Do Ball Pythons HAVE to Eat Rats?

[KevinK]

[I]
As others pointed out, mice have less nutritional content....more specifically, much less fat. Rats contain a very high percentage of fat that allows speedy growth in snakes. However, I believe you can feed most snakes a different diet and be perfectly ok.....in fact maybe 10 years ago there was an enormous push to feed African Soft Fur rats to BP's and some keepers still do.....but most people abandoned the idea once they discovered ASF's grow very slowly, eat through tubs, are hard to find, and have nasty little attitudes.

So in summary, a BP's diet would naturally be ASF rats, but people fed normal rats instead for convenience reasons while maintaining nutritional value. BUT mice do lack nutritional value so unless the animal won't eat them, there's no logical reason to feed them
[/I]

I did mention ASF's actually......

[KevinK]

Well the thing is, ball pythons did NOT evolve eating domestic rats either...just saying. And the Santa Barbara zoo is pretty small...I went to college in S.B.

I suspect that you could likewise come up with a PERFECT diet for humans too, yet we all survive without such a thing (some better than others, yes) and no one suggests we should all eat identical food. Why is that?

As others pointed out, mice have less nutritional content....more specifically, much less fat. Rats contain a very high percentage of fat that allows speedy growth in snakes. However, I believe you can feed most snakes a different diet and be perfectly ok.....in fact maybe 10 years ago there was an enormous push to feed African Soft Fur rats to BP's and some keepers still do.....but most people abandoned the idea once they discovered ASF's grow very slowly, eat through tubs, are hard to find, and have nasty little attitudes.

So in summary, a BP's diet would naturally be ASF rats, but people fed normal rats instead for convenience reasons while maintaining nutritional value. BUT mice do lack nutritional value so unless the animal won't eat them, there's no logical reason to feed them
[[/B][/B]/I]

I did mention ASF's actually......[/QUOTE]

[paulh]

Nobody seems to have mentioned gerbils for ball pythons. I've had ball pythons that preferred rats to mice, and ball pythons that preferred mice to rats. But none turned down a gerbil.

Cons to gerbils is slow breeding, small litters and relatively high price if purchased. But gerbil odor is much less offensive than either mice or rats.

I agree with others that frozen/thawed rats is the best way to go.

Good luck.

[Bogertophis]

Nobody seems to have mentioned gerbils for ball pythons. I've had ball pythons that preferred rats to mice, and ball pythons that preferred mice to rats. But none turned down a gerbil.

Cons to gerbils is slow breeding, small litters and relatively high price if purchased. But gerbil odor is much less offensive than either mice or rats.

I agree with others that frozen/thawed rats is the best way to go.

Good luck.

I touched on gerbils in post #20 (& BPs love hamsters too) but I agree they aren't "practical". Feeding snakes in captivity is always a compromise of sorts compared
to what all they'd happily snag in the wild. Most pet snakes don't fixate on specific prey & refuse others as much as BPs do, but then again, they aren't working up the
appetite they might in the wild either? And hey, maybe the reason they become fussy feeders in captivity is all the extra fat content in their domestic rodents, that
signals their body that they don't need food yet? I've always wondered how BPs could survive in the wild with the eating habits they have in captivity, lol.

I'll leave it to you beep-keepers to figure them out...I had BPs many years ago, but not currently.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Problem with gerbils they are the equivalent of crack for BP, so not the best idea, they don't produce well, expensive to buy and if the animal was to be re-homed it would be a lot more problematic if it's eating gerbils, because trying to switch back a BP from gerbils is very very very hard.

Feeding what works and is readily available is always the best option.

[PitOnTheProwl]

No they do not and no it's not better for them.

Gram per gram of food it's all the same now the difference is, it will be better for YOU which ultimately is not the most important.


The advantage of feeding rats is that you will only have to feed one to an adult where as mice you will have to feed multiples.

This right here.
Staying on mice wont be a problem as long as you dont mind feeding multiples and possibly more often.
I also have a couple breeders that wont touch a rat and havent had a problem with their growth or reproduction.
I wouldnt pay much attention to anyone that is telling you they MUST eat rats....

[Zincubus]

This right here.
Staying on mice wont be a problem as long as you dont mind feeding multiples and possibly more often.
I also have a couple breeders that wont touch a rat and havent had a problem with their growth or reproduction.
I wouldnt pay much attention to anyone that is telling you they MUST eat rats....

Apparently it's written in stone somewhere ..and has been passed through the generations

Bit like the old tale where your body gets no water from tea / coffee / soft drinks and cordials .... it has to be water ..


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[SiXandSeven8ths]

Seems to be conflicting opinions here. Anyone got anything to back it up?

[RustHeart]

UPDATE

Sunny is 1 lb 10 oz. How much should she be eating?

[Craiga 01453]

This should help...

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