mice/rats alternatives....

[FrankieCarbone]

Anybody out there feeding there BP's something other than rodents, ie baby chicks?

I been thinking about this for a while, i know they can eat them, but is there anybody out there that has there BP's on a constant baby chick diet without any problems that can elaborate??

[Daybreaker]

I don't feed any of my snakes chicks/quail (why change from rats/mice when those work so well?) but only downside I've read/heard from feeding chicks is that the snake's poop is more runny and lots more smelly. Hopefully some can chime in with first hand accounts/experience.

[ReptilesK2]

I don't feed any of my snakes chicks/quail (why change from rats/mice when those work so well?) but only downside I've read/heard from feeding chicks is that the snake's poop is more runny and lots more smelly. Hopefully some can chime in with first hand accounts/experience.

x2 heard this also.

[FrankieCarbone]

I have read about that too, but is that the only downside? smelly poop?

[kitedemon]

There are a few international members whom do as rats are harder to find. There is a little nutritional differences the big one looks to be lower calcium but that could be supplemented. Avians are a common prey item for sub adults in areas (according to predator/prey studies in the northern part of the range) So there can be no question they can and do eat birds in the wild. The real question is why bother? I assume you have a reason, just keep in mind there could be down sides some royals are hard to switch from one prey item to another, having a bird eating Royal that is 3400gm and eating small quail might pose a problem down the road.

[FrankieCarbone]

well here is my first reason, i hate mice rats! im disgusted/scared of them, first cuz they are disgusting animals, and second i sort of had a bad experience when i was 6 years old where, well i dont want to get into specifics but it involved a mouse stuck on my mother and me crying scared to death that my mommy was gonna die...but thats a loonnnggg story.

Anyway i have always been able to "supress" my dislike for rodents to be able to keep my BP. I wear leather gloves, and i never touch the animal, i buy it from the petstore, i open the tank, and with leather gloves on i open the box and drop the mouse/rat in. Well the other day was sort of what made me think of a alternative. Please dont laugh at this, although i know this if pretty funny for those of you who have no problem grabbing a rat.

I went to feed my BP the appropriate size medium rat (70g) and it was the usual, i went ahead, took out the screen mesh and removed the water dish, moments later my BPs head pops out the hide (he knows no water dish = feeding time) and i go ahead put on my leather gloves and drop the rat out of the box. Well after a few failed attempts by my BP, i decided to grab the rat by the tail (with plyers) and move him in the direction of my BP as he was very interested in the rat but the rat was smart and would not move at all, anyways once i applied the plyers to the rats tail he went berserk, squeeling and just shaking, my BP was looking at the rat like he did not know what to do, so after a while the rat managed to head butt my BP, after that he quickly ran into his hide, so i now knew it was a done deal and there was going to be no feeding tonight, just at that moment that stinking rat crept all the way up and started chewing on my hand! well the leather gloves i had on, i freaked and dropped both the plyers and rat back in the tank. So now i have the rat in one side of the tank, the plyer in the middle of the tank, and my bp barricaded in his cold side hide. So i went ahead and opened my window (i live the second floor) and prepared to grab the plyers and then grabbed the rat by the tail, and as i did so and was moving the rat towards the window (he was going berserk again by the way) he once again went for my hand, i freaked and threw both the plyes and rat out the window, i looked, rat landed in some bushes and ran off.

Yeh yeh, i know im a wimp, but hey what can i say. This was 2 weeks ago, since then i fed my BP 2 small mice the day before yesterday, and it seems he is a mouser.

Anyway my SECOND reason for asking about this is, here in NYC its actually easier to get a chick of the appropriate size, than a small rat pup. Its easy to find small 20g mice in nyc, but its very hard finding a 50-60g. Usually youll get either a small mice, or a medium rat which is like almost 100g. Here in NYC there are these places all over called "viveros" i dont know how that translates in english, but they basically sell live birds for those who like "fresh meat". So in there they will have cages with ducks, chickens, geese, etc etc. So i can actually get baby chicks of the appropriate size ALOT easier and cheaper, than rats. NOt to mention i dont mind picking up a baby chick or touching one.

Anyway, sorry to make this such a long story but i just want everybody to completley understand my situation, and im not just trying to feed my BP a bird to seem "cool". But if i know it will not be healthy or better for my BP, im still prepared to handle the dilema of handling rats/mice once a week for the rest of my BP's life. But if i can find a alternative that would be perfect.... any thoughts???

[KatStoverReptiles]

I have no suggestions for you as far as the chick or not debate, but I do have a few thoughts:

If you grabbed me by my tail with pliers (rodents have full feeling in their tails), I'd freak out too.

Mice/rats aren't dirty. Having kept both as pets before, they're actually quite clean.

[Clint Bundy]

I would think that chic's would be much dirtier than mice or rats. I wonder why you bought an animal that ate the things that you are deathly afraid of? If you don't like touching live rodents have you tried frozen ones? You can order them online in many sizes. Anytime you are harming an animal they react in a berzerk or crazy manor to try and get away from the attacker. That is just normal behavior. I have only been bitten by rats that are protecting their young. I have had pet rats and they were one of the best pets that I have had. Honestly I have pet rats that breed for my reptile's to eat.
Please don't take my questions harsh, they are not intended that way. I a mjust trying to figure a few things out.

[AK907]

I have no suggestions for you as far as the chick or not debate, but I do have a few thoughts:

If you grabbed me by my tail with pliers (rodents have full feeling in their tails), I'd freak out too.

Mice/rats aren't dirty. Having kept both as pets before, they're actually quite clean.

I would think that chic's would be much dirtier than mice or rats. I wonder why you bought an animal that ate the things that you are deathly afraid of? If you don't like touching live rodents have you tried frozen ones? You can order them online in many sizes. Anytime you are harming an animal they react in a berzerk or crazy manor to try and get away from the attacker. That is just normal behavior. I have only been bitten by rats that are protecting their young. I have had pet rats and they were one of the best pets that I have had. Honestly I have pet rats that breed for my reptile's to eat.
Please don't take my questions harsh, they are not intended that way. I a mjust trying to figure a few things out.

+2

I've handled literally tens of thousands of rats in my life. I've been bitten by a rat ONCE and it was by a pet rat who had a seizure and was not aggressive in nature. They are incredibly intelligent and social animals (easily as smart/social as a lot of dogs!). Even unsocialized feeder rats are not prone to biting and I have fear reaching into any of our feeder tubs bare handed. Even our breeder females haven't tried biting when we handle their babies. I still use common sense when handling them. Don't give them a reason to bite you and they 99.9% of the time they won't.

The evil creatures are hamsters. They are very unpredictable and I've been bitten only God knows how many times by them! Anyone who has ever owned a hamster as kid knows they are prone to aggression and nipping and yet they somehow win out over rats because they are cute and don't have tails.

I will also second what has been said about birds being dirtier. This is open to debate, but as a whole I believe they are.

If you're dead set on feeding them poultry, I don't see any real issue. Just make sure you know and trust your source and I think you'll be all set.

[FrankieCarbone]

I wonder why you bought an animal that ate the things that you are deathly afraid of?

the same reason why in 2006 i signed the dotted line (well stylus pen) when i joined the army as 11b infrantry. I dont exactly want a job where the main job function is to clear out a building full of insurgents by killing them, them as in human beings, but it has to be done to keep this country safe. Sorry if thats too intense, but i want to get my point across. I loves BP's, hate mice/rats, but since my love for BP's is greater than my disgust for rats, i make a what you call "sacrifice". We all do it, wether it be going to war with your landlord that dosent want you having a snake in your apartment, or taking time off your schedule to tend to a sick snake. We all make sacrifices for our pets, mine is dealing with something the i hate.

And chics being dirtier than rats/mice? i mean come on, seriously, not trying to be offensive, but can u really sit there and say that a baby chicken is dirtier than a rat?