Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I would like to vary the food my Ball Python eats, anyone feed any thing besides mice and rats?? If so what and any problems have you had?

russian hamsters
chinese hamsters
syrian hamsters
roborovski's hamsters
gerbils
peromyscus leucopus(white footed mice)(deer mice)
have done chicks already

problems...they like this stuff better than rats and mice at times........but at times of the year they will eat only certain food items....so I feed wat they want......problem...I breed them all...........too many critters/.........

JYReptiles

Fancy mice, Gerbils and Natal Multimmate rats (Prayomis Natalensis)- about twice the size of a full size mouse and can have as many as 22 babies but usually around 12 per litter.

>>Fancy mice, Gerbils and Natal Multimmate rats (Prayomis Natalensis)- about twice the size of a full size mouse and can have as many as 22 babies but usually around 12 per litter.

So where does one find these Natal Multimmate rats? (Prayomis Natalensis)? Do they cycle just like mice? ie gestation cycle and such.

thx in advance.
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Longtang. I like snakes and rats.

This is the correct spelling of the name. These rats are used in labs throughout Europe and came over to the U.K a couple of years ago, but I am sure that they are being bred in the USA in their thousands.
I got my originals only a few months ago, and they are now on their fourth litter. They cycle like ordinary mice and rats, but are colony rodents, so more than one male can be kept together.
I keep mine in 1:1 or 1:2 pairs or trios because I find that the less ~~~~~~s kept together, the larger the litters are. The gestation is 21 to 23 days, and I remove the previous litter as soon as the next is born. The female appears to conceive again on the day of birth or within the next couple of days. At the moment, I have set up another twelve pairs from the young, and at least five of the young females are now pregnant. Breeding can occur when they are as young as five weeks.
There are a couple of good web pages on the net about the Natal Miltimammate Rat, one of them is 'Eva's Natal Rat Page', but if you type in 'Natal Multimammate Rat' on web search, I am sure that you will find it.

Man, that is so cool! Great. I will look up the web page straight away!

Sounds like an interesting and fun project!

I take it that your snakes take to them no problem! Did you have any problems switching them to these natal rats?

again, thx for the info! Going to be a fun project for me.
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Longtang. I like snakes and rats.

We are about to have our first litter of syrian hamsters in about 1 week. My husband is breeding them and I get the male pups and extra females. Then I will pre-kill so they don't hurt my babies. I'm setting up a CO2 chamber using an inflator and the CO2 cartridges used for air pellet guns. Until we have baby hamsters I am still feeding mice.