"finally" + ???

[paul]

new owner of a 3 1/2 mon. old bp. that finally ate was tring alkinds of things that have been suggested so finally i put a live fussy mouse and she took it right away i am so happy what a feeling/rush.
i have a question though at first she was trying to eat from the back end of the mouse she only got one hind leg in then she was real struggling with it started to scare me but then she let it go and found the head can they eat the mouse back wards ?

#2. i here people feeding rats to there bp but i was told today that mice are closer to there normal food and that some time they won't take rats like mine didn't so i was wondering what you guys are feeding your bp. thanks inadvanced hope to meet some of you nov. 17 at the expo hope to get some pics posted soon

[Lisa]

We feed our Ball Python large rats. In the wild they eat hamsters, rats, mice, any small furry animal.

our snakes have eaten the rodent frontwards, backwards and sometimes sideways (that one is really interesting to watch).

[paul]

Thank you Lisa
also do you feed your bp live, frozen. or prekilled

[Big Mike]

As long as they get it down...it's all good.

I've heard that rats have more meat to them so it's a better meal for a BP than a mouse. Mine is still on mice though.

I don't know for sure but I read that there are no "mice" in wester Africa where they come from. That's why it's sometimes hard to get BPs to eat mice. They do have gerbils and such so they eat them up but it's easier for us to feed mice/rats...so we do.

[Lisa]

we feed thawed

[Quervo]

Mice vs rats .. I've heard that rats are more nutritious, and my guy did bulk up faster when he got onto rats .. rats are also cheaper once your snake gets bigger (4 mice @ 80 cents vs 1 rat at $2.50)

As for eating butt first :) , as Lisa said, front, back, side ... evidently they figure out the front end mostly by smell (??), so with a frozen mouse I could see them getting confused, I think the little guys just haven't really figured it all out yet, so they get the wrong end sometimes. My guy tried eating a rat sideways once .. he sort of gnawed on a leg for a while, then pulled back and looked at it with a "well THAT didn't work" kind of look.

Live, frozen, prekilled .. there's a 30 year old debate! General concensus is that dead is safer (which IS true .. my guy only wanted live when he was little, but after a mouse bit a hole in him, I went through the agonizing process of converting him to frozen .. well, actually I'm still going through it .. we are in the "I'm not eating unless its live .. you don't eat unless you eat f/t" struggle at the moment. (actually I think he's just fasting .. I wouldn't starve him for the sake of switching food .. the last time I gave in and tried live again he just watched it run around until I took it out ... little jerk !) Frozen and prekilled .. about the only difference is .. how squeemish are you .. prekilled means YOU kill it.

[Lisa]

Originally posted by Quervo
Live, frozen, prekilled .. there's a 30 year old debate! General concensus is that dead is safer (which IS true .. my guy only wanted live when he was little, but after a mouse bit a hole in him, I went through the agonizing process of converting him to frozen .. well, actually I'm still going through it .. we are in the "I'm not eating unless its live .. you don't eat unless you eat f/t" struggle at the moment. (actually I think he's just fasting .. I wouldn't starve him for the sake of switching food .. the last time I gave in and tried live again he just watched it run around until I took it out ... little jerk !) Frozen and prekilled .. about the only difference is .. how squeemish are you .. prekilled means YOU kill it.

Now you've opened a can of worms

Frozen/thawed also means most parasites are dead. I've also heard that freezing makes the rodent easier to digest as the freezing process destroys the cell membranes of the rodent.

[snakedude_03]

well.. right now i'm feeding f/t mice to my snakes..

[Syst3m]

I'm almost 100% prekilled and 80% f/t in my home. I breed my own to make sure they are healthy and full of good food. And only feed live when I have a stubborn feeder. Nothing I have is ready to eat rats really. But since my rats are all pregnant, I will have a nice choice on what size food I have to feed. ONLY the best for my Snakes.

[Katt]

Uhm, BP's eat gerboas in the wild. Rats and mice aren't their natural food, which is why they often refuse them in captivity.