If most keepers were to employ this high-and-mighty mentality, then we would:



- feed small primates to our boa constrictors & burmese pythons

- feed fruit bats to our carpet pythons

- feed parakeets & lorikeets to our green tree pythons

- feed anoles & ground skinks to our baby cornsnakes & kingsnakes



....and I could go on.



I can understand trying to replicate the animal's natural diet as closely as possible. But when it comes to keeping snakes longterm in captivity, sooner or later you're going to have to make some compromises or get rid of the animal.



On the issue of hognoses specifically...while not natural, converting to a rodent diet is not unhealthy; its feeding them too LARGE a mouse and/or too often than can be detrimental. The prey item itself is not the issue. One just has to adjust the quantity/frequency of the feedings...after all, if rodent diets with hognoses was such a problem, why do we do for westerns?

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