Ball Pythoneeding. Will it eat baby chicks?

So I know they eat rats and mice. I'm lucky while my ghost isn't picky and will eat live or FT ,mouse or rat. My black pastel at the moment,wants nothing to do with FT,but eats like rats or mice....the aquarium store where I get my feeders from has all types of feeders. Any size mouse or rat..gerbils and hamsters( which I won't feed to my snake,a Hamster that is,there to cute) ...but they do also have baby chicks,I'm wondering would my BP eat a live baby chick? Has anyone done this before?

Baby chicks are OK to feed. But the problem is, will your snake actually take it?

I know my snakes won't. But there are people out there who do feed chicks to their BPs.

But be aware that chicks make snake poo really runny. And chicks/birds do not have a dense skeletal system. Their bones are hollow, so your snake might not get enough calcium if you make it a staple diet.

Don't offer gerbils or hamsters. You'll never get your ball Python to eat anything else after that. Its not worth getting your snakes stuck on expensive prey.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

MAYBE, but I don't think chicks are in a BPs natural diet.
Don't think, not for sure though. I've heard chicks aren't that nutritious either.



Edit: Satomi beat me to it lol

Oh I'm happy with rats and so is he...definitley wasn't looking to make chicks a staple in his diet by any means,guess just wanted to see how it would go.. My ghost is a pig and just loves eating . He would eat every day if I offered probably,which I'd never do,obviously.

hamsters are a no go though,they are way to cute and I'd feel real bad,gerbils are nasty looking like rats,so it won't bother me. Plus, I have heard that gerbils and hamsters are like a five star meal and can get hooked on only them and while this spot has gerbils and rats,the selection is slim,very slim. So rats are def cheaper and nutritious...I won't bother with anything else and I don't want his crap to be all messy...but I think he would eat it,no questions.

tnx for the responses

Mine didn't have problems with baby chicks ;) For two feedings I couldn't get any mice or rat so I bought baby chicks instead. On both feeding occasions the chicks were gone in seconds ;)

I've fed chicks to my BP to get him out of a 10 month fast. I didn't notice a major difference in poo, but he was only on chicks for about a month. My vet recommended supplementing with calcium if I was going to feed them long term, as they don't have a lot of calcium.

Huh 10 months diet? Crazy. Yeah I prefer to have him on rats. It seems he grows faster since he's fed with rats. First he was only on mice then rats. Two week chick diet was only temporary till I can stock on rats :P

Are you from New York? Looks like it from your avi just wondering where you get your feeders from if you are from here

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NYHC4LIFE8899

So I know they eat rats and mice. I'm lucky while my ghost isn't picky and will eat live or FT ,mouse or rat. My black pastel at the moment,wants nothing to do with FT,but eats like rats or mice....the aquarium store where I get my feeders from has all types of feeders. Any size mouse or rat..gerbils and hamsters( which I won't feed to my snake,a Hamster that is,there to cute) ...but they do also have baby chicks,I'm wondering would my BP eat a live baby chick? Has anyone done this before?

---

Uhm...I know of several carpet python keepers who feed their specimens mainly chicks with the occasional rat. A believe a friend of mine does a rat every 5 chicks. Personally the only species in my collection that I have that eat chicks/quail as a staple are my scrubs however, I throw in a rat every once in awhile just to make sure they are getting enough calcium. Ball pythons are terrestrial so I doubt their bodies are perfect for it but I also have to think that they are carnivores and we all know it's not impossible for a wild ball to sneak into a domesticated chicken pen somewhere in Uganda.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jxl

Mine didn't have problems with baby chicks ;) For two feedings I couldn't get any mice or rat so I bought baby chicks instead. On both feeding occasions the chicks were gone in seconds ;)

---

awesome news,I gotta give it a go,my guys deep on shed now and I just tried feeding him a rat and e wanted nothing to do with it,so imma hold off,next week though I may try a chick just for the hell of it :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BumbleB

Are you from New York? Looks like it from your avi just wondering where you get your feeders from if you are from here

---

Bumble B,yes I am from NY. I am from Queens,NY...I getmy rodents from Paradise Aquarium on Fresh Pond Rd between Eliot ave and Metro ave...I believe it's freshPond road and 66Th ave... They have hamsters and gerbils,usually only one size,a few baby chicks here and there,rats from pinks to Xl jumbo and mice from pinks to large adult...price is very fair there and the owners ad employees are super friendly and cool.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Physician&Snakes

Uhm...I know of several carpet python keepers who feed their specimens mainly chicks with the occasional rat. A believe a friend of mine does a rat every 5 chicks. Personally the only species in my collection that I have that eat chicks/quail as a staple are my scrubs however, I throw in a rat every once in awhile just to make sure they are getting enough calcium. Ball pythons are terrestrial so I doubt their bodies are perfect for it but I also have to think that they are carnivores and we all know it's not impossible for a wild ball to sneak into a domesticated chicken pen somewhere in Uganda.

---

Cool man,TY very much..the plan is to stick with strictly rats,but the occasional chick is cool just to see,mix it up,keep my boys entertained.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NYHC4LIFE8899

.....which I won't feed to my snake,a Hamster that is,there to cute...but they do also have baby chicks,I'm wondering would my BP eat a live baby chick?

---

So Hamsters are cute but baby chicks aren't?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Trochu

So Hamsters are cute but baby chicks aren't?

---

Hamsters are very cute,very very very cute and fluffy,actually so are chicks,but I have a bird phobia,so just about all birds to me are nasty and disgusting...I'd never personally hurt one,but I'd def feed one to my snakes:D

If hamsters weren't so darn expensive, I wouldn't mind adding them to my list of feeders for my ferrets. Price is really the only thing saving them from becoming food here. I like giving my ferrets a varied diet.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

I thought ferrets ate berries and leaves and veggies..I didn't know they ate live rodents that's kind of freaky....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NYHC4LIFE8899

I thought ferrets ate berries and leaves and veggies..I didn't know they ate live rodents that's kind of freaky....

---

They're carnivores. Actually fruit, leaves, and plant matter will make them sick.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

When kept in tupperware - ball pythons eat rodents.

When given a choice, ball pythons often eat avian prey. The study has been done, the results posted.

The question is: how do they get to those little birdies? I mean, haven't many of you decided that they cannot climb, should not climb and that climbing is generally dangerous to them?

They climb - apparently, wild ball pythons have not gotten the memos stating that they cannot climb and can eat only rodents.

A lot of people think bps only eat rodents. Thats because in captivity thats what we give them. In the wild they eat what they can catch. Younger bps are more likely to climb than older ones yes but thats because of body size. Younger smaller bps can get into thinner branches than the bigger ones which could break the branches. Also chicks fall out of nests and they will snag them just as fast as they will a rodent. Also in the wild hampsters and gerbils are natural prey to them. I don't like hampsters or gerbils they bite more than rats will. I've owned them, I prefer a nice calm rat over an aggressive biting hampster. I would feed off a hampster before I would a rat if I could afford them.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Skiploder

When kept in tupperware - ball pythons eat rodents.

When given a choice, ball pythons often eat avian prey. The study has been done, the results posted.

The question is: how do they get to those little birdies? I mean, haven't many of you decided that they cannot climb, should not climb and that climbing is generally dangerous to them?

They climb - apparently, wild ball pythons have not gotten the memos stating that they cannot climb and can eat only rodents.

---

Mine climbs everything that is climbable. He climbs to the top of the shelf which is on about 2 meters. Even in a tank he climbs everything possible. That's why I made him a climbing gym from wood that almost reaches ceiling, but no climbing the radiator onto a window ledge and from there on a tree alike looking tall plant towards ceiling ;) So yeah they climb !

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phantomtip

Also in the wild hampsters and gerbils are natural prey to them.

---

Actually, hamsters and gerbils(at least the one you're thinking of) are not natural prey. They are Asian. Specifically Mongolian.

The gerbils in Africa are a different species from the ones in the pet trade.


Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NYHC4LIFE8899

hamsters( which I won't feed to my snake,a Hamster that is,there to cute)

---

Really?

Next time I go to buy rat pups for my little man,which will be prob weds or so,I am going to get the price on the hamsters..they pretty much look like adults,there pretty big,like the size of a small/medium rat

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by satomi325

If hamsters weren't so darn expensive, I wouldn't mind adding them to my list of feeders for my ferrets. Price is really the only thing saving them from becoming food here. I like giving my ferrets a varied diet.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

---

I have a friend trying to unload 10 of them for free.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by carlisleishere

I've fed chicks to my BP to get him out of a 10 month fast. I didn't notice a major difference in poo, but he was only on chicks for about a month. My vet recommended supplementing with calcium if I was going to feed them long term, as they don't have a lot of calcium.

---

What did you use to supplement calcium, dust em like crickets?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by maculataJones

What did you use to supplement calcium, dust em like crickets?

---

It's a 7 years old thread and the person you are asking a question to last activity was on 11-16-2017