Posted by:
HOTRegius
at Thu May 8 10:10:01 2008 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by HOTRegius ]
Mice are fine.. Rats are fine.. Whatever you choose to feed that the snake will eat consistently, safely, and you can obtain easily. If you can get mice easier, feed those. There's no need to feed your adult Ball large rats, they just don't need that much food, and it's going to be wasted(right out the back end). Stick with small rats, such as weaned or smalls, and if the snake wants another, give it one more. Large rats are for Boas.
All in all, weight is weight. If 2 mice weigh 25g apiece and 1 rat weighs 50g, it's the same thing. To me, mice are easier because they won't outgrow the snake in a week or two and I can keep them around for long periods of time. I buy about 300 mice at a time, and that lasts a good month for my 40 Balls.
Some say rats are more nutritious.. It's a bunch of BS. It doesn't matter IF they are higher in protein or fat or whatever, since no one has done a study on the nutritional requirements of Ball Pythons, then it's a moot point. A mouse could have 10g of protein and 7g of fat, while a rat has 12g of protein and 8g of fat, but if a Ball Python only needs 5g of protein and 5g of fat to thrive and grow, then all of the extra is just being excreted. (the above is JUST an example, the values are not exact obviously)
Please don't stun.. If that rat wakes up, and the snake doesn't want it, it's going to be in pain, disoriented, and very scared. It is much more likely to bite your snake if it is scared and in pain, than if you had gently placed it on the opposite end of the enclosure and just let the snake do its thing. Stunning is not necessary and just creates unneeded pain and stress on the prey animal. I may not like mice, but I'm not flinging them up against the wall so they don't nip my snakes. If one of my snakes gets nipped, which is an extreme rarity, then all they do is coil tighter when they feel that mouse scraping their skin. It's why they have such a tough epidermis, it's meant to take the scratches and bites. I can say I've never had a snake bit to where it left a mark.
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-Becky Brown, RVT-
1.0 Lemon Pastel Classic Jungle,1.0 Black Pastel,1.0 Enchi,1.0 Yellow Hypo,0.1 100% het Butterscotch Hypo,0.1 66% Poss Het VPI Hypo,3.24 Normals,1.1 Spider,1.1 Yellowbellies(BHB),1.0 100% Het Pied Classic Jungle,1.3 66% Poss Het VPI Axanthic, 1.1 Poss Het VPI Snow,1.1 100% het Genetic Stripe
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RE: soft heart.... - HOTRegius, Thu May 8 10:10:01 2008
