Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Whats the deal with gerbils and pythons?
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delbalso

sometimes they eat gerbils if they are imported....sometimes they will eat gerbils if they are trouble feeders (they wont eat all the time)

If your snake eats rats and/or mice, stick with that. Gerbils tend to be very aggressive, as do hamsters.
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Jay A. Martin

It's my understanding that gerbils are a natural prey for Ball Pythons in their native habitat.

If you're having trouble getting your BP to eat, you can put a mouse in a small container with some substrate from a gerbil's enclosure and let it "soak" in the gerbil smell. They should take it without too much fuss afterwards.

I have found that gerbils do tend to be more bold and try to bite the snake. So if you plan on using live gerbils as a feeder, do not let the event go unsupervised. Otherwise your snake is likely to earn some "war wounds".

I've also heard that once you allow a BP to start eating gerbils, it's very difficult to get them to eat anything else. So keep that in mind.

I, for one, am trying to breed gerbils to use as feeders. My wife keeps rats as pets so using rats as feeders is a touchy subject around here. And mice will eventually be too small if what I'm told is correct. So, gerbils seem to be a happy medium that they are supposed to take without much of a fuss.

I haven't heard much about their nutritional value though. Rats seem to be the preferred food for nutrition. But, I keep in mind that in their natural habitat, gerbils have sustained them quite well for who knows how long. Long enough to make them a hardy and impressive creature. Impressive enough to catch our attention and want to keep them as pets. So, why fight Mother Nature?

Just my two cents.

Take it with a grain of salt.

Marcus

to picky imports. Easy transition too. Do as the post below, put the mouse in gerbil bedding and you should be good to go!
Link

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Greg
www.imageevent.com/gmherps