Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was looking at the feeder classifieds and I saw frozen baby ball pythons being sold as feeders. He has 500 frozen ball pythons. Is this a common occurance? I have never seen any thing like it.

They are probably imported babies who arrived DOA.

king cobras=$500......balls =$3
(more or less)

......as said..they die alot.......

personally....I wouldn't feed balls that died at dealers' places,diseased balls may carry to the cobras......

........fresh deads or frozen in flights? maybe...but i would have them checked.......

If an importer has a shipment that does not "make it" for some reason (animals arrive dead), they can be sold as cobra food - King Cobras eat only other snakes. I don't see anything wrong with this practice, personally.

One person's pet is always another person's feeder. Dead balls are better ethically than ratsnakes caught for the purpose of feeding.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

Yes, it does seem strange but as Christy mentioned, many of these adds are comprised of large lots of bp's that expired in transit (unfortunate but it happens)...at least they don't go to waste. I know serious elapid keepers who breed bullsnakes for the sole intention to use the babies as cobra foodI have mixed feelings on this (as I absolutely LOVE bullsnakes but they are very prolific and the babies are quite large...perfect for cobras) but if you think about it, it seems to be an okay practice (most are humanely put down prior to being fed).

I bet they pin your ears back real good.

Hi Rob – I’m in the "everything’s gotta eat" school, too. Actually, I think I’d have more respect for people who breed their own food for king cobras, than for those who support a trade where whole shipments of hundreds (thousands?) of captive-hatched baby ball pythons die (freeze to death? bake to death?) in transit. Oh well, I guess it always comes down to whose ox is being gored.

I half expected someone to post the photo of Tanith Tyrr’s king cobra being fed a ball python off of forceps. That livened things up around here last year! Guess those ball pythons are still dying in transit. Looks like the seller is charging more this year, though.

-Joan

Hi I dont have a problem witht feeding dead ball pythons to cobras. I just wondered if the balls were bought just for this purpose. 500 just sounded like a lot of balls to have accidently die, but then again thousands die every year in transit. I have heard of a cobra being fed bull snakes though. Oh well it just kinds suprised me.