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Feeding chicks

666killademon

New member
I have asked this question plenty of times already so to those who have already answered it you can keep any sarcastic comments to yourself. I wanna know if anybody has fed their snake a chick because honestly what is the worst a chick can do to the snake which is an instinctive killer.
 
I don't know if your asking if feeding a chick is alright for your snake, or if you wondering if feeding a live chick might hurt your snake. Either way, I think you'd be smarter in sticking with f/t mice, because sometimes from what I hear snakes will decide they prefer one food item over another, and it seems to me f/t mice would be much easier and less expensive for your snake to get use to. Either way I personally would stay away from live if at all possible. Yes I fed Tiaga live for a long time, but that was before I found this site and she now feeds just as aggresively on f/t as she did on live.For the sake of your animal PLEASE stick to f/t mice/small rats. She will appreciate it very much!
 
that picture helps thanks i just had the biggest scare i don't know if you were one of the people responding to the heating questions i had about the black light and if it could escape. Well i underestimated the small escape artist a found that he was not in the cage LUCKILY he wasn't far off and i found him :eek1:
 
since im on the subject does the whole cage for nighttime temps have to be in the mid 70's or can one side be 80 and one side be 75
 
The birds in that pic arn't exactly the feeder chicks you're asking about. A feeder chick is small enough to be swallowed by the snake. Also it was probably that chicks mother that killed the snake.
 
I feed f/t chicks to my adult corns several times per year. I feel it gives them variety, and that although rodents are probably superior in nutrition, each will provide SOMETHING a little better or differently than the other. I find that most of the adults really like chicks, and have no problem going back to rodents the following week.

The upside is that chicks can be bought very cheaply. The downside is that the snakes seem to have very smelly poops for the next week or so. And sometimes there are little chick feet sticking out of the feces - kind of disgusting. If you have to choose one food, stick with rodents. But variety is the spice of life.

Back in the '80s, when we raised chickens, I also fed a few eggs to some adult corns. Most corns could not handle a whole chicken egg - usually takes a very large corn or rat snake. But they could handle bantie eggs, or easily eat quail eggs. They had to be directly from the nest, with some bird odor on them. Store bought eggs probably won't smell like food. Again, the poops were kind of runny and smelly. I would not advocate feeding eggs on a regular basis, especially not large eggs.
 
Calamity went through a bit of a fussy phase, when she would only tke live pinks if I had the right size, or chick drumsticks if I didn't. None of my snakes are big enough to take a day-old chick yet, but I like the nutritional comparison on rodentpro, so i'll probably try them when the snakes are bigger
 
I'm pretty sure the warm side is suppose to stay in the mid 80s even at night. The cool side in my viv drops a few degrees at night because the light (standard fish tank light) is off. There doens't need to be a dramatic drop in temprature, and the still should be a gradient. :( spell check not working, if there are any errors :(

---Kenny
 
666killademon said:
I have asked this question plenty of times already so to those who have already answered it you can keep any sarcastic comments to yourself. I wanna know if anybody has fed their snake a chick because honestly what is the worst a chick can do to the snake which is an instinctive killer.
I regularly fed chicks to both my Burmese python and my Pacific gopher snake with no problem. Chicks are the one live food I felt comfortable leaving in the tank with the snakes.
 
Hi, I'm new to the hobby(haven't even gotten my first corn yet) and I just want to say thank you to 666killademon for asking that question. Being new to the hobby, I've been reading up on snakes and their care and have come across a number of times where it is stated that they eat birds, eggs, lizards etc. I've always wondered till now why people don't normally feed their snakes eggs and all that other stuff. And I also want to thank Kathylove for her answer! Now I don't have to wonder anymore. :)
It's great to learn from the more experienced!
 
I feed my two adults f/t day-old quails and f/t week old chicks and they love it. Smokey did get fussy but after refusing f/t mice for several weeks he got over it.

We even go through the expense of buying green anoles once or twice a year as a special treat. At $15 for two, it has to be a very special treat.

:crazy02:
 
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