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Warm, helpful thoughts needed!

Actually, the owner (I think he was the owner) of the company (Pretty Pets) suggested it a couple of years ago, and I have been using it off and on since. He is the chemist / nutritionist who formulates the food. He said that ferrets are totally carnivorous, even more than cats and dogs. He said that he believes that most captive ferret medical problems are due to too much carbohydrate in the diet. So they analyzed mice of different ages, and decided to go with food that would analyze out as a young adult mouse, on a dry weight basis (at least, as much as humans are able to analyze such things). So when I discussed a commercial snake diet with him, he suggested that his Natural Gold ferret food should be about as close to mice as we can get at this time. We actually figured out the dry weight of mice and his diet, and I think we came to the conclusion that approx. 2 little pieces of the ferret food should have equal nutrition to a small pink a couple of days old. It also has some probiotics mixed into it, although nobody can tell me FOR SURE if the same species of probiotics that help ferrets will help herps. The general consensus from the company and from a couple of vets I talked to is that they will probably be of at least some help.
 
I tried it back when they first came out, and it was DISGUSTING! Maybe they are better now. But back in the 80s, you had to squeeze several pinks through to prime it, but you had to use such force that you needed to put them into another tube after squeezing, or risk blowing out the baby snake when the contents finally went through the die cuts with explosive force. After a few uses, I stored it away and never tried one again. What a mess!

We feed commercially prepared food to our dogs and cats, and even mice, rats, and often, pet birds. Now they are even available for iguanas, beardies, some geckos, etc. So why not work on developing a commercial diet for snakes? It is something I have always wanted to do. Once we find a formula that works, then we need to get it into a form that snakes can be taught to eat, but also can easily be force fed if they dont eat it (I am thinking forms like the gelatin bites or big vitamin E capsules for babies, etc). I am really hoping to see something like that, or to possibly be involved in developing something like that, someday before I retire.
 
I'll have to agree with the disgusting aspects of pinkie pumps. I'd be all in favor of snake chow. I'm sick of cleaning mice.
 
wade said:
I'll have to agree with the disgusting aspects of pinkie pumps. I'd be all in favor of snake chow. I'm sick of cleaning mice.
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Agreed. I have Worm Chow coming out my eyeballs....Snake Chow would be awesome!
 
The concept idea of this is great and would be terrific if it works out and snakes can actually be taught to take the meal willingly..I have 3 bearded dragon babies that I bought commercial pellet food for and they never seem to touch it..they'll eat their greens and can-o-crickets before touching the pellets..lol..So I know how tough it can be to make a carnivore see a pellet as a form of food..lol
 
I think it is likely that they would have to be trained to eat it at first. Probably training would consist of scenting the food with real mice for a while. But the breeders who were willing to train the babies to the new food could probably charge more for those trained babies. Those customers who really don't want mice in their freezers would probably be willing to pay more for that convenience.

I will let you know when SNAKE DIETS BY KATHY is available, lol!
 
It was in my Cornsnake Manual. I tried them out to see how they work. They did work - more or less. Snakes that were already good feeders would often take them, or could be trained to take them by scenting. But the smallest sausages were way too big for hatchling corns. Corns that were around 15 - 18 inches or so could eat them. But the texture was kind of soft and mushy. I was not wild about using them, but they did work, sort of. I don't think they are offered in the US anymore, though.
 
I couldn't get a pinky pump, but found a 2ml syringe ideal for feeding Lil when she was in her non-feeding stage. I found it easier to finely chop a pink while it was still frozen by shaving thin slices with a very sharp knife then chopping and mincing until I had a fine 'goo'.
That was obviously quite time-consuming, so then I chopped up a batch of thawed fuzzies and put them through a blender and froze the resulting mouse-mince in individual feed-sized lumps in an ice-cube tray.
 
diamondlil said:
I couldn't get a pinky pump, but found a 2ml syringe ideal for feeding Lil when she was in her non-feeding stage. I found it easier to finely chop a pink while it was still frozen by shaving thin slices with a very sharp knife then chopping and mincing until I had a fine 'goo'.
That was obviously quite time-consuming, so then I chopped up a batch of thawed fuzzies and put them through a blender and froze the resulting mouse-mince in individual feed-sized lumps in an ice-cube tray.
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You know... I'm sure that this is all good for the snakey and all... BUT, it sounds awfully horrible and disgusting at the same time. Imagine me trying to put THAT into my freezer... :awcrap:
 
The_Thunderer said:
You know... I'm sure that this is all good for the snakey and all... BUT, it sounds awfully horrible and disgusting at the same time. Imagine me trying to put THAT into my freezer... :awcrap:
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My boys made me get another blender for human food, even though I washed the blades and everything! picky, picky, picky!
It wasn't the nicest thing, but Lil was worth every second of mouse-purree making to get the fat healthy girlie she is today!
 
diamondlil said:
My boys made me get another blender for human food, even though I washed the blades and everything! picky, picky, picky!
It wasn't the nicest thing, but Lil was worth every second of mouse-purree making to get the fat healthy girlie she is today!
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LOL. I think I would have done the same as your boys. I love my snakes, but I dont' want to share my "plate" with them. LOL.

Also, in my post, I should have put "Imagine me trying to put THAT in my freezer with my wife looking over my shoulder." :)
 
If you're force-feeding with syringes and you don't want to prepare your own mushy mouse mixtures, you can order frozen whole ground mouse and rabbit carcasses from Hare Today Gone Tomorrow, and probably some other places too. The messy part is already done. I've never used it for my snakes, but I order it for my ferrets (whoever mentioned the ferret diet problem earlier is spot on - though Evo now makes a ferret kibble now that is even better than Natural Gold).
 
Thanks for the useful tips (even though it's not my thread)! I have 5 non-feeders and 2 that ate once then never again so I really appreciate this info! I am going to be trying syringe feeding 'Duk Soup' for ferrets to them (after I try just rolling pinks in the powder for scenting). It's mainly dried chicken livers - about 33% protein and 16% fat with added good bacteria, minerals and vitamins (I am adding some calcium though since that was not included).
 
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