hamsters for food?

[cornsnakekid92]

my mom wont let me breed my own mice so can i breed hamsters instead just as long as i kill them be fore feeding them- i have to do hamster or my mom might let me do rats hopfully- just one of my little problems :sobstory:

[TripleMoonsExotic]

NO :) you don't want to be feeding your snake hamsters. if you do...you might get the snake hooked on Hamsters and run out of supply...a $5 feeder item isn't something I personally would want to pay every week...

[pcar]

If he is breeding the hampsters, and can get a good supply of frozen ones, he might be able to make it...But, I would still order some frozen mice just so that you can suppliment your hampsters, and in case you run out...

[lockshockbarrel]

I have heard that hamsters are difficult to breed. Plus, you have to have them in different cages, so that wouldn't be very practical if you were raising them to a large size.

[Mangrove]

what kind of snake are you feeding it to... if you feed it a hampster about 3 pounds it should be set for about 3 weeks... so you dont need to worry about feeding it really soon. burmese pythons were the only thing i ever heard of with eating hampsters or giant rats...

[Adam & Eve]

:eek1: There's no way I'm feeding my snakes hampsters. If they got addicted to something I would pay about 7$ at the local pet store for, I'd freak!!! I'd much rather feed them something that is only 40-50 cents total... Oh, and a bit of advice on ordering them... don't get more than 25 at a time... I ordered a little more bulk (50) and they are getting freezerburn. Fun fun fun :cool: .

[CornCrazy]

Mangrove...hamsters don't grow to be 3 pounds :)

[Mangrove]

i bread hampsters, and there were also rats... how big are these hampsters yur breeding anyway... are they babies or adults????

[CornCrazy]

Adults...and none of them ever reached 3 pounds. Are you talking about guinea pigs, maybe?

[Mangrove]

hey CornCrazy im sorry man yeah i had the wrong word stuck in my head sorry aobut that it was Guinea pigs... im really sorry about that :sidestep:

[CornCrazy]

:roflmao: I thought you MUST be talking about guinea pigs. LOL It's not a problem...no need to apologize!

[cornsnake00]

Russian dwarf hamsters. Be warned, once a snake starts eating them you might not be able to get them back on mice!.One male to two females. Sometimes the two females won't get along(4 to 6 to a litter).

[Mangrove]

you hear of any thing else you can feed your snakes... i heard these mouse sausages kinda discusting hahaha

[howiet4702]

you hear of any thing else you can feed your snakes... i heard these mouse sausages kinda discusting hahaha


Yep...Snake Sausages for your snake...

I believe, correct me if I am wrong, that T-Rex makes them. Kathy Love covers a little bit about it in her manual....

[n1ck]

i may be wrong on this but i recall someone saying hampsters and such are more aggressive and defensive than mice and that tehres a higher likely hood of them injuring ur snake during the meal? something to think about....

[Mangrove]

yes yes that is where i was reading i got that manual for christmas and i didnt know if it waas a new thing or old...

[Mangrove]

yes they are they will actaully fight back harder so there is more of a chance that your snake will get injured and this is not a good thing...

[gardenmum]

Well, a word of caution. You should NEVER feed any live adult rodent to your snakes. Hamster or mouse. If the snake is not accustomed to live or not adept at grabbing them properly OR if your snake is not hungry enough to eat at that time, then the rodent, whether it be a mouse or hamster, can inflict injury on the snake. It is really best to kill the adult/young adult rodent first. This is easily done by placing the rodent into one of the plastic grocery bags and swinging the bag to thump it against a table or such. You DO NOT have to do this with any force. It will kill the rodent quickly and efficiently. Like I said, don't get too heavy handed with the force of the swing or you may "gut" the rodent before you feed it.

I highly suggest that if anyone is feeding live rodents beyond the age of a fuzzy, to reconsider this before they regret it. Remember, although you may rationalize that in the wild corns and other snakes catch rodents without problems, our snakes do not live in the wild and were not brought up in the wild and do not have the same instincts as the wild ones. Ours are in controlled environments were food it tossed into them, not something that happens in the wild, so we should take care that we don't allow this injury to take place. :)

And, btw, if you have a non-feeder or stubborn feeder baby snake that you are worried about, they will eat a hamster or gerbil pink usually without hesitation. Once they learn to eat properly, you can always work at changing them over to mice. It is not impossible to switch them but it does take a bit of working at them to fool them.

[wikkedkornman]

I highly suggest that if anyone is feeding live rodents beyond the age of a fuzzy, to reconsider this before they regret it. Remember, although you may rationalize that in the wild corns and other snakes catch rodents without problems, our snakes do not live in the wild and were not brought up in the wild and do not have the same instincts as the wild ones. Ours are in controlled environments were food it tossed into them, not something that happens in the wild, so we should take care that we don't allow this injury to take place. :)

.
exactly. in the wild, the snake has room to get away if attacked. not usually so in captivity.

luckily my snakes aren't picky. i can feed them gerbils and mice, they don't care. my local pet store charges the same for gerbil pinks and fuzzies as they do for mouse pinks and fuzzies. only problem is i have to be there at the right time to get baby gerbils. my snakes seem to grow at a faster rate when eating gerbils. i don't think i'd do hamsters though. get 1 male and 3 female gerbils, and go from there. i may end up doing that soon.