My hubby is nuts.....ball pythons can't eat chicken eggs!

[tuper]

RIGHT? My husband is convinced that since snakes eat eggs in the wild, chicken eggs are a fine thing to feed our ball python. (I doubt he would eat them in the first place.)

I have NEVER heard that it is common practice to feed bird eggs to pet snakes. Please help me set him straight. Thank you!

[cassandra]

RIGHT? My husband is convinced that since snakes eat eggs in the wild, chicken eggs are a fine thing to feed our ball python. (I doubt he would eat them in the first place.)

I have NEVER heard that it is common practice to feed bird eggs to pet snakes. Please help me set him straight. Thank you!

No, ball pythons do not eat eggs; they eat rodents.

The egg eating snake eats eggs...not sure why type of eggs tho.

Yah, here we go: http://home.neo.rr.com/edzoo/Scales/eggeater1.htm

[tuper]

Thank you! Yes, they eat rodents! And our ball is now moved on to small rats (very small because of a paranoid hubby who thinks the snake can't 'handle' anything any bigger.)

*sigh*

[ddbjdealer]

(very small because of a paranoid hubby who thinks the snake can't 'handle' anything any bigger.)

Sorry to steal your thunder... but smaller meals are (IMO) better for them anyway. I'm not saying an adult should eat a pinky rat, but they never "need" anything more than small rats (50-70g range) even though they could "handle" a medium/large one as they mature.

Smaller meals help keep them on a "regular" schedule of eating. The smaller the meal, the faster it's digested and the more they'll WANT to eat. There's nothing more frustrating than having your snake on a 3 month fast because it got too full.

Tell Mr. Paranoid hubby that he's right about the smaller meals, and then hand him a beer, and calmly explain to him that if he wants you to feed chicken eggs to your BP, then you'll make him a scrambled rat burrito for dinner.

[cassandra]

Tell Mr. Paranoid hubby that he's right about the smaller meals, and then hand him a beer, and calmly explain to him that if he wants you to feed chicken eggs to your BP, then you'll make him a scrambled rat burrito for dinner.

MMMm, yummy! I'll have two please! =D

[wolfy-hound]

Several snakes do eat chicken eggs, including corn snakes, at elast in Florida, as I ahve seen them eat them, and had one regurge one when I caught it to take it out of the chicken pen.
I thought that in the wild ball pythons ate lizards, birds, and rodents, frogs etc?
I didn't think that rodents were all that high on the list of prey for them, but I don't remember where I heard that. If it isnot correct I'd like to know.
W.

[Colin Vestrand]

regardless of what they eat in the wild... what's fine/good/best in the wild has little value when applied to captive animals. i always find myself pondering what exactly my snakes would like in their little tubs and cages by thinking of what their natural habitat would be like. really though, they're fine with three things: food, heat, and hides. better that they don't know of the finer things in life... like diet diversity or living plants (although the some of them are getting vivs with living plants when they're grown).