Reptile & Amphibian Forums

is it ok if i feed my snakes (bally python, corn snake, and rainbow boa) gerbils and rats. i duno if they would not except/stop eating gerbils or rats. for some reason my mom wants me to breed gerbils because she liek them. if she likes htem then why does she want them eaten? oh well. thnaks

p.s. while im at it. my uncle uses rabbit pellets as bedding in his snake cages. do you think it would be alright for my snakes?

mogley

urm....you do know what rabbit pellets are right? it might cause mites, parasites. i wouldnt advise the use of other animals feces as substrate. and switch over to mice, as they do not fight back as much as hamsters/gerbils.

are you joking???
if not...i hate to say it but you are stupid.
1. rabbit pellets are rabbit food.
2. your obviously feeding your snake live food.

You can feed your snakes Rats or Girbils no problem. Infact, most people would reccomend rats (cheaper and debatably more nutritional). The problem with gerbils (from what I am told) is that once you switch to girbils BPs will often refuse to eat anything else. I don't have experience breeding gerbils myself (I only breed rats), but I am told that they are very difficult to breed. You will not likely get a very reliable production rate out of these guys which could be a problem, especially if your snakes refuse to eat anything else.

As for the rabbit pellets. I have heard of people using this stuff for bedding. I am sure it is absorbant and easy to clean, but I would worry about the dust. Not only that but it would probably stain the bellies of the snakes green. Again, I don't have explicit experience with this stuff...JMO.

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