Girbils???

[gozetec02]

Well my new ball python ate a mouse on friday she has been taking them reluctently since i got her. If i get two mice and she doesn't take it i could always give it to Jojo he loves em. But i read that a girbil is the natural prey animal of the Ball Python and will get them to begin eating again. This friday is feeding time again and if i get a mouse i have a feeling that she will not take it. My question is, has anyone fed their BP's a girbil before? Or does anyone have any ideas?

[gozetec02]

Pardon me please replace all the Girbils with Gerbils

[Mike]

if you snake has been taking mice, let it take them. as long as its eating. gerbils are a close relative to the natural food of ball pythons. (its really a "jerboa") people have had more succes with feeding these. but they are also addicting. mice and rats are readily available as CHEAP feeders. if you have the money to go out and buy a gerbil (or two...or three...or four..) every week...then gerbils are not a problem. you could also breed them but ive read that they are harder to breed. (im not sure exactly how they are more challenging...i had succes as a little kid).
anyways...only problem i see with gerbils is price, size, and availability. if none of these stand in your way, gerbils are good.

[Jeanne]

I agree with Mike, if your bp is eating mice or rats, leave it as it is..no sense in spending for something so expensive.


Also, for information purposes, Gerbils and Jerboas are 2 different animals. We all know what a gerbil looks like, well, a jerboa has longer legs and somewhat smaller compact body, also has longer ears. Jerboas are not related to gerbils, they are rodents, but belong to a complete different family; the Dipididae (gerbils belong to the Muridae).

[Marla]

But apparently they taste alike!

[Jeanne]

LOL- yeah, they must...

I was lookin at the jerboas pics, they are kinda goofy looking.

[Mike]

heres a link to some stuff about the locality of gerbils. i started thinking about gerils vs. Jerboas. i had no idea they were so dif. but anyways...gerbils may also be in the same range as BPs. they range from asia all the way down to southwestern africa. check it out.
http://www.gerbil-info.com/html/species.htm

and heres some cool stuff about jerboas. http://www.pbs.org/sahara/wildlife/jerboa1.htm

theres so many different kinda of both and not much info on them. but i just got interested and thought someone else might enjoy it too... i did this cuz i was surprised that they were so diff. so i wanted to check it out

[Jeanne]

LOL, thanks Mike, thats some good info. I was lookin too, got me to thinking about the differences and likeness of both.. gerbils may be in the same range. I never thought about it until now tho~ :lol:

[Marla]

I didn't see Ghana, Benin, or Togo on the list, and aren't those the natural range of bp's? Or are those just the countries that commonly export them?

[Mike]

well i looked into BPs too. they range from senegal all the way down to Angola. thats most of western Africa.