"Kingsnake Eats Ball Python" on YouTube

[Skiploder]

Ophiophagus snakes are prone to fatty liver disease, obesity and other dietary based ailments when fed a diet that they have not evolved to thrive on.

The nutritional profiles of rats and mice versus snakes are completely different with respect to fat.

Clelia and Boiruna dying early, dispholidines exhibiting liposarcomas....all examples of snakes NOT thriving when fed a diet that they do not eat in the wild.

Chew on this people....I regularly buy corn snake babies to feed to my ophiophagus snakes, and if the price of normal ball pythons dropped enough, I'd feed those as well. I breed anoles to feed to my ophiophagus and lizard eating species.

Would I post pics of it on Youtube?

No.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I don't believe this is a rat lovers' forum..It's a snake lovers forum if I'm not mistaken, and we also have members of this forum keeping rats as pets.


In my opinion, anyone who does this to snakes in captivity is circumventing more practical solutions in the interest of a morbid curiosity. What other reason could there be, when Kingsnakes will eat other prey items - like rats and mice - which are bred for THAT purpose? If snakes in the diet are required for Kingsnakes to be healthy, then I'm willing to take that on advisement. But if it's unnecessary, than so too is the action in the video. Perhaps I'm biased....I just like any kind of snake, and will do anything I can to help in their preservation.


Perhaps also the feeding in question is a passing reference to a diminished regard for the worth of "Normals..." (hey, they're only $20 a pop at Repticon...) Maybe Normals are in fact seen by some herp enthusiasts/breeders as a "food source" for other cannabilistic species Because they have a lesser attached pricetag, maybe they're "more expendable." I guess other philosophical issues tie in...do we regard our snakes as "adopted guests/family members," or do we simply see them as our "personal property?" Perhaps if you owned a dozen children (or a dozen slaves), it would be less painful to see one sacrificed to a coyote in the interest of "seeing what it looked like," or "that's just what Coyotes might do in the wild" than if you had one or just a few. You might even decide to feed the one who's doing less well in school (or produces less in the fields), and thus represents a less valuable investment in tending the family farm, or looking after you when you're ready for the old folks' home. Pardon any sanctimonious impressions, but I love my pet, and consider the one that was fed as "family."

You are right it is a reptile forum which means for all reptiles including those eating other reptiles.

You called someone feeding a snake to another a sociopath just because YOU happen to keep that species.

Expend your knowledge about other species and dietery requirements and try not to be as judgemental.

As for the rest of your argument it makes you lose any credit you might have had.

I keep BP (among other things) and the only thing I disagree with is posting feeding videos regardless of the prey other than that everything has to eat.

[bcr229]

I never had problems getting any of my Kingsnakes or Milksnakes to eat mice when I had them in the collection,even if we take it to the realm of "hey, a snake needs to eat" what's the point of feeding a $20 snake to a $20 snake?

Long before the BP morph explosion hit they were routinely used as feeder snakes for eastern indigoes and king cobras. Also, a feeder BP isn't $20, usually males are sold off in large lots by the big breeders for a few bucks apiece.

Also, where do you think the kinked babies and stillborn babies go? There's a king cobra keeper near me who will pay for kinked babies and stills to feed to his cobra. Better that they get fed off than thrown in the trash.

[Sauzo]

I saw a show on Anancondas where they caught an Anaconda trying to eat a boa on a branch but the boa fell off the branch and the anaconda couldn't swallow it while it was hanging so lucky for the boa the anaconda got it loose from its teeth and the boa dropped to the ground. As others have said, its just the circle of Life. Sure its not pretty but anyone who owns the animal that is getting eaten is going to be upset, well some people. Me personally, im unphased by that stuff as I view it as the circle of life.

[Alicia]

I don't believe this is a rat lovers' forum..It's a snake lovers forum if I'm not mistaken..

Many snake keepers love the heck out of rats, myself included. I kept pet rats prior to and in the early years of keeping snakes, and I miss my rats dearly. But I also enjoy keeping snakes. So I buy rats for them.

[Jhill001]

Many snake keepers love the heck out of rats, myself included. I kept pet rats prior to and in the early years of keeping snakes, and I miss my rats dearly. But I also enjoy keeping snakes. So I buy rats for them.

I wish the main feeders were hamsters I always hated them little biters, I've been bit by a whole mess of hamsters and I've never been but by a feeder mouse or rat tbh.

[Sauzo]

I hate mice. I've been bit I don't know how many times plus they pee, poop and chew on everything......evil little rodents. Rats are pretty cool though, pretty smart.

[scalrtn]

Ophiophagus snakes are prone to fatty liver disease, obesity and other dietary based ailments when fed a diet that they have not evolved to thrive on.


The nutritional profiles of rats and mice versus snakes are completely different with respect to fat.


Clelia and Boiruna dying early, dispholidines exhibiting liposarcomas....all examples of snakes NOT thriving when fed a diet that they do not eat in the wild.

Expend your knowledge about other species and dietery requirements and try not to be as judgemental.


...


I keep BP (among other things) and the only thing I disagree with is posting feeding videos regardless of the prey other than that everything has to eat.

Cobras are in the genus Ophiophagus, Kingsnakes in the genus Lampropeltis. It's unclear to me whether data shows that members in the latter genus definitively suffer adverse consequences when members of the Order Serpentes are excluded from their dietary regimen.

Kingsnakes will eat almost anything living that fits in the tube, that much I know. I'd probably also criticize the owner of a Burmese Python for feeding it a small mixed-breed dog, but that also might be construed as being judgmental...

[Skiploder]

Cobras are in the genus Ophiophagus, Kingsnakes in the genus Lampropeltis. It's unclear to me whether data shows that members in the latter genus definitively suffer adverse consequences when members of the Order Serpentes are excluded from their dietary regimen.

Kingsnakes will eat almost anything living that fits in the tube, that much I know. I'd probably also criticize the owner of a Burmese Python for feeding it a small mixed-breed dog, but that also might be construed as being judgmental...

Look up the definition of ophiophagus. Then re read your post.

In other words, what does the "ophiophagus" in ophiophagus Hannah mean?

[grcforce327]

I don't know who "Ignacio Torres" is but, at least in my mind, he's a sociopath.

That would make you a sociopath in the minds of people who keep rodents as pets.