What else can we feed our BPs aside from rodents

[theartofsolitude]

i saw from garter snake area that they are feeding the snake salmon?? O.O

[stevepoppers]

Can you feed it whatever you're going to feed it the rest of it's life in the event that it refuses any other food from that point onward?

I don't know about the nutritional stuff, but the above seems to be the prevailing argument against feeding ball pythons unusual items.

[BPelizabeth]

BP's are already pickey eaters anyways....so I would find it unwise to feed it anything other the rodents. I am no expert by any means but I would think fish would be lacking some of the nutrients that they need as well as I am not sure how well they would do with the oils from fish.

[loonunit]

I wish they were egg-eaters. So much cheaper, right? But I can just see a ball python trying to constrict an egg and having it go flying across the room like Julia Roberts' escargot in Pretty Woman.

[vintod]

last night i fed mine 2 BABY mice that were barely moving. It was a struggle because the snake wants to attack movement. She eventually got them after I prodded the baby mice a little to move (sad), and then I gave her two regular sized mice. She went after those immediately, and actually got them down her body faster.

When I was young I used to feed my garter snakes 10 goldfish - 10 for $1 at the pet store. It was fun to watch the snake swim around in the goldfish bowl with its mouth open, going after them like a dragon from the atari game "Adventure." I also used to feed the garters baby frogs that I caught wild from a sump up the street too. They pretty much ate anything.

My guess is that a snake will eat anything that moves if it is hungry enough. Sure - they get used to eating the same thing but if they're hungry enough they should eat. I think the key, though, with snakes who are used to live feeding, is MOVEMENT. Snakes are predators and want to hunt, unless you are lucky enough to have a snake that is cool with eating thawed frozens.

[rabernet]

Ball pythons are hard wired to eat rodents - they aren't going to eat fish.

BTW, what's your definition of baby mice? All my hatchlings get hopper to small adult mice as their first meals.

[BAMReptiles]

basic understanding of the animals would allow you to know ball pythons eat rodents, garter snakes, who are not pythons, not the same size, and not from the same continent or climate as ball pythons, eat a lot of fish and amphibians in the wild. and trust me, ive had them, feeding fish is worse. feeder fish also are terribly unnutritious and theres a good chance they carry parasites and such. plus its really really messy, compared to rodents at least

i also start all the balls on rats, thats all they get

[Freakie_frog]

i saw from garter snake area that they are feeding the snake salmon?? O.O

Ball pythons eat Rodents...there is no other option..

[vintod]

the baby mice were smaller than my thumb, vision not developed, very small amount of hair - still pinkish.

as for the other post - just making a comment that if a snake is hungry enough, it will eat whatever small living thing you put in front of him... guaranteed.

I did not comment about which is better food/nutrition source or anything like that.

[redstormlax12]

as for the other post - just making a comment that if a snake is hungry enough, it will eat whatever small living thing you put in front of him... guaranteed.

Sorry, But this is completely wrong. BP's are very picky. Some will only eat ASF's, some rats and some mice. Some BPs wont even give a mouse any attention, let alone striking and consuming it.

Another example are JCP's. Many JCP's wont make the switch from mice to rats. It doesnt matter if its just moving. You can wiggle your finger in front of your BP and it wont strike unless its been scented. Its not just about movement with the snakes. Its about scent. Some BP's will wait for that special chemical sequence to be brought to their jacobson's organ until they decide they want to eat the prey.