Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are there any reasons not to use gerbils as feeders? I'm currently starting a mouse colony to supply my snakes with food, but I've been thinking that gerbils might be another alternative. They get a little bigger than mice which would be a plus. They aren't quite as disgusting as mice. That's a plus. And, aren't they a natural prey item of ball pythons? It seems like I read that somewhere. The initial cost would be a little more. AND I think you can only keep one pair per cage, but I don't have a huge amount of snakes so I wouldn't need too many. Anyway, does anybody have any input on this?
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0.10.0 Ball Pythons
0.1.0 Leopard Geckos
0.0.1 Egyptian Tortoise

The upside of using gerbils is that ball pythons LOVE them. Sometimes to the point of never eating anything else once they get started. They're normally used to get picky feeders to start eating.

The downside is, the initial expense and as stated above, they sometimes will take nothing else once they've had a taste.

As to a ball pythons natural prey, this subject has been beaten near to death in here a few times. Gerbils aren't natural prey to ball pythons. They don't live in africa, but are similar in appearance to something called a jerboa, which does live there.

I'd stick with mice and rats. They're cheaper and easier to come by in most cases. Just my thoughts.

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

if I remember correctly, gerbils don't breed as much as rats and mice also. So you would need more breeders to make a nice supply of young

I used to know of a web site that listed the appproximate nutritional stats for mice, rats, chicks, rabbits, ginnypigs and gerbils (a few others which i forget) and gerbils did rank about mice but I think they were even with rats so I would stick with rats unless your snake will not eat the rats

Whats they problem? You're not interested in debading African Soft-Furred Rats take# 52? Yicks!!! Lol!

Also, gerbils remind me alot of squirrels...squirrels are cool!

Alan

thsi pet shop in town where I live sells african rats as feeders, they breed them for picky feeders but they are not cheap. This same pet shop sells a cobra, vipers, a copperhead and rattlers. Jyohe probably knows of them. It's in Columbia, PA

No

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

All good points, and Gerbils can be very aggressive.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

I used to breed gerbils (this was my introduction to genetics) and I had close to 40 pairs at one point. They are much cleaner than rats and mice because they're desert animals. They don't drink much so everything is drier. I tried keeping trios, and sometimes it worked if the cage was large enough but other times only one female would breed. The other thing you should know is that gerbils mate for life. You can't introduce them past about 12 weeks of age because they will kill each other.

Personally, I would hesitate to feed them as live prey unless it was a last resort. They WILL fight back!! I have a dog who learned to open the cages and kill the pups, and he did this several times before it caught up with him. One day he went after one of my aduld males and I walked in to find the gerbil latched on to the dog's nose. Trust me, they can do serious damage.

Overall they're pretty easy to breed, but not a great option as a prey item IMO.

Hope this helps,
Shelly

gerbils are hard enough to breed..they are stupid..they dig around the cage all day and flip the kids around too much...they neglect them and the babies die alot.....not always....but gerbils suck to breed.....

IF the snakes eat mice or rats ...stick with that....

I do feed and breed gerbils,chinese hamster,peromyscus mice,mice,rats,and other rodents even.......

....snakes that eat mice and rats should be kept on them........it will make it easier to sell them in the future......

.......
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......wild balls suck ! BUY AMERICAN DAMNIT

I agree with this post.. As a buyer, I would be leary of buying a snake that wouldnt eat mice or rats, only because the prey of choice may not be available, or at a fair price.
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This is courage.. to bear unflinching what heaven sends. -unknown

2.1 chocolate labs and bassett (Harley, Barker and Capone)
1.0 leopard gecko (Nacho)

So, basically, I got about 8 "no, don't do it's".

I just thought that if I were going to have to breed rodents, gerbils might be a little cooler. I hate rats. All of my snakes are still very young so I'm still with mice right now which are better than rats, but still, mice breeding isn't exactly my favorite hobby. But hey, if you all think gerbils are a bad idea, I'll stick with mice until my snakes are big enough for rats. I'm not planning on doing it on any large scale anyway. Just enough to feed my small collection.
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0.10.0 Ball Pythons
0.1.0 Leopard Geckos
0.0.1 Egyptian Tortoise