What kind of rodent?

What kind of rodents do you feed your bp??

Both of my BPs eat f/t rats.

Big ole mice right now due to size (of bp's) - they'll move up to rats eventually.

I raise rats for my bp. Sometimes he gets three pinkies, sometimes one or two mid sized juevies, or one adult. Pretty much just munches through the litter as they grow. By the time he knocks off the last surviving pup, it has grown large and I have another litter comming right up.

All of ours are still fairly small and eating mice because the rats they could take down are too small to have much calcium or protein. I do plan to get them switched to rats, but i won't be heartbroken if they never are. As long as they eat enough mice, that's fine.

i voted rats. all my snakes will be eating rats soon except the corn. i just gotta switch over one baby BP and a baby boa.

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Originally Posted by Marla

All of ours are still fairly small and eating mice because the rats they could take down are too small to have much calcium or protein. I do plan to get them switched to rats, but i won't be heartbroken if they never are. As long as they eat enough mice, that's fine.

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Actually, once they get a good size its best to switch them over to rats ASAP. Feeding too many prey items can wreak havoc on the gut flora of the snake. One prey item that is slightly larger than the thickest part of the snake's body is ideal.

I was able to switch all of my picky eaters over to rats by using the "Bait & Trick method".....I offered a mouse smaller than what they normally eat (for example, a fuzzy mouse) then after the snake has eaten the mouse and while its still in hunt mode, I offer a medium sized rat (a rat pinky or fuzzy-depending on the size of the snake). Works like a charm.

Rats of course.....best for nutrition:)

According to our vet, multiple mice is fine. Still, the two newest guys are hatchling size and Snyder, the biggest, is only around 135 grams. She should be heavier at her length but is still making up for her illness. These are some seriously little ball pythons we have here. :) I will probably be trying to switch Snyder over before too long and start fattening her up with little rats.

A couple of mice....fine. But a full grown BP will need 4-5 mice to equal an appropriately sized rat meal......not advisable IMO.

OK, I'm not trying to pick at you or anything. 4 or 5 mice versus 1 big rat, obviously 1 big rat is preferable for a couple of reasons. But when talking 1-2 adult mice versus a rat pinkie, the only advantage to feeding the rat is that you've gotten it switched over.

Yeah, I agree with you on that. I wasn't picking at you either, lol. :D

Still, our first bp was the biggest I've ever had -- she was already 4'+ when I got her -- and she wouldn't eat rats or white mice. She wanted live, colored mice for dinner and nothing else. And yes, she'd eat 4 or 5 as a rule. She had whole sheds every time and rarely turned down a meal of her preferred food, so she can't have been in too bad of shape. If she'd ever taken a rat, I'm sure we'd have stuck with that, but it was most important to us that she eat.

I feed my ball large mice but I'm planning to switch over to rats very soon.

Also feeding multiple smaller prey items rather than a large (read "suitable") over long periods can be detrimental and retard the proper growth of the snake's head in proportion to the rest of it's body. Apparently they can get "pinheaded" if they are not working the expansion of their jaws as they grow and feed. Won't affect thier health so long as they are eating enough but who wants a tiny headed BP. LOL ok that just reminded me of that shrunken head scene from Beetlejuice.

http://www.80stees.com/images/products/Beetle1.jpg

ive heard that "pinhead" theory before. ive also heard it was bullpoop :roll: . its not about streching anything. its about growing, which is replicating cells making the snake bigger. you could feed it pinkies or rabbits its not gonna have any bigger or smaller head. if im wrong, ill need evidence before i admit it.

Mice for now.

Not too sure how sold I am on it either - hunting for the link now - but I do remember reading it only applied to snakes with pronounced differentiation of head to neck ( I read that as big or pronounced head) and becomes totally irrelevant once they have reached maturity. I am entertaining it only as a theory - and someone else's at that - and even then only in light of the number of places thier jaws are not not directly connected to allow that megamouth stretch action. At any rate I always subscribed to the general reccomendation to try to feed to match the girth of your snake.

ill buy the fact that the wont be able to stretch their jaw quite as easily if they are given prey that is too small. only because i cant touch my toes without injuring myself. lol. it will not affect the size of the head though. i suppose it could affect the muscles...but the only way to know is to test. and noone is gonna tak the time to test that.
do you guys think snake work the same way we do, in the way of tendons and ligaments? like, i cant touch my toes because i dont stretch. would an adult BP thats been fed small mice all its life be able to stretch around a rat?

I feed my snakes various sized mice from Large to small. My bp's a still youngins.

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Originally Posted by Mike

do you guys think snake work the same way we do, in the way of tendons and ligaments? like, i cant touch my toes because i dont stretch. would an adult BP thats been fed small mice all its life be able to stretch around a rat?

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Fascinating question, Mike!
I would think that tendons and ligaments need regular stretching to maintain elasticity, just like in humans.

Randy Remington, your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to ask your vet that question the next time you see him! :D

(Randy's vet is Roger Klingenberg, the coauthor of The Ball Python Manual!)

This message will self destruct.

Wow, that's pretty posh Randy. I'm a little envious. :)

I voted rats, but it all depends on what's available at the reptile shop. Last time I fed Phil and Magellan, the shop was out of rats the right size, but they had some rather big mice available, so I fed them mice last week.

I suspect my wife's chihuahua will start getting nervous (more than chihuahua's are normally) when the pythons get closer to full sized...

I recently raised about 30 mice and over this past weekend I had to be a mass murderer and take their lives. Killing one mouse is one thing, but 30?!? Thats another thing.

I did end up using the dry ice method given to me by JLC and others... Works perfect! And quick