blood python that will only eat chicks

[karl71]

hi all love the site, i have a little problem with one of my young bloods she will only eat chicks,i have been feeding her 3 chicks at a go,if i cut the chick open and put a mouse in there she will not touch it what is worry me is that the chick are very low on vits etc,i have spoken to a few people in this country uk and i cant get any sence,so i would like to know if or what make its or sups i can use on the chicks cheers karl.

[rebelrachel13]

Have you tried rats? That might do the trick.

[karl71]

i have tryed rats and mice but she just hide away,then if you put a chick in the tank and its gone stright away,i dont mind if she will just take chicks as i have a large supply of them but im concern about the lack of vit c d e,all i want is to know the best vits that i can inject into the chicks before i feed her i dont want to use anything that you put into the drinking water
cheers very much
karl

[Skiploder]

hi all love the site, i have a little problem with one of my young bloods she will only eat chicks,i have been feeding her 3 chicks at a go,if i cut the chick open and put a mouse in there she will not touch it what is worry me is that the chick are very low on vits etc,i have spoken to a few people in this country uk and i cant get any sence,so i would like to know if or what make its or sups i can use on the chicks cheers karl.

Chick are low in vitamins?

If they are, what are the nutritional needs of a blood python compared to those vitamin levels?

Your snake will do fine eating chicks. Why mess with supplements when you don't know what you are trying to supplement?

[mr.spooky]

how old/big is the snake, how often do you feed, are you trying live or F/t rats, and what is your enclosure like?
thanks
spooky

[karl71]

Chick are low in vitamins?

If they are, what are the nutritional needs of a blood python compared to those vitamin levels?

Your snake will do fine eating chicks. Why mess with supplements when you don't know what you are trying to supplement?

skiploder thanks for the returned message,please find below the supplements for a lot of feeding rodents
Crude Protein % Crude Fat % Energy Content

55.9 23.6 5.25 For an adult mouse
44.2 30.1 6.65 For a fuzzy mouse
64.2 17.0 4.87 For a pink mouse

61.8 32.6 6.37 For an adult rat
56.1 27.5 5.55 For a fuzzy rat
57.9 23.7 5.30 For a pink rat


64.9 22.4 5.80 For a day old chick

67.4 N/A N/A For an anole

Mineral Contents

Calcium
Day old chick 1.69%
Pink mouse 1.17%
Fuzzy mouse 1.47%
Adult mouse 2.98%
Pink rat 1.85%
Fuzzy rat 2.07%
Adult rat 2.62%
Anole 5.54%

Phosphorus
Day old chick 1.22%
Pink mouse N/A
Fuzzy mouse N/A
Adult mouse 1.72%
Pink rat N/A
Fuzzy rat N/A
Adult rat 1.48%
Anole 2.88%

Magnesium
Day old chick .05%
Pink Mouse .11%
Fuzzy mouse .09%
Adult mouse .16%
Pink rat .14%
Fuzzy rat .12%
Adult rat .08%
Anole .15%


Sodium
Day old chick .71%
Pink mouse N/A
Fuzzy mouse N/A
Adult mouse N/A
Pink rat N/A
Fuzzy rat N/A
Adult rat N/A
Anole .33%

Potassium
Day old chick .80%
Pink mouse N/A
Fuzzy mouse N/A
Adult mouse N/A
Pink rat N/A
Fuzzy rat N/A
Adult rat N/A
Anole .73%

Copper
Day old chick 5.2mg
Pink mouse 19.2mg
Fuzzy mouse 13.4mg
Adult mouse 6.7mg
Pink rat 60.6mg
Fuzzy rat 11.3mg
Adult rat 6.3mg
Anole 5.0mg

Iron
Day old chick 119.5mg
Pink mouse 181.3mg
Fuzzy mouse 153.6mg
Adult mouse 137.6mg
Pink rat 275.8mg
Fuzzy rat 133.2mg
Adult rat 148.0mg
Anole 127.8mg

Zinc
Day old chick 97.4mg
Pink mouse 82.5mg
Fuzzy mouse 75.4mg
Adult mouse 67.5mg
Pink rat 113.6mg
Fuzzy rat 81.9mg
Adult rat 62.1mg
Anole 142.5mg

Manganese
Day old chick 3.9mg
Pink mouse .2mg
Fuzzy mouse 13.1mg
Adult mouse 7.7mg
Pink rat 6.2mg
Fuzzy rat 2.6mg
Adult rat 11.0mg

All of the above are milligrams are per kilogram of weight…

Vitamin Contents


Vitamin A
Day old chick 35,600iu/kg
Pink mouse 35,533iu/kg
Fuzzy mouse 30,888iu/kg
Adult mouse 578,272iu/kg
Pink rat 21,333iu/kg
Fuzzy rat N/A
Adult rat 151,389iu/kg
Anole 4,880iu/kg

Vitamin E
Day old chick 51.3iu/kg
Pink mouse 52.7iu/kg
Fuzzy mouse 173.9iu/kg
Adult mouse 100.4iu/kg
Pink rat 470.4iu/kg
Fuzzy rat N/A
Adult rat 139.2iu/kg
Anole 44.8iu/kg
is this ok for you as i didnt like the returned message you sent me,as this was the first message i posted
on your site and i was only asking if someone had come across this problem,but YOU got on your high horse.as in the last 23 years of keeping and breeding pythons and boas i had not come across this problem before
cheers
karl

[Skiploder]

Kalm down Karl.

I'm not debating that a chick has less vitamins than a mouse or a rat or a horse or my left nut. That nutritional link has been posted on this forum alone about 50 times. It does not address what you need to supplement, why you need to supplement or if you even need to supplement. It only provides raw data. Data that is useless unless you know the nutritional requirements for your snake.

The only point I am making is that low is a relative term. It is relative to what the nutritional requirements are for the snake.

If a blood python only needs a tenth of the vitamin A amount a rat provides, should you be worrying that a chick has an eighth of the vitmain A of a rat?

Again, you only need to supplement if chicks are not providing enough vitamins in relation to the requirements of the snake - not in relation to what other prey items offer.

Do you get it now? Or do you want to continue blathering about me and my high horse?

[Skiploder]

http://liverpool.academia.edu/KevinA...captive_snakes

(directly from the study):

"The results of this study are consistent with the hypothesis that DOCs represent a suitable staple diet for captive snakes. However, various points have been highlighted where further data are necessary for clarification. Day-old chicks appear to be a nutri-tionally adequate prey item and present no clear problems for the husbandry of snakes. Only one concern is supported in this paper: rodents are a more natural prey item for non-arboreal snake species than DOCs, at least using the crude method of comparing the broad taxonomic categories of mammals and birds in wild diet"

Bottom line Karl, is that you have nothing to worry about. While DOCs do not necessarily represent a natural diet for your blood python, your animal is in no danger of any sort of deficiency from this diet.

At some point, see if she will take adult quail and then, as she gets bigger, try rodents again.

This whole thing highlights an important point - we often worry or are concerned about things that we shouldn't be worried or concerned about.

[DNACurtusK]

Have you tried rubbing a chick all over the appropriate sized rat and then offering it?

[Pinoy Pythons]

I see nothing wrong w/ feeding chicks alone compared to rodents. As long as the snake is thriving on it, I'd still say yes and continue to feed them chicks. Its better compared to a snake that is not eating. I have one very picky eater BP, I have done everything what this site suggests, but feeding chick seems to be a miracle for my BP. Until now Im still offering chicks to that BP and the only difference that is noticeable to me is that the feces tends to be softer and less compact compared to rat eaters.