What else can we feed our BPs aside from rodents

[Ham]

Dude, I have personally witnessed dozens of snakes starve themselves to death, wild caught and captive bred both. Lots of animal species when kept in captivity can and will refuse food until they literally starve to death, google it...

There is no way you can say a hungry ball python will eat anything that moves if its hungry enough, because it is simply not true...

Any argument on your part about this will immediately be moot because you obviously are stating your mistaken belief and not a fact...

[Zenllama]

Any argument on your part about this will immediately be moot because you obviously are stating your mistaken belief and not a fact...

Get 'em Ham!!!!

[angllady2]

If ANY ball python when it gets hungry enough will eat anything small that moves, how do you explain the baby ball python I have owned for approximately 8 weeks and offered multiple live prey items refused to eat and eventually starved to death.

And why the only other baby who also refused to eat is ONLY still alive because I broke down and force fed it ? Which was NOT a pleasant experience and also why I only did one.

You have absolutely NO clue what you are talking about. To make a totally random, blanket statement like that is quite foolish and immature.

Now, if you had said, "I think most ball pythons when hungry enough will eat pretty much anything small that moves." That would have been more on target.

Gale

[tonyaltn]

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.

Now I have that image stuck in my head and I cant stop laughing, lol.

[Zenllama]

Look, I am going to make this really simple for those of you who can't seem to understand this. Ball Pythons are as God made them. Consumers of RODENTS!!! My studies are sound. My understanding of Ball pythons is well founded. Please refer to my post on page 2 of this thread. Long winded as it may be it is correct. If you doubt me, by all means, CONTACT YOUR LOCAL ZOO HERPILOGICAL SPECIALIST, REPTILE SPECIALIZED VET, UNIVERSITY HERPILOGICAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT, OR A UPSTANDING ACCREDITED PROFESSIONAL BREEDER.
Do not doubt this fact! If you force feed a ball python a diet of fish, insects, eggs, or anything else to this effect, YOU WILL KILL YOUR SNAKE!!! Do your research!!! Nothing infuriates me like someone who is willing to endanger a living creatures health or life by telling people who may not know better a false statement like the filth I have read in earlier posts on this thread. If your bp is hungry enough it will eat anything? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!!!! OK, for those of you who think this, starve yourself and then when you are on the brink of death eat feces. See how far you get. Plain and simple, Ball Pythons do not possess the enzymes to digest egg, or fish proteins. Just like humans cannot safely digest feces. Some animals can, but humans cannot.

For the sake of the living breathing animals, do not lead astray those herp keepers here who honestly do not know better.

[jxk]

But......

What if you scent the fish with a rat or chicken broth??
I think I'm on to something.


justkiddingdontkillme

[llovelace]

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.

I got a couple "BIG" girl BP's, you wanna come wiggle your finger in front of them......dare ya

[vintod]

Everyone needs to chill.

All I said was hungry snake (including BPs) + available small pray = din-din.

Sorry if I offended anyone with my wacky, hair-brained ideas of a wild animal eating when it is hungry in order to survive... I've readily offered up that I am a newb at this and don't own or breed hundreds of snakes. Just making an astute general observation about nature, and, in particular, hungry predators.

Check this report out by the way: http://www.anapsid.org/ball.html

Notably, the 3rd paragraph.

Contrast that with Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_python#Feeding

Wiki mentions rodents and also birds as natural prey, while pointing out the captivity and eating problems.

[Kaorte]

Everyone needs to chill.

All I said was hungry snake (including BPs) + available small pray = din-din.

Sorry if I offended anyone with my wacky, hair-brained ideas of a wild animal eating when it is hungry in order to survive... I've readily offered up that I am a newb at this and don't own or breed hundreds of snakes. Just making an astute general observation about nature, and, in particular, hungry predators.

Check this report out by the way: http://www.anapsid.org/ball.html

Notably, the 3rd paragraph.

Contrast that with Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_python#Feeding

Wiki mentions rodents and also birds as natural prey, while pointing out the captivity and eating problems.

That first link is the most awful thing I have ever read. Just about ALL of it is plain wrong. Excuse me while I go rip this thing apart.

By the way, the WIKI is right. As most wikis are.

[vintod]

I thought so too. I put much more stock in the wiki article. Its just odd that the report is the first thing that comes up when you google "what do ball pythons eat in the wild" - wiki does mention birds though; interesting. must be some fast snakes to catch a bird before it takes off to fly... unless they're eating hatchlings in a nest.