My names pit, and you aint talking your way outta this

[Freakonaleash]

well, its sunday, about 9 pm. i just tried to feed my snake, but it didnt eat. it looked real interested =)~ . i tried using a live gerbil, big guy too. but i think he needs a little more time to acclimate. ive only had him for two weeks today. so i guess ill try again in a week... kinda funny how the gerbil is set to be sacrificed on sunday lol. but anyways, the shedding problem is overwith. i got the tank up to about 80 perc humidity that night and he got the rest of the flakes off fine, and the eye caps too, so thats good. and the temps are still stable. so im a happy snake luver. laterz

[mykee]

Ditch the gerbil and move on to rats. Period. Bad idea.

[lanceinhispance]

they are much cheaper for rats too. i suggest f/t also.

[Pixie]

As others have mentionned, starting with a gerbil is a bad idea!

To my knowledge, gerbils should only be used as a last resort if everything else fails.

If you start with them, your snake could take quite a liking to them, they are finicky eaters to start with and you might end up with a ball that will refuse anything else than gerbils.

It can be hard enough to switch them over from mice to rats, I can't imagine how hard it would be to switch them from gerbils to something else!

Start with rats and work hard at getting your snake to take them (it can take a lot of your patience!). It will pay off though, once on rats, you'll be set :)

Pixie

[Kane65]

Gerbils are also the most likely to harm your snake.

[Freakonaleash]

I dont mind the cost of the gerbils... theyre like seven bucks, and he will only eat once a week... but anyways. why are gerbils so bad? im not willing to rub a dead gerbil on a rat lol... stinking rodents. and i made damn sure the gerbil was dead before i tried giving it to my snake. there is one major reason im not going with f/t , i dont want frozen rodents in my fridge. i have a little hamster cage thing i keep the gerbils in so theyre ok. thanks for the replies, theres more i want to say but southpark just came on , take care all, laterz

[mykee]

That's the first problem you'll have, frozen gerbils go in the freezer, not the fridge.

[sapphire_moon]

if your "Not willing" to scent, then get rid of the snake.

Don't know if that is to harsh or not, it's part of owning a snake, you might have to keep frozen rats/mice/rabbits/pigs in a freezer. And you have to be willing to do anything to get them switched to the proper food source.

[Freakonaleash]

why is it that rats are the proper food source anyways? gerbils/gerboas and crap like that is the natural prey... and he seems to be LOVING them

[Freakonaleash]

and sapphire, you couldnt be harsh if you tried =)

[sapphire_moon]

believe me freak, no one on this site has seen how harsh I can be, if I were harsh (to say what I REALLY want to say) as I could be with you, I would probably, no definitly be banned. :)

[dave68]

Hey Freak,
I say good on ya, if you have a steady supply and can afford gerbils then feed him what he wants. As long as he eats regularily it doesn't matter what type of rodent he eats. People's oppinions on this site can be a little over the top, if you get my drift. My male ball starts every season on a fresh killed gerbil, won't touch anything else till he's had one. After that he takes anything, mice, rats, guinea pig babies, rabbit babies etc...With all the people that can't get their balls to eat anything I think that you should consider yourself lucky that yours does eat something. Good luck and happy herpin.

Dave

[PugLuv83]

So I am the only one who has a ball that has never given me problems over food? He takes what we give him, when we give it.

Mice are cheaper than gerbils, are about the same size, and can live in that same cage, but do tend to smell more.

I agree with Dave, do what makes your ball happy.

[Freakonaleash]

see for someone like you pugluv, i can see how gerbils are not an option. but yeah... i only got one snake... and i want to pamper him. so i am sticking with gerbils cause he eats them, i dont want to stress him out by trying a whole slew of new things.

[nita]

I have a snake that also never has given me any problems so far but he is a rescue and has only been her a little over a month. He ate a Degu though no prob and is getting a small rabbit this week. If you have a steady supply of gerbils and don't care about the cost then go ahead and feed him gerbils. I have switched back and forth between gerbils and mice and not had a problem but only recently got all of mine onto frozen thawed. YAY, I just have 3 to go to get onto rats! I dont' think they will have a problem though with them and I have mousemaker to scent with.