thawd out chicken for ball pythons?

Hypothetically speaking, if you do get your BP to eat raw chicken and it is nutritionally acceptable that is all well and good but, with a BPs tendency to imprint on one food type I wouldn't even try it.

If something were to happen where you couldn't care for your snakes and couldn't pass on the necessary information to the new owner what kind of havoc would that be?

I don't think you were asking permission or if it is a good idea, just looking for information.

My two cents.

Mike

YES YOU CAN! 2 stories to share....

#1. I have a female ball that I've fed live medium rats to for 3+ years. My routine is to take her out of her cage to feed her, put her in the bathtub where the food is waiting for her. She knows that bathtub = food. As soon as she's in the bathtub I stay away because she's ready to strike. It took a while for her to figure this out, but she knows it now.

So recently the nearby pet store where I bought live rats closed and it's been a pain to get them. I'd contemplated going with pre-killed but I really don't like keeping dead rats in my freezer or thawing them. So I thawed a piece of raw chicken and then put her in the bathtub. She quickly got into "striking position" of course. I used tongs and dangled the chicken strip over the edge of the tub for her and she immediately struck at it, constricted around it, and then held it for a number of minutes until it was obviously dead, and then swallowed it. SUCCESS! I do plan on giving her rats as well however she'll eat a lot of chicken as well. I may also try to give her a whole fish. Note: I also warmed an egg, smothered it in the chicken to add a scent, and left that in the tub for her as well but she wasn't interested in that at all.

#2. When I was a poor college student I bought a beautiful 7' Red Tail Colombian female for $60. She was fantastic. I'd buy her a large rat from the pet store to kill and eat. While she was swallowing the back end of the rat I'd take her and push a thawed (raw) chicken drumstick down right after the rat. She got a sizable meal and I was spending less on food for her. She never complained....although I'm sure I'll pick up some criticism for that one in the comments to follow. :)

I agree with what others have said...snakes need more than just chicken meat to be healthy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hibby76

YES YOU CAN! 2 stories to share....

#1. I have a female ball that I've fed live medium rats to for 3+ years. My routine is to take her out of her cage to feed her, put her in the bathtub where the food is waiting for her. She knows that bathtub = food. As soon as she's in the bathtub I stay away because she's ready to strike. It took a while for her to figure this out, but she knows it now.

So recently the nearby pet store where I bought live rats closed and it's been a pain to get them. I'd contemplated going with pre-killed but I really don't like keeping dead rats in my freezer or thawing them. So I thawed a piece of raw chicken and then put her in the bathtub. She quickly got into "striking position" of course. I used tongs and dangled the chicken strip over the edge of the tub for her and she immediately struck at it, constricted around it, and then held it for a number of minutes until it was obviously dead, and then swallowed it. SUCCESS! I do plan on giving her rats as well however she'll eat a lot of chicken as well. I may also try to give her a whole fish. Note: I also warmed an egg, smothered it in the chicken to add a scent, and left that in the tub for her as well but she wasn't interested in that at all.

#2. When I was a poor college student I bought a beautiful 7' Red Tail Colombian female for $60. She was fantastic. I'd buy her a large rat from the pet store to kill and eat. While she was swallowing the back end of the rat I'd take her and push a thawed (raw) chicken drumstick down right after the rat. She got a sizable meal and I was spending less on food for her. She never complained....although I'm sure I'll pick up some criticism for that one in the comments to follow. :)

I agree with what others have said...snakes need more than just chicken meat to be healthy.

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Please vid this. I need to see to believe. Even if this is possible I don't think it is a good idea unless you are getting your chickens from a farm. The amount of saline injected into chicken can be pretty high and I doubt ball pythons are equipped for a high amount of salt.

For what it's worth I've got a couple of Royals that are ravenous eaters and have both eaten defrosted chicks over the years - no problems .. They'd take two or sometimes 3 at each meal . All warmed up with the hairdrier .
Day old frozen chicks only cost 10p each ( 12 cents ?)

I don't keep them in nowadays ..
They're just something I tried a few times .. usually when I'd read an article on varying your snakes diets with mice / rats. /chicks and varying the period inbetween feeds and also giving them random sizes .... supposedly to replicate their feeding in the wild !?!?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hibby76

YES YOU CAN! 2 stories to share....

#1. I have a female ball that I've fed live medium rats to for 3+ years. My routine is to take her out of her cage to feed her, put her in the bathtub where the food is waiting for her. She knows that bathtub = food. As soon as she's in the bathtub I stay away because she's ready to strike. It took a while for her to figure this out, but she knows it now.

So recently the nearby pet store where I bought live rats closed and it's been a pain to get them. I'd contemplated going with pre-killed but I really don't like keeping dead rats in my freezer or thawing them. So I thawed a piece of raw chicken and then put her in the bathtub. She quickly got into "striking position" of course. I used tongs and dangled the chicken strip over the edge of the tub for her and she immediately struck at it, constricted around it, and then held it for a number of minutes until it was obviously dead, and then swallowed it. SUCCESS! I do plan on giving her rats as well however she'll eat a lot of chicken as well. I may also try to give her a whole fish. Note: I also warmed an egg, smothered it in the chicken to add a scent, and left that in the tub for her as well but she wasn't interested in that at all.

#2. When I was a poor college student I bought a beautiful 7' Red Tail Colombian female for $60. She was fantastic. I'd buy her a large rat from the pet store to kill and eat. While she was swallowing the back end of the rat I'd take her and push a thawed (raw) chicken drumstick down right after the rat. She got a sizable meal and I was spending less on food for her. She never complained....although I'm sure I'll pick up some criticism for that one in the comments to follow. :)

I agree with what others have said...snakes need more than just chicken meat to be healthy.

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Insert criticism here.

I'm just kind of speechless at this whole post. You revived a 7 year old thread for this.

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Insert criticism here.

I'm just kind of speechless at this whole post. You revived a 7 year old thread for this.

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One post from this person and its on a thread from 2010 lol

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Scroll up. The question was never answered very well and not by anyone with first hand experience. My post was at least useful. You show up to criticize me posting something useful. Want to know what that's called? I'll give you a hint....It starts with "U" and it rhymes with "oosless".
In any case have Ball Pythons evolved that much in the last 7 years??? :rofl:

Just WoW.........

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hibby76

Scroll up. The question was never answered very well and not by anyone with first hand experience. My post was at least useful. You show up to criticize me posting something useful. Want to know what that's called? I'll give you a hint....It starts with "U" and it rhymes with "oosless".
In any case have Ball Pythons evolved that much in the last 7 years??? :rofl:

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I'll criticize this one, why not. You state your BP will be getting a lot more chicken, you do realize how they process chicken parts correct? Saline solution, hormones, etc etc etc. Do you, as a snake owner, think its even remotely healthy to stuff processed and incomplete food items down a snake's throat? Its not.

Whole chicks are one thing, as they are at the very least the whole animal and less is done to a whole critter in terms of preserving them etc. Feeding a BP raw chicken breast is just bad practice and one that probably shouldn't be preached on a forum where new snake owners come to learn the correct way of taking care of their new pets.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hibby76

In any case have Ball Pythons evolved that much in the last 7 years??? :rofl:

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Apparently they evolved enough to move away from their natural food items and start eating raw, processed chicken and drumsticks. And I'll have to agree that unless you provide a VIDEO of this and an actual explanation of why this ISN'T bad or unhealthy for a snake so that new owners don't come here and see this post and decide to try it themselves, your "answer" starts with "U" and rhymes with "oosless".