Chickens as feed?

[southb]

I've always heard that feeding your snakes chickens makes their poop smell really bad. I was wondering if there is any truth to this? I found someone within a few miles of my house that raises chickens and I can get babies that are just a little smaller than a tennis ball for 50 cents a piece. He told me if I bought enough I could get them for a quarter and I really don't think I can turn down a deal like this.

[mainbutter]

I've heard that if you do it once in a while, yeah they have poop issues, but if it's a regular feeder their bodies eventually compensate for the different foodstuffs, kind of like how long-time vegans have a hard time processing beef because their bodies aren't used to needing to produce the enzymes for breaking down the proteins or something..

[Toronto Python Gurus]

first your going to have to get your ball python(s) to switch from what they are already eating to chicks, which might be a problem considering people have problems switchin from mice to rats and ball pythons are already picky eaters . . . another problem is if you are plannin on breeding and selling the offspring then whoever purchases a snake off of you is going to have to feed the snake chicks which might be a lil harder for them to find then you and if they decide not to feed them chicks then they will have to get the snake off chicks and onto mice or rats

[southb]

I've never had a problem switching my animals from mice to rats. I'm hoping that won't be the problem because my large females seem to not care what they are eatting.

[PythonWallace]

I might try it for an arboreal species, but with ball pythons you might end up with a calcium deficiency or something, sinse they need whole prey items and birds have hollow bones. I would imagine that chicks that young wouldn't have much bone development compared to a rodent of the same size. I'd also make a guess that a chick would have a much higher fat content than a rodent. That's all pure speculation, but I'd look into it before starting the switch.

[southb]

Feathers and down as well. I'm wondering how big they are without all that on them.

[Toronto Python Gurus]

i think it has problems written all over it IMO

[JeffJ]

first your going to have to get your ball python(s) to switch from what they are already eating to chicks, which might be a problem considering people have problems switchin from mice to rats and ball pythons are already picky eaters . . . another problem is if you are plannin on breeding and selling the offspring then whoever purchases a snake off of you is going to have to feed the snake chicks which might be a lil harder for them to find then you and if they decide not to feed them chicks then they will have to get the snake off chicks and onto mice or rats

i made the switch to rats this last feed and had no issues at all. if anything he was interested in the rat much quicker then a mouse. bit switching to poultry is a whole other story.

[nixer]

consider the fact that bird eating snakes have much longer teeth!

[JeffJ]

chickens can bite pretty hard too.... we had some when i was a kid. wouldnt hurt us much but could probably cause a few issues with a BP if not caught right away.