Gerbils...

[SatanicIntention]

Just a quick question to anyone who wants to give input.

I have a few gerbils that a friend was supposed to take for his BP that doesn't eat anything besides. There are about 4 that are juveniles and two adults. Amani started out eating f/t mice in my care, and switched to f/t rats like she had been doing it all of her life(mice one week, rats the next week). I was planning on prekilling them, and just offering her two tonight. She's a garbage disposal when it comes to eating, so I doubt I will have any issues with doing gerbils tonight, and then a week later, feeding two weaned rats, then alternating until the gerbils are gone. My mom suggested just gassing the gerbils and tossing them. I told her that it was wrong to just throw animals away... *UGH* Why not let them either be useful or let them live? I don't find it a problem feeding her these, but I wanted some input.

My question is, is there an issue with this?

Adam, I sent you a PM regarding this (plus a little rant of mine, LoL). I don't know how often you check your messages, so I was just letting you know.

[JamminJonah]

I'm always wierd about this stuff just because I'm "Super Cautious Man" generally. My only fear is that I've read many places that gerbils are "filet mignon" to ball pythons. I know I'd rather eat filet than butt steak. But who knows, if he eats the way you say he does it might not be a big deal. Others have way more experience than I on this, but, if it were me I would try to give them to a pet shop, or see if any of the neighbor kids were looking for pets; or worst case scenario - gas 'em, freeze 'em and see if the Macwins (I think that's who I'm thinking of) are still doing the gerbil thing haha.

[elevatethis]

Hmmm.....just from my own personal experience, I wouldn't do it. They are a few people who com into the shop that I work at who have bp's that won't touch anything but a gerbil. It really sucks for them having to pay 8 bucks a week for two 20 gram gerbils! Ball pythons are imprint feeders, thats just how they are, and its very possible that they can get stuck on gerbils. Your feeding regiment works as it is now, right? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. You might set yourself up for some major trouble in the future. Just not worth the risk for 2 or 3 18 gram gerbils IMHO......

PS. Gerbils have some pretty sharp teeth, so a live feeding would be kinda ify, and gerbils are a pain to pre-kill.....damn tails always fall off, lol....

[SatanicIntention]

Well, she ate two sub-adults(about 75-80% adult size), pre-killed in my "pillowcase of death". No degloving of tails that way, hehe. She eats like it is going out of style, so I shouldn't have much to fear. I'm offering her normal rats next week, and alternating until the stupid things are gone, LoL. She hesitated at first(I think she was being lazy-she was on one end, I was dangling said gerbil on the other), probably didn't recognize that gerbiley(is this a word?) smell, but when I put it in front of her face, she struck and constricted it with as much force as with the rats.

So, we'll see next week, but I doubt she'll have any problems. I already asked around to see if any one in our neighborhood wanted them: Nope... I'd ship them, but dry ice is outrageously expensive, and I have no clue on how to pack them so they would actually stay cold. Another thing, my mom suggested letting them go at her coworkers house(lives in the country). I just asked her "Do we live in Mongolia? Because that's where they are from." Nope, didn't think so... She also suggested just euthanizing them and just throwing them away. I told her that I don't understand why you would just throw an animal away when you didn't want it anymore... At least this way they are being useful. If they aren't going to get eaten by something, why not let them stay alive until their demise?

Anyway, thanks for the input, it is appreciated. But like I said, we'll see how it goes next week

[frankykeno]

Great to hear that Amani enjoyed her gerbils. She's such an amazing feeder for you Becky!


~~Jo~~