Reptilinks for boas

[ladywhipple02]

I tried doing a search and saw where a few people feed reptilinks to their collections. I'm going to try the omnivore mix for my beardie, but I was wondering if anyone feeds reptilinks to their boa? My BP is far too picky, but I may try the boa on them once my rat pups are gone. Anyone have any experiences to share?

NOTE: I wouldn't feed the omnivore mix to a snake

[ladywhipple02]

I found this old thread which helped: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...links!!!/page3

If anyone has experiences specific to boa that would be great, otherwise I think I have my answer

[bcr229]

I have fed ReptiLinks to both BI's and BRB's. As I said in the other thread, once you get over 25 grams I would recommend switching over to whole prey, as the wrap/twist action that a boa uses to constrict its prey will rip the longer links in half. The links at 25 grams and under are too short for the boa to get a good enough grip on it to tear it apart.

There's no reason you couldn't feed the meat/veggie mix to a snake unless you're worried about the smell putting them off. The meat-only ReptiLinks don't have the offal (stomach and intestine contents) that a snake would normally get with whole prey, so the occasional omnivore link may not be a bad idea for them.

[JRLongton]

May I respectfully ask why you'd use rat/mouse sausage to feed a snake?

[ladywhipple02]

Two reasons:

Convenience. I'm going to be buying some anyway for the dragon, and Reptilinks requires a minimum $75 order to ship. $75 worth of links is a lot for one dragon... though Reptilinks also sells whole animals so I can combine orders if needed.

Cost. In my small little town, it's hard to come by food for any of my reptiles. I pretty much have to have everything shipped in. Reptilinks offers a variety of different links with rabbit, quail, rat, mouse, ASF, etc, and their shipping is reasonable. If I can offer my reptiles more variety at a cheaper cost, it's worth a try.

[bcr229]

ReptiLinks aren't rat/mouse, they are rabbit, quail, guinea fowl, chicken, frog, and lizard (iguana).

I used the rabbit links for one boa that, while young, came to me with a wide rear end due to being overfed and I wanted very lean meals for her.

Young hognose also do very well on the frog mini and micro links when they are tiny if they are picky about taking mouse pinkies.

Lizard links are an option for people whose snakes would normally eat anoles, since feeder anoles aren't all that easy to get.

[JRLongton]

Young hognose also do very well on the frog mini and micro links when they are tiny if they are picky about taking mouse pinkies.

Lizard links are an option for people whose snakes would normally eat anoles, since feeder anoles aren't all that easy to get.

Woah! So you could buy "lizard links" and feed a Green Vine snake? That's fantastic! Those are gorgeous animals but, as I understand they will only eat lizards and frogs, and are therefore not often kept in captivity.

I almost didn't ask, I'm glad I did.

[CloudtheBoa]

I have fed ReptiLinks to both BI's and BRB's. As I said in the other thread, once you get over 25 grams I would recommend switching over to whole prey, as the wrap/twist action that a boa uses to constrict its prey will rip the longer links in half. The links at 25 grams and under are too short for the boa to get a good enough grip on it to tear it apart.

There's no reason you couldn't feed the meat/veggie mix to a snake unless you're worried about the smell putting them off. The meat-only ReptiLinks don't have the offal (stomach and intestine contents) that a snake would normally get with whole prey, so the occasional omnivore link may not be a bad idea for them.

I'm curious as to why feeding an obligate carnivore - such as a snake - with any substantial non-meat matter would be considered acceptable? They cannot digest it, the veggies would just halve (or more) the amount of nutrition the snake could get from the links, and cause other unknown issues. There's no way the veggie mix would add any nutritional value. Just feed whole prey.