Alternetive food for ballpython

Hey

Now i feed adult ballpythons rats.But its not ideal for me.Is there an alternative food for adult ball pythons?

greetz

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andreass

Hey

Now i feed adult ballpythons rats.But its not ideal for me.Is there an alternative food for adult ball pythons?

greetz

---

Why isn't it ideal? They have to eat rodents. They can eat mice, gerbils, asf's. Rats are easier to come by than the others as well from what I can tell.

I mean other rodents, like mice, gerbils..
Rats grow often to large and then i have to sell them.
But if i feed mice, how much should i feed every time?
And the same with gerbils?

gr

Well not sure what you mean as Rodentia is the go to food for the BP's Rats are great and if they are legal in you state ASF (African Soft Fur Rats or Natal Rats) are an alternative but the good old Norwegians are the most readily available source of all you BP's needs. Mice can be fed and some BP's prefer them but to equal the fat and protein content of a medium rat you would have to feed several mice. Hope I have helped.

Most any clean rodent will do. Rats, mice, gerbils, hamsters, ASF, even baby rabbits or guinea pigs if they are the correct size.

Otherwise, no. They need a good whole prey item.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andreass

I mean other rodents, like mice, gerbils..
Rats grow often to large and then i have to sell them.
But if i feed mice, how much should i feed every time?
And the same with gerbils?

gr

---

If you can manage to get the retired breeder mice, generally 2 is good enough for an adult. I can only say based on my experience! I was feeding one of mine 2 adult mice and now I'm going to try to move her on to rats. If you are trying to switch an adult to another feeder it may be difficult. You could also try f/t and see if that works.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by piper

If you can manage to get the retired breeder mice, generally 2 is good enough for an adult. I can only say based on my experience! I was feeding one of mine 2 adult mice and now I'm going to try to move her on to rats. If you are trying to switch an adult to another feeder it may be difficult. You could also try f/t and see if that works.

---

So if you feed weekly then 2 mice is eneugh? i heard people saying they fed 5...?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andreass

So if you feed weekly then 2 mice is eneugh? i heard people saying they fed 5...?

---

You should find a chart, the larger retired breeder mice are large in comparison to an adult mouse. Check out this page: http://www.canadianmouseman.com/eng/products.htm the second last one is the retired and you will see above is an adult. Bit of a difference. I can't possibly see 5 retired (jumbo) mice, but yea never know!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by piper

You should find a chart, the larger retired breeder mice are large in comparison to an adult mouse. Check out this page: http://www.canadianmouseman.com/eng/products.htm the second last one is the retired and you will see above is an adult. Bit of a difference. I can't possibly see 5 retired (jumbo) mice, but yea never know!

---

Ok, then i go breed mice, i think 2 or 3 normal adults is eneugh per adult BP per week then?

gr

You'll want to feed 10 to 15% of your snakes body weight. I have an adult female I feed 3-4 mice at a feeding. However many mice you need to feed to get to 10-15% is perfect providing that your snake will eat multiple prey items. Some snakes don't mind chowing down on multiples but there are some snakes that will only take one prey item per feeding. Its these kind of snakes that benefit from feeding a larger prey item like a rat or ASF.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Spaniard

You'll want to feed 10 to 15% of your snakes body weight. I have an adult female I feed 3-4 mice at a feeding. However many mice you need to feed to get to 10-15% is perfect providing that your snake will eat multiple prey items. Some snakes don't mind chowing down on multiples but there are some snakes that will only take one prey item per feeding. Its these kind of snakes that benefit from feeding a larger prey item like a rat or ASF.

---

But is that based on weekly feeding or once in every 2 or 3 weeks?

If you're breeding rats why don't you just freeze them as they get the size you need?

Thats based on a 10 day feeding schedule for adults.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andreass

But is that based on weekly feeding or once in every 2 or 3 weeks?

---

It was 2 every 7 days. Now she is on ASF's and eats 2 about the size of the retired breeder mice every 8-10 days.

@Willomn: some BP's only eat live preys.

@Piper: Whats her weight?

gr

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andreass

@Piper: Whats her weight?

gr

---

Good question, I don't weigh mine. I've been on the lookout for a scale but I'm not too worried about it. Maybe around 800-900 grams(just an estimate). She's an 07 and was off feed all winter. Back on track now though.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by piper

Good question, I don't weigh mine. I've been on the lookout for a scale but I'm not too worried about it. Maybe around 800-900 grams(just an estimate). She's an 07 and was off feed all winter. Back on track now though.

---

Ok, i think if i have an female of 2kg that i will need to feed a lot of mice, gonna try to get them all on dead preys.

Thx everybody for the answers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andreass

@Willomn: some BP's only eat live preys.

---

continue feeding live to the picky ones, and f/t to the ones that aren't so picky.

And what about gerbils? Does a +/- 2 kg ball python have eneugh with 2 gerbils a week?

gr

Usually people don't feed items like gerbils because they are more expensive than other rodents and I've heard that they like to imprint on them once they have them and can be hard to switch afterwords.

Adam Wysocki contributed these posts in this thread:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...hlight=gerbils

Quote:

---

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

---

Quote:

---

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

---

You could feed Approx sized rabbit?

May that help you

Daniel

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Simpson Balls

You could feed Approx sized rabbit?

May that help you

Daniel

---

Isn't that hard to get?

Your best bet IMO is ASF rats. They do not grow as large as domestic rats, are not as difficult (or expensive) to come across as gerbils, hamsters, rabbits (I would really not consider a rabbit for a BP, regardless of size), etc.

If you do decide to feed mice, the Jumbo (retired breeders) are sometimes the same size as a small rat. 1-2 should suffice.

Sounds like you're choices are going to be mice or African soft furred rats. Raising Norway rats is a chore, and they do grow too big quickly, and if you don't have animals that eat frozen thawed, it's pretty much a waste to raise Norway rats unless you have a source to sell them too every week.

I would have you seriously consider African soft furred.

My balls eat rats,asf,mice and rabbits. I wouldnt feed a gerbil Ive also heard that if they switch to gerbils they dont want anything else.

I know this topic has been down for a time but i couldn't decide.
But now i did, most people advice me to go for ASF. So thats what i wil do.
If i look at the wheight of an ASF than it seems that i still have to feed multiple preys at once for an adult or am i rong.
Plz tell me that i am rong so that i don't have to be thinking any more about what would be best :P

gr

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andreass

I know this topic has been down for a time but i couldn't decide.
But now i did, most people advice me to go for ASF. So thats what i wil do.
If i look at the wheight of an ASF than it seems that i still have to feed multiple preys at once for an adult or am i rong.
Plz tell me that i am rong so that i don't have to be thinking any more about what would be best :P

gr

---

One large ASF is fine for an adult ball python. I only feed my very largest females (all over 2000g) a single large ASF a week, my large ASF's are usually between 100-130g. An adult bp doesn't need anything more than 100-150g of food a week to maintain a healthy weight. I believe there are several other people on this forum who will tell you the same thing.

Good luck, I hope you can find a food source that will work out for you.

Ok it will be ASF :)

Now i'm going to look for a nice and tame line what will be quite hard.

gr

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andreass

Ok it will be ASF :)

Now i'm going to look for a nice and tame line what will be quite hard.

gr

---

It may bit a bit difficult, but you might be able to work with them even if they seem aggressive. I started out with 3 trios of very obnoxious adults. I handled all the resulting litters daily, fed off the obnoxious parents as soon as possible and only let the friendliest ones reproduce. I now don't have any I would consider aggressive. They range from totally ignoring me when I pick them up to licking my fingers and crawling around on my shoulders if I allow it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andreass

Hey

Now i feed adult ballpythons rats.But its not ideal for me.Is there an alternative food for adult ball pythons?

greetz

---

well not really rats are what you should feed it good question though :)

human neighborhood children :P

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BallPythonGeek13

well not really rats are what you should feed it good question though :)

---

Not everyone wants to feed rats to a bp. Balls do fine on mice or ASF's.