Bird flu and fowl feeders

Has anyone feeding fowl heard of any potential issues with the outbreak of avian flu and feeding fowl to reptiles? I ran out of quail and decided out of an abundance of caution to not get any more for right now but I haven't seen any info for or against.

That's a great question- I have a feeling that between being frozen, then being digested by the snake, it's not an issue. BUT, I'd ask a very responsible source such as Layne Labs- they should know. Or your veterinarian? I suspect the only thing you'll see is the feeder price go up from limited availability for a while.

I looked around a little.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/h5n1-animals.htm

I haven't found anything that links that virus to reptiles, and I'm assuming studies are next to none.

I tend to agree with Bogertophis and the statement about freezing the quail. I'd have to look for a study to see what conditions kill the virus. If freezing temps kill it, then transmission is unlikely. Reptiles like snakes have a very potent digestive system.

The transmission is often airborne between birds in close proximity, but feces and droplets are also involved in transmission.

If I have time I'll look into it further.

I just ordered and received a load of quail from Layne Labs.


They didn't issue and warnings and I hope they would be professional enough to notify customers ahead of a purchase if there was the possibility of compromised feeders.

There's a few claims on the wikipedia article that the virus can survive below freezing but they don't cite any sources. In any case just poking around viruses in general don't seem to be killed by cold, like how covid always gets worse in the fall/winter. I think Bogertophis is probably right in that nobody is looking into it for reptiles unfortunately.

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Originally Posted by plateOfFlan

There's a few claims on the wikipedia article that the virus can survive below freezing but they don't cite any sources. In any case just poking around viruses in general don't seem to be killed by cold, like how covid always gets worse in the fall/winter. I think Bogertophis is probably right in that nobody is looking into it for reptiles unfortunately.

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I think snakes have such strong digestion that between freezing & digestion, the virus won't effect the snakes, but it begs the question for humans handling their food, if freezing doesn't quite do the job. Might want to use disposable gloves when handling feeders, & I'd still ask my vet about this for sure- that's why they have degrees in this stuff.

As far as comparing this to covid being worse in the colder seasons, that could EASILY be due to the fact that people spend more time together indoors, & also that human nasal passages tend to dry out & are more easily invaded in the winter. ;)