To feed or not to feed

Hello i am new here. ok i got this Baby corn snake a month ago and i just love him so i want to do the right thing for him so i bought this book on corn snakes by Philip purser it says that he has bred corn snakes for many years. he says that when a corn snake gets to be about three years to start to feed them baby chickens that feeding your snake chicks will improve your corn snakes scales/sheen and promote healthy shed cycles as the protein in the chick does wonders for growth and scale development he says that they should be feed as a treats and i was just wondering if any of you guys that have a three year old or older have feed your snakes chicks?

This is Taz my Red Albino Motley het for Butter at least thats what the breeder said he was

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../8/4/taz_4.jpg

having a hard time geting a clear head shot
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...amily_4222.jpg

First off welcome to the group :gj:.Second nice looking corn snake.Last that book must be older then time itself as i have never heard of that stuff :P.I never fed any of my breeders chicks and they lived a healthy well producing lives while i had them.If you feed them chicks you will be spending unneeded money in my opinion ;).They do fine on rodents.

I feed rodents. I know there is a very successful breeder who feeds his corns chickens and swears by it. You won't hurt them by doing so, but its not necessary either.

Thank you Joe and Blue for the great advice!:cool: I just wanted to know if it would hurt him maybe when he gets a little older i will try a chick or two they do eat birds in the wild and a chick has lots bones and bones mean calcium (milk dose a body good) ;) :taz:

thanks Nikki

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Originally Posted by sweet_nikki

Thank you Joe and Blue for the great advice!:cool: I just wanted to know if it would hurt him maybe when he gets a little older i will try a chick or two they do eat birds in the wild and a chick has lots bones and bones mean calcium (milk dose a body good) ;) :taz:

thanks Nikki

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P.S the book was copyrighted in 2006

Just stick to mice It's a lot easier and you can get them year round. Chicks, you can't.

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Originally Posted by Raptor

Just stick to mice It's a lot easier and you can get them year round. Chicks, you can't.

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well, maybe YOU can't get chicks year round.... :D

DO not feed Chicks. They do eat them in the wild as do many other snakes we keep. Don't mean we need to feed it in captivity. When feeding HIGH protein meals like chicks their feces are very very foul and will fill the room with that smell.

I have a 15 year old cali king i got when he was 2 months old and only ever been fed mice his whole life. Rodents are plenty for them to thrive off of.

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Originally Posted by WesleyTF

well, maybe YOU can't get chicks year round.... :D

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lol ;)

You can throw them a chick OCCASIONALLY if you want. However it is unnecessary. Corns do just fine on a mouse only diet for their entire life.