It's your wallet they will hurt!!! LOL

Most people use Gerbils as a last resort because they are expensive and some Balls get stuck on them...No biggie if you don't mind breeding them.

I breed my own gerbils for a picky mojave female. Things to keep in mind. The females will kill each other so what's worked best for me is keeping one female with one male. I then keep each litter together in a grow out tank. If the females grow up together they won't kill each other. I average litters of 5 or 6 so keep that in mind. Besides that, go for it. It is a pain to breed them so if there is anyway she will take rats again I would try. Good luck!

They love gerbils buuuuuut........they are like $20 each, they will attack your BP, its next to impossible to get them off gerbil once they have had a taste. It's snake crack

Gerbils are like crack for ball pythons. Once they get hooked it can be impossible to get them off. If you go down this road you'll need to be prepared to feed her gerbils for the rest of her life.

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Originally Posted by Rob

It's snake crack

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LOL. Yeah, what Rob said!

If your animal refuses rats again, try asking your local shop for some gerbil bedding and scent the rat with the gerbil bedding. Unless you don't mind spending that kind of money on feeding your snake, I'm sure your pet won't mind lol

I switched a young one from mice to rats by getting the mice scent on the rat. I imagine you could try the same here. Get the gerbil scent on the rat.

Well, I still have a few frozen rats, so I'll see if I can get her to eat those next time. If that fails, then I guess I'll have to consider what to do next.

Thanks everyone.

Try ASFs.

Would love to try an ASF or a gerbil for my fasting male. But alas! They're both illegal in my state. =__=

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Originally Posted by satomi325

They're both illegal in my state.

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What State is that?

I'm going to guess California.

As a kind of seperate question but still related, how many breeding pairs would you need to keep a 2 year old BP fed regularly?

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Originally Posted by Slim

What State is that?

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California.
Some BS about bio-invasion, which is why practically everything is illegal...

Although there is a nearby reptile shop that does secretly sell ASFs...but they're also $25/asf

Gerbils are illegal in California? A gerbil???? What is the world coming to?!

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Originally Posted by satomi325

California

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That figures. I find it interesting that Cali banned gerbils, which have been a staple in the pet trade since I was a kid, which was a very long time ago.

The gerbil enthusiast are also pretty well established. They have web forums and breed different color variations of the little critters much like BP enthusiast.

Might be a lesson in that for all of us...

They say gerbils are illegal because they have a high tolerance for different types of temperature and climate. So the government states they can "establish feral colonies" and over run the native animals very easily in the state. *COUGH*

I know. Sounds like nonsense right? While I understand the concerns of having non-native animals, they reasoning is totally off. They have no scientific data to back this up.

A lot of animals that have been well established and some considered domestic are illegal in this state due to the same reasons of Bio-invasion. (i.e. hedgehogs, sugar gliders, ferrets, gerbils etc etc.)

CA has the worst government and rules ever....Let's see a hedgehog go wild and over run the state...

Seriously, there is no record of any of the pet species on the banned list that has ever formed dangerous and harmful colonies in the US. Yet they allow cats and dogs, both species known to go feral and do actual damage. (Makes no sense to me)

To the OP: sorry for hijacking the tread. (maybe i'll start a new thread)

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Originally Posted by satomi325

To the OP: sorry for hijacking the tread. (maybe i'll start a new thread)

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Start a thread over in the QT so we can talk about a certain other species of illegal mammal that the State of Cali has allowed to walk over the border and establish large colonies...

^^^lol


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

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Originally Posted by Slim

Start a thread over in the QT so we can talk about a certain other species of illegal mammal that the State of Cali has allowed to walk over the border and establish large colonies...

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Haha nice, I need to get access to QT then.

oops, forgot I'm on my GF's laptop