are frogs okay to feed to a snake??

djc3674 · 06-06-03, 04:55 AM

okay..I'll start by saying this...I've read that in the wild..BP's eat amphibians, lizards, other snakes, birds and small mammals.

We have a pool in our yard that we haven't opened for the last few years..and will be taking it down for good. There is a bunch of frogs in it right now. I was wondering if it would be okay to feed a frog or two to my BP. It is about 2-3ft in length..and not very fat..after its 8 month fast. It just started eating again (3 mice so far). MY BP is c/b, so would it be okay to try feeding it frogs or should I just stick to the mice/small rats. I've heard that its good to change their diet now and then..and I am not sure if frogs would provide any nutritional value? Let me know what y'all think. Thanks

alex_33 · 06-06-03, 05:19 AM

Wild-caught frogs will be loaded with parasites and probably disease, whihc transmit over to your ball python and make it very sick. It's just not worth the risks to try wild amphibians. If you want to change your ball pythons diet around once in a while, try rats and even small guinea pigs.

djc3674 · 06-06-03, 05:25 AM

okay..thanks for the advice. I just heard them making a ton of noise last night..and thought maybe i could catch a few and use them as food. I used to feed frogs to my garter snakes and they seemed to love em and there were no problems. But, it probably is safer to just stick w/ the feeder mice/rats.

Thanks again

eyespy · 06-06-03, 07:14 AM

I don't know about New York, but amphibians in PA are a protected class of animals and you could be fined for feeding wild-caught animals to your snake. Getting a fishing license allows you to collect 2 of a species from the wild so you could breed your own, but the parasite risk isn't worth it.

Linds · 06-06-03, 08:54 AM

BP's primary food source in the wild is rodents, thought they may have been reported to consume some in the wild, they aren't considered to be among the lizard-eating species of snake, so they will be apt to take those over the frogs. Also, some of the risks involved in trying to feed different prey items is the possibility of the animal being stuck on them. As everyone mentioned as well, WC animals are loaded with parasites and disease, its not worth risky your animals health

Snakes aren't like omnivores or herbivores, they don't thrive on variety in their diet. They can do fine on a single prey item

**Andy_G** · 06-06-03, 09:19 AM

Ball pythons feed exclusively on warm blooded prey. I have never heard of a ball python feeding on a frog.