Feeding quails and/or chicks

My current frozen supplier has chicks and quails available.

I have read a number of threads and other sites about feeding quails and chicks. Those are all several years old. Much of it was just second hand information as well.

So I wanted to see if there was any new info from people who have actual experience feeding quails or chicks to their BP or other snakes.

Have you fed, or do you currently feed your BP (or other snakes), quails or chicks as all or part of their diet? How has it worked out for you? How long did you do it for? How often do you do it if you still use quail/chicks as part of your snakes' diet?

Any experience you can relate would be appreciated.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...=feeding+quail

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...=feeding+quail

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...=feeding+quail

1 of those is 6 years old, 1 of those is filled with people who read things or heard things about feeding birds to snakes, 1 of those quickly turned into feeding hamsters to ferrets, and I already looked at all 3 of them.

I am looking more for responses from people with actual experience feeding quails/chicks to their BP's or other snakes. Thanks, though.

http://www.academia.edu/418766/Suita...captive_snakes

Those threads seem to contain a lot of misleading information. Chicks make great snake food, especially for arboreal or semi-arboreal species who would naturally eat only birds, or other reptiles. I have not done it yet, but I intend on using day old chicks as part of my Morelia bredli's diet, she is currently a bit too small. Varying the diet of your BP is not a bad idea, mixing in chicks shoult not hurt if its willing to take them.

I feed chicks to my BP that I have produced. Usually once a year on their birthday. I feed rats as a main food source, don't want them to think they will be eating chicks all the time.

I've decided to get some first hand experience. Nothing teaches like that.

10 chicks, 10 quails on the way to start with.

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Originally Posted by 200xth

1 of those is 6 years old, 1 of those is filled with people who read things or heard things about feeding birds to snakes, 1 of those quickly turned into feeding hamsters to ferrets, and I already looked at all 3 of them.

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Well, if you want hard science, make the effort, and go get some. Or, as you just said, make your own. I hope you'll take growth notes, and keep a control group.

Ever think there might be a reason why you can't find anything useful on the subject...

My only fear would be they get stuck on chicks and never go back to rats. Just doesnt seem chicks have enough nutrition wise for the snake. I could be wrong. Never fed a chick and dont plan on it. Goodluck.

Ive wondered this too but i didnt find much info.. I was told if my snakes are readily and regularly eating rats then i shouldnt mess with it. I guess i would try it if i had a BP that was real picky with "regular" food. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

I read somewhere that chicks cause really stinky poop lol

I would say a chick or quail every now and then is ok. I haven't fed them but I've heard of others doing it. It also depends on the snake. My girl would probably eat one. I would just worry about the fact that chicks are more fluff than meat depending on age, and breed. What breed of chicks are they? The big breed chicks would probably be more bone than meat also. Quail chicks are small. I have them everywhere here at my house. The adults are nice size if I put out bird blocks. 1 quail chick would be like feeding a rat pup to my 4 ft girl. It would be an appetizer. Remember also balls in the wild eat anything that's the right size for them. Birds, chicks, rodents. Chicks fall out of nests and the ball will snag it. Birds get hurt the balls gonna snag it. Rodents are the main diet but if you're hungry anything goes. Good luck and I hope it goes well for you and your snakes.

If you check out the link I posted its a study that discusses the suitability of day old chicks as snake food. By % they are not much different nutritionally than mice or rats, there is a table that shows the breakdown.

I have fed chicks to my balls on occasion when no rats available, just to get my snakes by.
As for long term effect, i got a 4 year old female 2 months ago that was regularly fed chicks since it was big enough to swallow them, it was 1100 grams when i got it, after 2 months of eating rats with me it's now at 1350 grams empty. I can't say it's a definitive proof of chicks being a poor choice for balls, but it's what my scale is telling me. A fellow herper who wanted to save on feeding cost tried chicks for a few weeks, returned to rats after seeing unsatisfactory weight gain on his snakes. That last part is 2nd hand info, but i have no reason to doubt it.

I also observed that snakes have more difficulty swallowing a chick than a rat of the same weight, because chicks have larger diameter as opposed to rodents being elongated.

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Originally Posted by J.P.

I have fed chicks to my balls on occasion when no rats available, just to get my snakes by.
As for long term effect, i got a 4 year old female 2 months ago that was regularly fed chicks since it was big enough to swallow them, it was 1100 grams when i got it, after 2 months of eating rats with me it's now at 1350 grams empty. I can't say it's a definitive proof of chicks being a poor choice for balls, but it's what my scale is telling me. A fellow herper who wanted to save on feeding cost tried chicks for a few weeks, returned to rats after seeing unsatisfactory weight gain on his snakes. That last part is 2nd hand info, but i have no reason to doubt it.

I also observed that snakes have more difficulty swallowing a chick than a rat of the same weight, because chicks have larger diameter as opposed to rodents being elongated.

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This is also possibly due to us wanting our snakes to be larger and heavier than they would be naturally (putting on 250g in two months is not necessarily healthy and could be due to a higher percentage of fat in rats). I unfortunately have not found any study done on the natural size and growth rates of python regius (if someone knows of one please share), but it is my belief that we tend to over feed.

My mom raises heritage breed chickens, and occasionally she has chicks she wants to cull because they don't conform to the breed standard. If she doesn't want to raise them up to eat, we feed them to our snakes. I don't do it often, and I don't do it with animals I have for sale (just in case they get stuck on chicks, which hasn't happened yet). But I don't notice any problems...

Interesting question. I've never tried it, but have wondered that before. I will be interested to see what you find out from trying it.

I'd been thinking when they start selling day old chicks around here of getting a couple. I need to get my girl further up to weight and also I think a day old chick would be a nice change to the weekly rat lol

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Originally Posted by eatgoodfood

This is also possibly due to us wanting our snakes to be larger and heavier than they would be naturally (putting on 250g in two months is not necessarily healthy and could be due to a higher percentage of fat in rats).

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i was only aiming for a normal improvement since it was obviously underfed by the previous owner. the excpetional weight gain was a result of my feeding it the generally recommended diet of 1 rat a week. since it's four years old, the snake is still considerably an underweight specimen compared to the norm. with the ideal diet it's geeting now, i'm inclined to think the weight gain will taper off once it reaches optimal body mass.

My girl is considered by the captive norm severely underweight. She averages empty 850g at 4yrs and 4 1/2 ft long. In the wild this is probably the norm. She looks extremely fat to me. I mean normally looks like she ate a small chicken. She eats great, poops normal and still looks like this. She will take a large rat if I let her. She's just a small slender girl. So if you're not planning to breed her then she might just be a small slender snake.

I feed day old chicks to my three BP. They eat multiple chicks per feeding actually looking to get some slightly larger. As far as weight gain I have not seen a negative in there weight gain aside from the normal strikes. All seem healthy and normal. My normal 4 1/2' long 3200 gram can do some damage when it comes to chicks. Sometimes I do think it may be easier just to do one large rat hence me looking at getting some larger chicks. Let me know if you have any specific questions and I'll do my best to answer.


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