foods and their value

[tony]

I was interested in the post, that I find very relevant to the topics that should be discussed on site, regarding the value of rat pinks versuses mature mice as feed and food value. There seems to be differences in opinion as to what people prefer and why. One such reason was that a pup had little food value compared to an adult, because a pup was full of milk, but from my understanding, milk is the power food that makes mammals grow at such fast rates.
I would be interested to know what people think on the subject.

 

[pythonss]

food value

hi tony..
this is a topic that we have looked at in the past and are constantly finding value in coversations we have regarding this at present. Because of the sheer number of food items we have to provide getting value for food item has always been a concern. A few months ago i had the chance to chat about this topic in a chat room with a guy whos input i value imesly.i will try and incorparate his findings with points we had the same views on.
subadult/adult mice are high in fat, more so that rats of larger size. So if feeding a total diet of mice especally to a larger animal that is eating multipul mice per feed that wouldnt make a very health diet.
a rat pup that is of simalar size to a say subadult mouse if feed at the right time has a better nutritional value. eg: if the pup is removed from the mother after being gut loaded the value of the milk from the mother is substantial. the milk that is provided by the mother is a natural growth hormone for her offspring. The idea of gut loading food items is another valid practise especally if feeding fresh killed as after freezing the nutritioal value of the gut loading will be less. The bottom line really is you are what you eat. so the better diet you can provide the rats/mice the better food item your snakes receive in return.
We have for a long time prefered rats to mice and this somthing we persue strickly. To us how hard it is to get a reptile to change from mice to rats really has no bearing. we do what it takes to get them converted. we have seen numorous sibling with vast differances in size and maturity between rat and mice eaters. With most of our babies the first food item offered is pink rats with mice only being offerd to small species or known hard starters.
With chicken especally young ones they have little if any true value. but saying that they do make a good diet veriation. if feeding day olds or young rosters ( which is the most common form ) they will pass through the reptile ina matter of days with a defication weight very simalar to the feed weight in the begining. this can be combated to a certain extent by again gut loading the chickens with a high quality food prior to feeding.

I do realsie that not everyone breed there own food items or have the option of being able to gut load prior to feeding. But it is worth the hassel on occasions to purchase your food items live and run them in a cage over night with a quality diet of your choice before feeding the following day. this is what we do with the chickens
anyway hope that answers some of your questions.
cheers paul.

 

[Fangs]

FOOD %PROT %FAT %Ca %Phos KCAL/gm


day old chick 15.3, 4.4, .44, .40, 1.04

mouse(1-2 days old) unk, unk, 1.6, 1.8, unk

mouse(7-10 days old) unk, unk, 1.4, 1.3, unk

mouse (adult) 19.8, 8.8, .84, .61, 2.07

rat 7.6, 1.9, .54, 1.35, .69

Just to add,
I took this info off a link that was posted in another thread on this topic.
I have no idea about the source of info or how accurate or not it may be.



cheers M....

 

[grahamh]

a real herp subject - how refreshing

Interesting topic.

Paul is there any reason why you cant simulate gut loading in thawed foods. What would your views be on pumping some quality beef mince into the mouth/gut of a thawed mouse or rat. Beef may not be the best suplement but you get the gist of the idea.

G 8)

 

[pythonss]

food value

hey grahm thats what i call great lateral thinking..
that is a option i have never even thought about. But will be somthing to look at further.
thanks for that
cheers paul.

 

[Magpie]

Something I have thought of before. The best thing I could think of for injecting was womberoo insectivore mix. I thought using a hypodermic to inject through into their gut region so that there was no smell associated. Never actually got round to doing it though. Might need to grind the insectivore in a motar and pestle if the needle had too fine a bore.

 

[tony]

I thought there would have been a lot more input from people on this subject. It is directly related to reptile keeping, after all!!

anyone else have any opinion on the subject?