Trying something new - Page 2

prairiepanda · 05-03-15, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MesoCorney

The thing I wonder about is if most snakes have evolved to eat whole rodents if feeding another food source may have negative consequences. Also the cost of these seem to be on par for my local mice supply, and more if I buy online. From the nutritional side of things they seem to have more fats than rats or mice. It doesn't say what types of fats these are but with most captive snakes being overweight I would be concerned about this. I am not sure that I could be convinced to try these as their natural prey is so readily available. Maybe as a snack to vary their diet.

I'm a bit skeptical of the venison ones(for snakes, anyway) for this reason. The rabbit ones should be fine though. I know a lot of people feed their (very large) snakes rabbits as a staple diet and they do great. The rabbit one isn't listed on the comparison chart though. I'd be interested to see how they compare to rats. But the chicken and venison varieties probably wouldn't hurt, even though I wouldn't feed them as a staple. A lot of people do feed chickens, goats, and pigs. Not sure how well those go as a staple, but I've heard of great results with varied diets.

MDT · 05-03-15, 12:00 PM

Snakes don't snack. Secondly, they have evolved as opportunist carnivores...rodents, birds, lizards, chipmunks, frogs....Further, it's a WHOLE ANIMAL product (as stated above and on their website)....so the fats are what they are: as fat as a deer or rabbit is, that's what you get.

RAD House · 05-03-15, 12:31 PM

I meant snack as a treat, meaning feeding it in place of a normal mouse meal every now and again. I thought that was clear from me saying varying its diet, sorry. Besides very large snakes that live in tropical areas with very small deer, snakes in general do not opportunistically eat deer. So eating deer is not something that is relevant to me with my small north American snakes. In fact nor is eating rabbit really. If they were to come up with quail and lizard varieties then I might be more intrigued. The fact that the fat is what you get does not answer my concern. That was just my opinion, if you feel that they are beneficial to your snake then more power to you.

Eggplant · 05-03-15, 03:20 PM

Was reading this: Do Snakes Need Vitamins? | Animals - PawNation and it would seem snakes do benefit from the stomach contents of their prey. Not sure if this info is reliable or how important stomach contents are to a snake's nutrition. Maybe we can add vitamin supplements in the sausages?

MDT · 05-03-15, 04:54 PM

Just a wild thought.....go to website...click "contact us", type your in your questions, send to Nick. Await the response. Repeat as needed.

prairiepanda · 05-03-15, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eggplant

Was reading this: Do Snakes Need Vitamins? | Animals - PawNation and it would seem snakes do benefit from the stomach contents of their prey. Not sure if this info is reliable or how important stomach contents are to a snake's nutrition. Maybe we can add vitamin supplements in the sausages?

I wouldn't recommend it, since we don't know what synthetic vitamins are actually bioavailable to snakes nor which ones we would be losing when stomach contents are removed. Besides which, stomach contents of prey can vary considerably so it's hard to say how significant that portion is. A better way to solve this potential problem would be to include the stomach contents(ie. throw a whole, unaltered rabbit or rat through the meatgrinder without any preparation beforehand besides pre-killing it)

MDT · 05-03-15, 07:02 PM

oh....and, eggplant, i am not busting on you, you may be on to something, idk...but, in no way, shape, or form could I take anything from a source called "pawnation" as a reputable, blinded study, peer-reviewed source anymore than i could take any medical advice form dr. oz.

the statement may be true. however, the amount research that Nick appears to have done in bioassays, growth rates and the like, would tend to give me more assurance than a care sheet from pawnation......

Eggplant · 05-03-15, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDT

oh....and, eggplant, i am not busting on you, you may be on to something, idk...but, in no way, shape, or form could I take anything from a source called "pawnation" as a reputable, blinded study, peer-reviewed source anymore than i could take any medical advice form dr. oz.

the statement may be true. however, the amount research that Nick appears to have done in bioassays, growth rates and the like, would tend to give me more assurance than a care sheet from pawnation......

Hi

Yeah, info online is often not very trustworthy. I did send a email inquiring about stomach contents, nutrition and what not to the Reptilinks peeps earlier. They replied saying basically, they only took out organs that has a lot of poop in them. They're still investigating the impact of removing poops in regard to protobiotic content currently, but the reptiles they've been feeding only sausages to for the past 5 (!) years are healthier and produce larger clutches than when on rodents! I think that's pretty awesome.

**millertime89** · 05-03-15, 08:41 PM

MDT, I commented on that thread in Morelia pics of the day, nice to know I'm not the only one in that group! I'm ok with you posting the link. I just wish he made them big enough for larger species, if he did I would definitely try them.

MDT · 05-03-15, 09:38 PM

kyle...no doubt. if they work out in terms of better utilization of available nutrients, i'm all in...i know i could sustain my carpets well on them...my retics will eventually hit a size where i'm gonna need to figure something else out. but for now, we're good!

**millertime89** · 05-03-15, 09:45 PM

Totally. Not knocking them or anything, but they're just not worth the cost either. $4 each for the 100g weight ones? No thanks. That's just too much. Although I suppose it's cheaper than buying ratcicles individually at the pet store if you can't keep rodents in the freezer... I definitely see the uses, just not right for me.

**Aaron_S** · 05-03-15, 09:52 PM

4 bucks?! My medium rats at 150 grams are half that cost. I don't see the benefit over rats since it's whole prey as well.

MDT · 05-03-15, 09:59 PM

higher calorie than whole rat, less "packaging" (so-to-speak)...being more calorie dense, you don't have to feed at the same frequency, and pretty much the whole package is bio-available, so waste is decreased (i.e. better utilization of the food, don't have to waste energy pooping out bones, fur, etc...)...

idk....i'm anxious to see how my "trial" goes...

**millertime89** · 05-03-15, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

4 bucks?! My medium rats at 150 grams are half that cost. I don't see the benefit over rats since it's whole prey as well.

The way I see it, they're great if you have someone that doesn't want dead rats in the freezer, but you don't wan to go buy rats at the pet store each week that are way overpriced.

prairiepanda · 05-04-15, 09:04 AM

Stuff like this could really help to expand the reptile hobby, since squeamishness about dead rodents is often a bigger turn-off for people than the snakes themselves. I'm interested to see whether this will catch on. I imagine some snakes might be difficult to switch over to sausages. The fruit and veggie ones would probably make a great staple for tegus, though, and would eliminate the daily chore of preparing complicated meals as well as getting picky eaters to consumer a complete diet! (Or mostly complete; not sure if they might need to be supplemented a bit with other foods)

Personally I would stick with mice for my snakes, for the sake of convenience mostly(it seems the cost would balance out, considering the calorie content of the sausages), but if these ever came to Canada I would certainly suggest them to squeamish friends who have interest in snakes. Perhaps they could be considered for vacation food to make things easier on repti-sitters, but it depends on how willing snakes would be to make the switch.