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For picky ball pythons

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:21 am
by splashy07
Hi all, I'm sure many of us keep ball pythons, they've become as popular as the bearded dragon in the reptile industry. Well known for being picky eaters at times, they're the pickiest when first born. They have a favorite though, the African soft furred rat is part of their natural diet in the wild. Very few will refuse these. Having horrific allergies and never being able to tolerate rodents, I stopped breeding rats a long time ago. Then I discovered these. They're absolutely odorless, don't get huge (an adult is about the size of your standard fare pet shop small rat) and don't give me allergies.
Being rats they eat anything. They get leftover skink food in addition to a wide variety of whatever I've got around. My skinks eagerly accept the pinks and fuzzies, I give my females a few when gravid and after birthing for some calcium/whole animal protein. I know. They're cute. But so are my snakes. And these rats bite. Their cuteness fades fast once one nails you.

Re: For picky ball pythons

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:36 pm
by Leigti
They are kind of cute. But yeah, once one bit me I would have no trouble feeding it to my skink. I only have one skink so having rats around is not practical. But I have thought about feeding some pinky mice to my skink once in a while. Dobby is about seven months old, is that too young to be eating pinky mice?

Re: For picky ball pythons

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2018 7:27 am
by splashy07
I feed pinks and fuzzies to my females for added calcium/protein intake when gravid and after breeding. Occasional treats to my picky eaters when coming out of brumation also. It's kind of gross so I'd feed outside the enclosure. Mine have eaten them younger than that, but remember, only occasionally and preferably dead (frozen/thawed).