Hamsters vs. rats for balls

Dirty · 03-03-05, 05:17 PM

I was thinking about breeding hamsters for my ball. Does anyone know the pros/cons (if any) of feeding balls hamsters instead of rats?

Thanks

pythonmdk · 03-03-05, 06:15 PM

I don't know anything about nutrition wise but I know hamsters are a little harder to breed because you can't house males and females together, they fight and usually the female ends up killing the male, also you can't handle the babies at all until your ready to to feed them to your snake. If the female hamster smells your odor on her babies then she will just eat them, sometimes if she is stressed out a bit she'll eat them too. Personally I'd rather feed hamsters over rats because rats are so freindly and hamsters aren't.
John

Piers · 03-03-05, 08:07 PM

Hamsters are the devils rodent! NEVER trust a rodent that dosn't have a tail!lol
But really, hamsters breed less and have smaller litters, usually about 4 babies and they tend to eat them for no reason at all. And as said by pythonmdk they fight and kill each other.
Also if your bp get pray fixated on hamsters you'll be screwed if you have to change to rats.
Piers

snakehunter · 03-03-05, 10:25 PM

AND hamsters I hear are fatty! BUT when a ball is on rats they EXPLODE rats are so much more healthier (pardon the bad english, midterms week and Im B E A T)

sapphire_moon · 03-04-05, 12:43 AM

Yup, hamsters fatty, rats healthy.

And as already said, you can NOT house males and females, and females WILL eat the babies if so much as a hair is outta place.

rats come in diff sizes, and usually all a BP eats most of it's life is rats, you don't have to jump from one thing to another because the snake "outgrew it"

Though rats are friendly, if you just CAN NOT feed a rat, then either find a pet shop (or order online) and get pre f/t rats, OR don't have something that needs a rat to eat!

malaysianbloods · 03-04-05, 01:59 AM

Hi I have actually bred hampsters before and I have found them extremely friendly none of my hampsters have bitin me and I have handled the babys a day or two after being born and mother did not eat the babys. I also was breeding my female once every two months ( right before taking the babies away) and all of my litters were pretty big between 5 to 8 and one time 11 but two died within a day and nine lived. So I do not think that they are evilor hard to breed, all of mine were very friendly. But I would personly keep the sanke on rats if it is on rats already. HTH

pythonmdk · 03-04-05, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Though rats are friendly, if you just CAN NOT feed a rat, then either find a pet shop (or order online) and get pre f/t rats, OR don't have something that needs a rat to eat!

Don't know if this was directed at me but if it was you misunderstood me. I wasn't saying that I couldn't feed rats, I actually feed all my snakes and some of my lizards rats, I was just saying if everything was even I would rather feed hamsters over rats cuz I like rats, and am not a big fan of hamsters. And I breed all my rats, and try to feed F/T if possible, I have a few on live but they are going to slowly be converted.
If it wasn't a reply to my comment then just igonore this.
~John

sapphire_moon · 03-04-05, 01:53 PM

yes and no....lol, it wasn't meant in a mean way, as I don't know everyones situation (as in what they feed, how they feel about it, how long they been keeping reptiles, etc..etc...) I just thought I would throw it in there, it was also meant for the original poster.

I have had about equal friendly hamsters and rats, and currently have both as pets.

pythonmdk · 03-04-05, 06:13 PM

I didn't think it was mean but I thought I would just clear that up, I have had both hamsters and rats growing up and have dealt with lots of both, I worked in a petstore when I was younger. I would say on average, hamsters are evil and rats and great, but I have seen the exception to both.
John

mykee · 03-04-05, 07:08 PM

Hamsters are the McDonalds and Burger Kings of the reptile food item world.