Hamsters used as food?

Im having a problem with the mice here that I buy being steralized. I have 2 hamsters now and I was wondering if I can use the babies as food for my BPs?

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Originally Posted by jessie_k_pythons

Im having a problem with the mice here that I buy being steralized. I have 2 hamsters now and I was wondering if I can use the babies as food for my BPs?

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I would not. Ball pythons can be "imprint feeders" which means once they get a taste for a specific prey item it can be next to impossible to switch them to something else. Hamsters are not going to be the easiest prey item to come by weekly for the next 20 - 30+ years and once hamsters get to be adults they have a ton of fur and some very long sharp teeth which aren't always agreeable with ball pythons.

-adam

I fully understand but with mice prices what they arw and all of them and the rats being steralized what would my other options be?

Jessica why do you believe all the mice and rats you are getting have been sterilized? Did your supplier tell you this? Personally I've never heard of wide spread sterlization of feeder mice/rats but maybe I just missed this somewhere along the line. Where are you getting these non-breeders from?

A mom and pop place about an hour away from me. They are doing the doo but nothing is happening. All the mice were in the same cage(both males and females) and I asked how long they were with each other. I was told about a month. and there are still no babies. I asked where They got them from and they "couldnt disclose that info". Im thinking some lab. They are all albino. Every store near me (besides Petsmart) has only albino mice. And they all have the males and females in the same cage with no sign of any babies. I asked this store i just bought from about that as well and they told me they havent had any give birth. Rats in all the stores are the same. same male/females in the same cage, no babies and all are albino.

Have you tried Rodent Pro? They are pretty cheap and they are always having sales. Check em out.

I have but they dont ship live... :( and my snakes wont touch f/t

I dont think any one ships live.

Put an ad in the paper entilted.."looking for pet rats/mice proven breeders...for science project!!" LOL...had to put the "for science project" part in there...you should get some bites off of that one....

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Originally Posted by jessie_k_pythons

I was told about a month. and there are still no babies.

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Not enough time.

-adam

When I first started my colony up, it takes a good solid 2-3 months for anything to start happening. They have to settle into a routine first and THEN you may get babies after everyone is comfortable in their situation. If they are stressed out with other members in the cage, they won't get pregnant, and that's that.

Keep a group of 1.3 or 1.4 and leave them ALONE except for cleaning the cage and feeding/watering. I do my cleaning and feeding once per week and they are left alone the whole week until then. All of the cages have babies except for one(and there isn't a male, so that would explain it).

Leave them alone for 2-3 months and you should start seeing pregnant mice and some babies. WHILE you are waiting for that to happen, just buy live mice from the pet store/feed store. I go to Petco for about 10 mice per week to feed everyone, just until the mice colony gets up and going again. It can take a few months for the babies to become good, solid adults that I want to feed off.

All I can tell you to do is wait, and MAKE SURE you actually have a male in the midst.

well is true what Adam sais, in one time I ofer a hamster to my female, because she was eating like 4 mice peer feeding, and know that the only thing she will eat, I have no problem with feeding her hamster, but I dont know your opinion in theses, she eat weekly and the hamster are easy to find and are 3.99 each. well take care

They are very ezy to find and in the long run will be MUCH cheaper Im paying around $2.00 with tax per mouse and around $1.00 for hamsters, I dont know why but they are cheaper than mice. My 2 balls even at 2 feet+ are eating around 3 mice in a sitting and want more 2 days later.

I do know about hamsters nasty tempers but Im lucky enough that both of my snakes will take KO prey, knock the little bugger out and drop it in. most of the time my 2 wont even give it a chance to wake up befor they snag it and kill it.

Hamster pups are becoming more popular as feeders for corn snakes. They are supposed to be smaller and have more nutrients than mice pinks. I have a couple mice now that have been together for a few months. The male is always trying to mate with the female but all she does is squeal and run around the cage trying to get away. Guess where I got these mice from? Yep, your right. PETCO!!!

I got mine from Petco too and they do the same thing... I dont get it ...

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Originally Posted by jessie_k_pythons

I got mine from Petco too and they do the same thing... I dont get it ...

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I was thinking they may be steril...Who knows

Maybe a dumb question...but are you sure you have a male and a female? The reason I ask is that Petco is a same sex store...meaning all the rodents in a store are the same sex. For instance my local store only carries females...I had to drive across town to a "male" store to get a complete set to start breeding with.

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Originally Posted by lord jackel

Maybe a dumb question...but are you sure you have a male and a female? The reason I ask is that Petco is a same sex store...meaning all the rodents in a store are the same sex. For instance my local store only carries females...I had to drive across town to a "male" store to get a complete set to start breeding with.

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lol I'm sure. The males always chasing her and she squeals and runs away. When I find my savannah he gets a treat of 2 nice mousies!! I know what you mean and I think PetSmart is one of those stores that only carries 1 sex. I think its males....

Yes from what I understand Petsmart only sells Female Mamals, and they will not sell anything (reptile) that eats mamals.

My other male took a hamster with no problems... but he is a pig... he is looking for more food as we speak. I have photos if any one wants to see.

of course we want to see pics!!!

BTW my PETCO has males and females but in seperate tanks (as in they don't breed them)

PS at least on purpose. sometimes i come in and theres a female tank load with like 10 bloated mice and 2 0r 3 happy looking regualr ones.( my guess, those are the males, duh)

ha ha ha well Im going to post pictures on another thread. it will be called "a mouth full"
it will be in "pictures."

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Originally Posted by jessie_k_pythons

Yes from what I understand Petsmart only sells Female Mamals, and they will not sell anything (reptile) that eats mamals.

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I saw an add on KingSnake.com that said Petsmart is starting to sell corn and king snakes.

Well at least they desided to get the gaint broom stick out of there :cens0r:

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Originally Posted by jessie_k_pythons

Well at least they desided to get the gaint broom stick out of there :cens0r:

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LMAO, Broom stick!!!

A month is def. not enough time to give the rats to breed. Like the others said. And are they in an overcrowded cage/tank? If so, they will most likely eat any babies that Are born before anyone even knows they were there.. but you said in the other post that the mice are sickly and diseased; I would discontinue shopping at that place and tell them exactly why.
I don't understand why your snakes would reject f/t and eat prekilled; mine that only eat live, would completely ignore P/k; it is the motion that differentiates the live from the thawed. Maybe your thawed were not up to temperature..? It seems like you could save yourself alot of trouble by switching them to the thawed!

Lady will take anything I give her, even is not on the menue. Baby on the other hand is VERY VERY picky. he only like brown, red (kind of orange looking), and grey. and they have to be live. I went with Hamsters and They both seem to like them ... As for that petco I got them from I made a complant call to them and advised them to check there mice for problems.

I found a place in a mall that sells only gerbiles (spelling?) hamsters and rabbits. I got to know the gal who owns the place and she is giving me a discount on the hamsters and giving me free weenlings.

The PetCo here sells both male and female mice/rats and all sorts of colors. I picked up 1.3 mice to start breeding my own. I also picked up a male rat but no females yet because they were out of colored ones. The rat is in a 40g breeder tank with 2 hides and the mice are in a 20L with 4 hides.

Jessie, I thought about the hamster idea too. I was picking up feeder mice for my baby balls the other night and happened to see 2 black bear hamsters going at it like bunnies...lol! I asked the clerk how long they'd been doing it and he said all day (this was 7pm). I used to breed hamsters as a kid and I know they get pregnant easily and only have a 2 week gestational period...so I bought her and figured I could feed off the babies. :D

I have a bunch already and my suply is slowly getting back up to where i want it . I like hamsters due to the fact that they have a little more meat on there bones and that they are so easy to breed. no having to do guess work, waiting to see if your mouse gave birth and finding out that she didnt mate with the male. They also dont smell. well at least mine dont smell. mice and rats smell BAD +my husband wont have them in the house due to some fairy tail he heard that there wee wee can harbor some nasty nasy illnesses. So hamsters it is.

What kind of hamsters do you breed/feed? Do you feed them off when they're babies or adults?

I'm thinking of going the hamster route too...mice stink. I used to have rats as pets and they don't smell as bad...but again, the guesswork.

Jessie & Jen,


Just something to think about - if you ever plan to sell any of your ball pythons in the future, you may want to seriously consider rat breeding as opposed to feeding hamsters. You likely won't find many buyers when they find that you feed hamsters and that your balls may have imprinted on hamsters. Not everyone is willing to pay for or breed hamsters. Most ball python keepers feed mice or rats.

The petco here in Miami sell's both male and female rodent's.Jessie good luck with your hamster's I'm a rat guy myself.Robin is right though I hope you plan On keeping your Bp's cause they'll probably never eat another prey item other than hamster's again.How many baby ham's do you get when you breed them?

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Jessie & Jen,


Just something to think about - if you ever plan to sell any of your ball pythons in the future, you may want to seriously consider rat breeding as opposed to feeding hamsters. You likely won't find many buyers when they find that you feed hamsters and that your balls may have imprinted on hamsters. Not everyone is willing to pay for or breed hamsters. Most ball python keepers feed mice or rats.

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You're very right. The ones I plan on feeding the hamsters to are my keepers/pets...they'll never be going anywhere. Love them too much. :) Still not sure if it's something I want to continue with, it may just be this litter because it was convenient. I know my adults will go back to mice and rats...they're garbage cans. lol! My babies and females get mice, and I'm just waiting on the 1.3 group I have to start breeding.

Hamsters are a dangerous animal to feed to a ball python.

-adam

Why is that? The only ones that will be getting them are my young ball pythons, and they'll be getting them as prekilled pinks. ???

iif your bps get addicted to hamsters they may not want anything else. you could be having to supply hamsters to your snake for the rest of its 20+ year life and although young hamsters aren't dangerous, adults can be.

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Originally Posted by JenHarrison

Why is that? The only ones that will be getting them are my young ball pythons, and they'll be getting them as prekilled pinks. ???

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Ball pythons tend to be imprint feeders ... meaning, once they take one particular source of prey, theres a good chance that they might not accept anything else for the rest of their lives ... so your young ball pythons that you offer prekilled pink hamsters have a very good chance of demanding hamsters as adults ... unless you want to feed 2000 gram ball pythons a ton of pink hamsters every week, they will require adult hamsters.

Live adult hamsters are particularly nasty because their teeth tend to be much longer and sharper than adult rats or mice ... and even if pre-killed, their longer than normal teeth still could pose a problem during swallowing and digestion ... I've treated more than a couple abcesses in the back of the throats of rescues that were previously fed hamster and gerbils.

I know the hamster thing "seems" like a good idea ... but I assure you it's not. ;)

-adam

Im with Adam on the hamsters...



1, they may get the imprint on the hammy's

2, they are WAY more $$$ here than mice/rats

3, an adult hamster has WICKED teeth.



My step sisters are breeding hamsters now, and have like 8 pairs or so, and we have about 90+ babies. I went to go pull the babies from a mother today, because she started eating them, because my little bro touched them, and the mother sunk those teeth in!!!



It hurt like a :cens0r: ...lol. And hamsters, IMO, are more "jumpy" and "nervous" than rats/mice. thus, having a better chance to bite.

Though ive fed a couple of hamsters to Spook already, im not going to continue it. (good thing spook is a garbage disposal and eats ANYTHING) Plus all my snakes, with the exception of Riley, a W/C then captive abused ball, eat F/T like champs.

hey wellcome Jen!!! and I 2 feed hams:D

Im no where near breeding my BPs. The only female I will be breeding is only 4 months old and I have a few years to go befor she will be able to breed. That will give me plenty of time to get into a larger 5 or 6 BR house (hubby has to have 2 rooms and I need an office, a snake room and a place to have the rodents) and convence (sp?) my husband that rats and mice are not "deadly" I had all of my 300 plus mice before my husband came in to the picture, and the fact that he wouldnt live in my house with me. I was really lucky that he let my mice in the house when we moved.

I plan on feeding any babies that I hatch out mice or rat pinks.

I dunno - just me here - but I'd tend to take Adam's advice on the hamster feeding. He seems to know a little bit about ball pythons! ;)

My snakes are not in any way in harm. I do not at all leave the side of the tank, the hamster is KO before I give it to the snake. The hamsters die befor they get a chance to come too. I take care of any food left in the cheeks. What more can I do? My poor snakes have ben bitten up by more mice and rats then anything else. I would feed F/T but my male wont touch them. My husbant will not let mice and rats in the house right now. Untill I can fully convence him, I have to use what i have avalible.

I would like to have this thread closed.
I'm sorry I even brought this up

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

and even if pre-killed, their longer than normal teeth still could pose a problem during swallowing and digestion ... I've treated more than a couple abcesses in the back of the throats of rescues that were previously fed hamster and gerbils.

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Ah, I didn't know that. Thanks for the info, I think I'll stick to rodents after I feed off these babies. :)

Here in LA,Ca Hammsters are way to expensive to even consider to feed them to a BP the msot expesnive mice here are 2$ the cheapest around here is 50cents so i prefer feeding my bp mice for now till he is big enuff to take rats.