Feeding Snakes.....

[Crackster69]

Now I was woundering, everywhere i read about diet in reptiles it is said a variaty of different foods is better for the animal. I feed my geckos (Crickets, King worms, wax worms, baby fruit food, fruit fly cultures.) but my Ball pythons have been restriced to lab mice...how good of a diet is that for a snake? are the lab mice that are frozzen full of good proteen? what else could you feed a ball python besides lab mice, rats & chickens? would pre-killed gold fish be a choice? I was also reading somewhere about a hotdog.. or something along that line. I have no prob with mice but would a variaty be better for a snake?
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[LdyDrgn]

Rats, mice, hamsters, gerbils....

Rats are best, more meat and less fat. Mice are next, still good but a little more fat. Hamsters, gerbils and even guinea pigs are LOADED with fat. Not a good choice unless you have a stubborn eater. You can use these to get them eating again. Hotdogs are processed meat (ICK!). You probably mean Snake Sausages. Who knows what goes into those things? I'd rather stay with f/t rats, but that's my opinion. You don't want to feed fish, that's for water type snakes like garters, etc. By chickens you mean baby chicks? Also not a good idea because of the beak possibly tearing the esophagus if it goes down just a little wrong! Some larger snakes like boas and burms will take raw chicken legs. But these need to be frozen for 30 days FIRST and then thawed out for feeding (warm). As far as a 'variety of foods' for a reptile, that's usually meant for lizards, especially iguanas. Hope that helps some....
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	Iguana Iguana

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	Frozen/Thawed A rodent or other prey item that is frozen and then thawed to be fed to a reptile or other animal.

[BoaBabe]

Hope you don't take this the wrong way, but GREAT ADVISE ldydrgn!!!! You really impressed me with your reply! I couldn't have said it better myself!
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[LdyDrgn]

Thankee much BB! [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
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[Crackster69]

When feeding a snake should you change up the menu, mice one week rats the next and so on. Or should you stick to one kind of food (Ie:Mice) through out the life of the snake?



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[LdyDrgn]

As far as snakes go, keeping it to one item is fine. Rats a generally preferred because of the lower fat content. Plus once the boa is large enough, rats and bunnies will be about the only thing big enough to feed to it (guinea pigs are big enough, but expensive and FULL of fat). So, you might as well get it used to rats now while switching is easiest. It's harder when they are older, they get 'set in their ways' - grrrrrr!
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[eddie]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE>Snake Sausages. Who knows what goes into those things? </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, the last time I saw any thing on these, they were claimed to be made from leftover lab animals that may be missing internals, been injected with who knows what and such....
In other words, not complete animals, so there is a lack of essentials and a chance of having trace chemicals fed to your snake.

Just think of a mouse being baby food, rats as an all you can eat buffet and
guineas/hamsters as the all you can eat candy section.

Which left out rabbits...hmmm....ok, rabbits can be considered fast food. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

But yes, Lady, good answers!
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Everything you named for your gecko is an invertebrate, which is common food items for lizards. These things lack a good % of calcium, b/c they don't have an endoskeleton (bones like ours), which is why lizard food needs to be varied and vitamin supplemented.

The only way to get all 23 amino acids to synthesize muscle tissue from one item is to eat another animal with muscle tissue, like rats. Their muscle tissue contains all the necessary amino acids. Vegetarians need to make sure they eat certain combinations of food. Beans, while a great source of protein, do not contain all 23 amino acids and need to be supplemented with other incomplete proteins to result in a net consumption of complete protein.

Most snakes that eat rodents will do just fine on them for their entire life. It's a complete food, offering them what they need nutritionally. Some snakes eat exclusively rodents their whole life in the wild.

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[captainmorgan]

How big is your snake first off? If it can't take a rat, don't give it a rat. Keep going with the mice until your ball get's big enough for rats. Then you can start to assort it's food items to other things. I go with mostly rats but every once in a while I&quot;ll through in a gerbil or guinea pig or something to give them a little fat. Would we want a cheeseburger if it didn't have the fatty taste??? Didn't think so. So yeah, variety is good but make sure the variety fits the size for the snake. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
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[Reticu-Lady]

ummm, another suggestion. If the snake is the mice eating size, feed rat pinkies, never too early to start a good diet. Besides, it helps not having to go throught the 'switch' once they get used to mice (which smell much stronger, but are not as healthy as rats).
oh, BTW, hotdogs aren't good for anybody. Think of hotdogs as the 'snake sausage' for humans. (My dad worked summers in a slaughter house while going to college, there's a lot of stuff I just will not eat - hotdogs top the list)
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[Crackster69]

I actualy have a 2 ball pythons and they are still very small (still growing), I haven't started feeding adult mice yet. And I'm not sure if they would be able to cosume a rat pup.. I have never offered my snakes rats..... To this day it's been pinkies, Fuzzies &amp; Hoppers....My ball pythons are 1 year and the other is under a year.

When feeding a snake how big should his meal be???? no bigger than the size of his head?? or how dose that work???? Would a rat pup (Pinkie) be a good size for a ball python thats about 2 feet (Male just over a year, and my female is just under a year 1 1/2 feet or so..

Yesterday I feed my 2 foot male ball python a hopper (Biger than most hoppers) almost an adult, and he seemed to have a lot of trouble consuming it. But with in 1/2 an hour it was gone. and hes doing fine. it seem like the hind legs of the feeder didn't want to go down.
What is a good size for the snake to be b4 I feed rats. I have never seen a rat before [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img] So I don't realy know the size of a rat. YA i know [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]




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	1.1 One Male and One Female

[Solidsnake]

When feeding your balls...make sure the foods thickness is about the same or less than the thickest part of your snakes body...and dont over feed them...they might regurgitate...and ive heard that over feeding in its younger years may shorten its life...now you wouldnt like that would you???...take care and happy feeding [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
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	regurgitate Throw up. Reptiles will regurge when they feel they are in danger or if they have some sort of health issue. If your reptile has regurgitated his/her food please seek help!