Python feeding?

Question

I am getting a Childrens Python not long from now and I have already purchased mice to breed and feed it. But I know it needs a variety of foods.
I want to know what is a good thing to feed it.

Also, do they eat those small lizards that run into the bushes when you go near them or flies?

Christ you people are picky for a simple question, I just wanted to know what they eat and if they eat flies.
I have done reasearch, I have 12 pages of it printed of in my room.

Answer 1

Please, do not buy this snake just yet. You can not expect us to believe you have researched this animal if you don't even know what it eats.

Pythons do not need a variety of foods. They can live quite happily on one staple food, no supplements needed. Feed your snake ONLY frozen/thawed mice or small rats, NOTHING else. Never feed live unless the snake won't accept anything else as live mice can savage and kill your snake. Pythons are not insectivores and will not eat flies! Also, never catch wild animals to feed your snake. They can carry all kinds of diseases and parasites.

My advice is that you go back to square one and do some serious reading.


EDIT: So taking responsibilty for an animal is being "picky"? You've done all this research supposedly, yet you still felt the need to ask us what this animal eats? Two minutes on the internet can give you that information. If you want to be successful at keeping snakes I suggest you take a step back and start listening to the advice that you asked for.

Answer 2

Believe Jason.

Never, ever buy an exotic animal without extremely thorough research into its needs and requirements. If you are asking whether you can feed your python flies, you have clearly done very little, if any, of that research. This is not optional.

You do not want to start a mouse farm to feed your snake. You will be amazed at the rate with which mice reproduce. Two mice can become dozens of mice within a couple of months. You will be up to your eyeballs in mice. Trust me on this.

Snakes do not need a variety of food. In fact, wild snakes tend to be very specific in diet. For example, eastern hog-nosed snakes eat ONLY toads. Nothing else. A python will be happy and healthy eating rodents. Those rodents should be dead, and preferably frozen and thawed first. No snake has ever been maimed or killed by a dead rodent. Freezing helps kill parasites which may be in the rodent. And it's much, much more convenient -- as you'll find out when your mouse farm takes off. My six rodent-eating snakes (including the baby Ball Python whose breeder said she wouldn't take frozen) happily eat their rewarmed rodents.

Research your snake. Research what it will need. Have everything ready in advance. And while you're at it, don't start with a tricky one -- get a corn snake, one about a year old. You will thank yourself.

Answer 3

I would never feed a pet snake wild food. Never live food as it can hurt them. Get your food at the store and they will recommend what things it will tolerate. Ask the person you are getting it from what they have been feeding it. They are not like puppies and dont tolerate change very well.

Answer 4

mice are completely acceptable, but pythons eat only warm blooded prey so forget the lizards and flies.also try baby chicks, your local co-op sells them cheaper than mice. besides your mice will breed faster than your snake could eat them.