Chicks?

On rodent pro you can buy chicks, and theyre pretty cheap. Would you guys recommend it/ have you even used them as feeders?

No. They are not as nutritional as rats from what I've read. I'd stick with rats/mice..

as was said, it's best not to because rats are worth much more in the nutrition department. However, I've heard of a few people who have had really picky snakes (one of them was a leucistic retic) and their snakes would only eat chicken, so I guess that's really the only use for them.

Poultry used to be big in snake feeding from some people, but we've realized how much better rats are and many people have moved off of them, but there are still a few snakes that won't eat anything else because that's what they were started on and they're so drastically different from rats.

Chicks should only be used if they are your absolute last resort. BPs can eat them, but just because they will doesn't mean that's what you should feed them to save a buck. If there were some sort of emergency that you couldn't get rodents but you could get chicks, then fine, but I have a feeling that won't happen.

Well on the website it states >>Our frozen chicks are fed a scientifically designed and nutritionally complete diet resulting in a premium quality feeder animal<< some buisnesses will say anything to get you to buy their product thought.

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Originally Posted by B-fish

Well on the website it states >>Our frozen chicks are fed a scientifically designed and nutritionally complete diet resulting in a premium quality feeder animal<< some buisnesses will say anything to get you to buy their product thought.

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People want them to be fed high quality nutrition, just like we would want the rodents to be fed, but chicks more so because there is nothing to them besides feather and bones. Also, just because it says that doesn't mean they are a good source of nutrition for bps. I'm not positive, but I'm thinking gators and large lizards would be the main consumer of chicks.

I actually don't know much about chicks but quail is close in nutritional value to rats (not as many vitamins but protein is better and less ash I believe) I also know that studies of ball pythons in the wild in the northern end of the range has turned up in sub-adult (under 28" I think if I remember correctly) a large proportion of avian species, doves, parrots, weavers and a handful of others. There is some evidence that avians are actually not that out of the normal diet. The report also states that over 28" the majority of prey is small rodents, shrews, ASFs, giant rat, grass mouse, and squirrels.

Luiselli, L, Akani, G C, & Capissi, D Journal of Zoology, London, 1998 Food Resource Partitioning of a community of snakes in a swamp rainforest of south-eastern Nigeria.

I think there is some support to quail (chicks are not great value) but still at some point they will need to be switched. Rats are great all rounders, easy and available I see no particular reason to start on something else especially if they have been started or rats or mice. The argument of money upsets me personally as I believe that there is great responsibility in caring for a living creature. The cost of care should have been one of the 100 other thoughts that were planned for before the commitment was made. I understand that times change but to start out trying to cut costs makes a poor start.

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Originally Posted by B-fish

Well on the website it states >>Our frozen chicks are fed a scientifically designed and nutritionally complete diet resulting in a premium quality feeder animal<< some buisnesses will say anything to get you to buy their product thought.

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It's not just saying anything, chicks are used in diets for many other animals, BPs aren't the only ones who can be fed on frozen feeders ;) Having good nutritionally loaded feeders is a concern for all pet owners who use 'em. I think I've heard of people having "raw diets" with pets like ferrets, corvids, and really any predatory animals

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Originally Posted by Valentine Pirate

It's not just saying anything, chicks are used in diets for many other animals, BPs aren't the only ones who can be fed on frozen feeders ;) Having good nutritionally loaded feeders is a concern for all pet owners who use 'em. I think I've heard of people having "raw diets" with pets like ferrets, corvids, and really any predatory animals

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It's true, now that I think of it when I was considering a raw diet for my ferrets I was told to give them chicks every now and then. Perhaps that's why they were on the site for rodent pro? For things more along the lines of ferrets and maybe some lizards?