Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had raised mice at one point for a while, but they are such a pain to keep cleaning and what not, and I know from experience that Gerbils are a lot easier to maintain that I was wondering if Hog Island Boas would eat Gerbils? Because I have New Guinea Pythons and they just won't eat rats, so I wasn't sure how Gerbils go sometime. I would like to hear from any Gerbil feeders anyways on this.

The only snake of mine that I've ever fed gerbils to was my ball python (a great incentive for non-feeding balls for some reason). I would imagine other snakes might find them just as apetizing. The only problem with gerbils in regards to most boas or pythons is that they are eventually going to need larger prey items than gerbils and at some point you will still need to switch them over to rats. Otherwise while they're small, I don't see any problem with it. Just as a side note, some snakes can develope preferences for certain prey items and it can make switching harder when the time comes. If your snakes take to gerbils, once they get to the size for rats you will probably need to scent the rat with soiled shavings from the gerbil cage (or rub the rat on the gerbil) to get them to eat it.