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Are these about as healthy for snakes as rats? Because sometimes my pet store doesn't have the right size rats in and it costs too much to have them shipped here frozen. My snakes are blood and Borneo short-tailed pythons if that matters.
Thanks!
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My pic gallery

>>Are these about as healthy for snakes as rats? Because sometimes my pet store doesn't have the right size rats in and it costs too much to have them shipped here frozen. My snakes are blood and Borneo short-tailed pythons if that matters.
>>Thanks!
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>> My pic gallery

Nutritionally they are not going to make a huge difference but some, and I would hazard a guess at a majority of, snakes will get 'hooked' on gerbils or hams after having them. I even have a snow corn that has a preference and if he has had a gerbil will take two or three feedings of either scenting back or outstubborning the snake to get them to take rats again. And obviously you don't want that size of python hooked on a smaller prey item that could cost a fortune to fill up on.
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Sonya

Hamsters and gerbils are both much higher in fat than mice, and a little bit more than rats as well, although it won't make a difference if they are occasional food items. As long as your snakes are good, reliable feeders, it's not likely that you'll have problems with them refusing to eat mice/rats again, either.

What's the source of your information?

I'd say it would actually be somewhat on the true side. Gerbils, being desert animals, would have to store some of their nutrients within their own bodies for leaner times, plus stockpiles of seeds, this making them a bit higher in fat content versus muscular protein.. Not to mention, most of the diets we feed them in captivity are high in sunflower seed and other nuts and seeds which do have high fat contents. I'm not saying I know this for a fact because I don't.. its just sort of an experienced guess... I could be wrong and if I am I'm sure I'll find out eventually.

>>What's the source of your information?

Can't find gerbils but here is a good source.

I don't know about the switching back either. I have done it with snakes that were reliable rat/mouse eaters but it took a couple of missed feedings and they really aren't as gung ho as they were about plain rodents.
Now if I could just switch my two adult WC BPs to eat more than the rare occasional heavily scented rat! My male will pick them out of a pile of three. I can't keep wasting rats. Just gonna have to get someone else that can eat that size of a rodent!
http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/zoo/WholePreyFinal02May29.pdf

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Sonya

that's exactly what I was looking for. The hamsters seem to have a bit more fat and less protein than adult mice, but it's a small difference. Since I breed dwarf hamsters for my snakes they most likely have the same content as mice.

But thank you for questioning it instead of blinding accepting it. The hamster, rat, and mouse data can be extracted from the document Sonya posted. I'll have to dig up the gerbil info, if you want it, please email me privately.