Alternative feed source

[Simplex]

So I have 2 bps. Recently I had my cousins over and they fell in love with my snakes. Soooo being the amazingly cool cousin i am I purchased/rescued a baby normal from the local pet store. Thinking I'd give it to them as a gift once it's healthy. Issue I have now is their mother is deathly afraid of rodents...to the point where she has given me the option of either finding a different food source for it or it's mine to have. I have no problem with that except I now have two very upset and disappointed children in my house. That I would like to help. Are there any other sources of food we could use? Bits of chicken? Beef? Or other cheap feeder animals?? Any help would be great!!!!!!


Ps the bp was very small IMO for it's age. Been in the store for over a month that I know of. Owner said he wasn't sure if it had eaten. Assist fed on a fuzzy when we got home no problem. Uth installed and one hide given. Need a different enclosure but it should be okay until I can get one.

[Mft62485]

Is she afraid of dead mice as in frozen ones?

[Skittles1101]

No, their primary food in captivity is rodents. I googled it just to make sure my opinion was correct, and although you can generally feed the occasional chick or something like that, the main consensus is that rodents is the only way to go. If they cannot feed rodents then they shouldn't have a ball python, and is something that should have been taken into consideration before purchasing.

[Simplex]

If u would read my op. It said purchased/rescued. The snake needed help and i have the ability to. I have seen mention of feeding liver bits. Just not sure if its okay full time. And yes she is afraid of ft as well.

[Simplex]

Like i stated above. The snake first showed up over a month ago at the store and showed very little movement in the terrarium in the store. With a bit of stuck shed. Seems to me it wasnt all that healthy.

[llovelace]

I agree with Leah.
Looks like you have another BP.
Maybe the little ones would like a Leopard gecko, and the snake could still be theirs, but kept at your house.
My Grandson has a pastel at my house (he lives in North Ga) because his step dad is afraid of snakes. He gets to see her on skype and when he comes down on vaca.

[Skittles1101]

And I agree with LL. My boyfriend has a snake that he keeps at my house, and my little sister "has" at least 3 that stay at my house too (she thinks their hers lol). She's a pretty normal with a really cool pattern though.

[Simplex]

Yeh i think i would of been forced to purchase it anyway given the situation it was in. I live about 6 hours away and rarely see them. Was hoping to find a feed option for them. Read about chicks but he/she is much to small.

[EverEvolvingExotics]

Even if the BP was bigger I don't believe it would be healthy to feed a BP chicks as a staple, rodents only. Congrats on the new addition!

[wolfy-hound]

One reason I never agree with purchasing a live animal for anyone, much less for kids when you didn't check with mom. Moms always have the last word. You bought it. If the store doesn't care for their animals, then you just basically supported them in how they don't care.

Onto the feeding, no, liver bits won't work. BPs need whole prey, they need the bones and protein and everything. Some even argue that they need the hair for fiber. Chicks can be fed, but it's not a good idea to get one stuck onto chicks if you don't have a really steady supply year round. Also, chicks aren't as nutrious as rats, so you might even need to feed more. Plus I'm not sure Mom would like feeding fluffy little chicks to the snake either.

Telling them it's "their snake" who will live at your house is really awesome of you. You could even send them pictures and little stories of what it's done recently. When one of them gets old enough to move out, they might even get to take "their" snake with them. Or perhaps Mom will give in and allow it in if it eats FT rats.

Good luck.