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So who actually uses the snake "sausages"?

Corny Noob

Corny Noob

Proud Momma
Of course I read about it in Kathy's wonderful book that I picked up at my job </kiss up>

And I was wondering how many people actually use these to feed to their snake as an alternative, or to mix things up?
If so are they easy to get? A quick google search has so far only rendered me with the incorrect products, and products from the UK which is of no help to me.
 
I don't think anyone uses them. I had read somewhere that PetSmart attempted to use them for their snakes, and they all died.

What's wrong with using mice or rats?
 
I've heard the rumor about petsmart having bad results with snake sausages before, but I've never been able to find evidence that it's true.
 
Flagg said:
I don't think anyone uses them. I had read somewhere that PetSmart attempted to use them for their snakes, and they all died.

What's wrong with using mice or rats?
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Well, some people want snakes but can't possess mice at their home (frozen or not) due to their jobs. Lots of research breeding labs have this rule due to the minor chance of infection or something. The T-Rex Snake Steak Sausages, which is what I think you mean, would be OK.

Plus, lots of borderline animal rights people would like a snake, but don't like the idea of being responsible fior the death of a mouse per week. I've been told by some that they feel better knowing one cow can feed LOTS of snakes ground up into sausage...... I don't completely trust T-Rex's dietary components, so I don't recommend they get used. I also don't necessarily agree with lots of the logic for the above reason.

I have tried them in the past, though. I didn't wantto use them in my colony, but I did want to evaluate them because I was getting a lot of inquiries about them in the mid to late 90's. Most of my adult snakes would accept them, but I had to scent them with mouse hair. Poop was runny and smellier than normal. I think they'd have switched to unscented ones quickly. The "2 in a row" idea was VERY, VERY stressful to the snakes. Leaving them attached by the string seemed dangerous. I've had snakes try to throw up the first one instead of taking the second one, too. NOT GOOD.

I didn't have much luck with the pinky sized ones on young corns. You had to scent like crazy with pink mouse SKIN to getmost snakes to eat them, and that would defeat the purpose. Plus, not all would accept it, and the runnier poop bothered me. T-Rex would NOT say how much calcium they had (I was told "enough" when I inquired with customer service), and that made me suspicious.

Obviously, I don't recommend them, but it has been years since I tried them...and I have no evidence to say they are bad or good for the snake.
KJ
 
KJUN said:
I've been told by some that they feel better knowing one cow can feed LOTS of snakes ground up into sausage...
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From what I know about these "sausages", which is little, they are made from ground rodent and poultry. Entrails, feathers, and fur are excluded. :shrugs:
 
Roy Munson said:
From what I know about these "sausages", which is little, they are made from ground rodent and poultry. Entrails, feathers, and fur are excluded. :shrugs:
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I can't agree or disagree with that, Roy. Back when they first came out, I called them for specs on the nutrition, etc. (for the above "tests"). They were super closed lip, but I think it was due to ignorance of the operators and not due to some hidden agenda. Those gals are the ones that told me it was primarily beef. They may not have told me the truth (purposely or through ignorance).

I wish they would have given a straight answer about SOMETHING....
KJ
 
KJUN said:
Plus, lots of borderline animal rights people would like a snake, but don't like the idea of being responsible fior the death of a mouse per week.
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In my excessively humble opinion... if you* can't stand the thought of a mouse dying so that your snake may live, then you have no business owning a snake. What if your snake refuses to feed on sausages? What if it does at first, but later, due to a health problem or just plain stubborness goes off of the sausages? Then what would happen?

I think that all such possibilities NEED to be considered prior to purchasing a pet that might live a decade and a half or more. :shrugs: Just my $.02...

*YOU the animal rights activist, not YOU Kjun.... :)
 
I always thought the sausages were a really good idea. I mean just last week I was at my research site and I found a corn snake constricting a sausage....
 
Hypancistrus said:
In my excessively humble opinion... if you* can't stand the thought of a mouse dying so that your snake may live, then you have no business owning a snake. What if your snake refuses to feed on sausages? What if it does at first, but later, due to a health problem or just plain stubborness goes off of the sausages? Then what would happen?
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I agree with you. I'm glad you said it so well, too. Snakes are predators, and that is part of having them. That doesn't mean I suggest feeding live over thawed (I recommend thawed) or I ENJOY the thought of a mouse suffering (I don't, but snakes are usually efficient killers), but - as you say - it is part of what makes a snake a snake!

The only reason I can see using the sausages is if you REALLY want a snake, and can't because of the work-related restrictions on rodents. I love snakes so much that if my wife ended up at one of those facilities (which it is feasible she could - not WOULD - but could....lol), I'd do just about anything to at least keep a FEW snakes..... I imagine some people are so allergic to mice that they can't even be around them for feeding to snakes. (Personally, I'd just get my wife to feed them all for me....lol.) I don't know, I'm grasping here. With that said, I was only stating the reasons I've been told why people wanted snakes that would eat the sausages.

...and Mohr, that last comment just about had me chocking I was laughing so hard!
KJ
 
Mohr's last comment had me picturing small groups of sausages running wild, being hunted down by corn snakes. :D free-range sausages.. get 'em while they last!!!
 
MohrSnakes said:
I always thought the sausages were a really good idea. I mean just last week I was at my research site and I found a corn snake constricting a sausage....
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lol Any chance of finding that photo again?

I really agree with a lot of the things that have been said. I, for one, don't really like mice. At all. I fed a stunned mouse once (out of necessity), and never want to have to do it again. Would I? Of course. F/T is just preferable for me in many respects. I don't think someone should get a snake knowing they'd have to give it up if it couldn't eat the sausages, but if sausages are healthy for the animal and more convenient for you, go for it.

Of course, this brings us back to the question: Do snake sausages have everything the snake needs to be healthy?
 
Wow, lots of discussion in this topic since I was last here.
The only reason I enquired was because Kathy mentioned it in her book as having tried it personally and saying that it was an option.
I realize that they are predators and wouldn't be getting one if I couldn't handle feeding them, I was just looking at my options is all.
 
When you think about it, mice are really great snake sausages already.
Mouse steaks and offal, fortified with calcium and vitamins (in liver and brain and gut) and stuffed into a little furry skin.
And snakes have been sucking them up nonstop for a couple hundred thousand years! (maybe? I made up that time..)
Frozen in a bag, I can't think of anything more convenient.

I posted some long winded thing about this before, but my main worry about ground whole animals is that the germiness that's walled off fairly successfully by a mouse's immune system (guts skin etc) gets ground in with the meat. Any ammount of time spent thawed after that equals a population explosion of germs. Maybe snakes can handle it. Maybe it's rendered "safe" with lots and lots of preservatives, but mice are already engineered to keep out the bugs, and freezing them makes them even better, so..

Why mess with what works so good?

And if it's gross to have mice in the freezer, it should be at least as gross if it's deep tissue (lol as deep as it can get on a mouse) has been pureed with it's feces... That's just bacteria breeding HEAVEN!!

Than again maybe I'm just scarred by what I learned in culinary school about sanitation and such... :shrugs:
 
I am considering snake sausages because we live in a rural area, meaning no local pet shops. It is a constant juggle to keep fuzzies for the snake and crickets for the tarantula. We bought both when we lived in a larger town. I wanted to know if it hurt the snake to not be on a exact feeding schedule, if it was as hungry as it looked if I was a day or two (sometimes three) late.
 
kidscornsnake said:
I am considering snake sausages because we live in a rural area, meaning no local pet shops. It is a constant juggle to keep fuzzies for the snake and crickets for the tarantula. We bought both when we lived in a larger town. I wanted to know if it hurt the snake to not be on a exact feeding schedule, if it was as hungry as it looked if I was a day or two (sometimes three) late.
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Heck, as long as you don't feed too often or go too long to often, it is probably BETTER for a snake to go hungry a few extra days a month. It'll get them out looking around their cage (excercise) and help reduce the too common problem of obesity in captive snakes. Of course, I'm not talking about neonates. They do better being fed at least every 7 days. Once on fuzzies or so, bet late a day or three - or even skipping a meal - every so often (insteado of being fed exactly once per week) won't hurt!

BUT, you can get frozen mice. Why not consider that instead of automatically going to the sausages? Just a suggestion/question?

KJ
 
kidscornsnake said:
...crickets for the tarantula.
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It's really very simple to raise your own crickets (much easier than mice or rats!). That is, if you don't mind the chirping the adults will do...
 
Herpivore said:
It's really very simple to raise your own crickets (much easier than mice or rats!). That is, if you don't mind the chirping the adults will do...
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You are right. I missed that part of their post. If they are rural, I don't see why they just don't collect food for the tarantula. I'm rural so there is almost NO danger of insecticides/pesticides (of course, I might be more rural than them....lol), and the tarantulas thrive on the wild prey typed. I don't use insecticides in my garden (well, very rarely, and I don't collect insects after I have used them) because that would kill my honey bees. The things are too much work for me to just turn around and poison their flowers...lol. Anyway, that just means I get the big juicy bugs from the garden and feed them to my inverts....lol.

You might want to invest in a sweep net for your taller grass area if you need a lot of small insects. I do that for the day geckos and a friends salamanders - and they love it!
 
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