Question for those using f/t quail, chickens, or rabbits

[artgecko]

I recently added a bag of 25 frozen day old chicks to my bigcheese order and my boa took well to feeding on a couple of them on feeding night. I'd like to continue to include at least some kind of birds in his feeding rotation, but with him getting larger (he is on small or medium rats now) a day old chick doesn't cut it and I know feeding 2 smaller items isn't preferable.

That said, I have some questions for those of you that feed f/t birds or rabbits.

1. Where do you get your f/t quail, chickens, and rabbits from? (and who is the most economical source)
2. What size of each of these would be equivalent to a medium and large rat?
3. Do you have any issues with bird beaks poking holes in your freezer bags (thus causing freezer burn)?

Thanks for your time and help!

[bcr229]

I can only speak to the f/t rabbits as I get them sort-of locally from a breeder. A rabbit pinkie is about the size of a large-ish small rat or a small-ish medium rat. A rabbit fuzzy is the equivalent of a large-ish medium rat or small-ish large rat. I can also get half pound rabbits, those are equivalent to XL rats. The jumbo rats (basically retired breeder females) I get locally weigh in at 14-15 oz, so equivalent is a one pound rabbit.

I've also noticed that rabbits can be shorter and thicker than their rat counterparts. So a fuzzy rabbit may leave a bit of a visible lump in the snake's stomach where a large rat wouldn't, even though they're the same weight.

Some people have reported their boas don't like converting from rats to rabbits, I've never had a problem. Most hit it right away, I only had one female who had to investigate her first one for about half a minute before deciding it was edible.

Rabbit prices I pay: 35 cents for pinkies, 75 cents for fuzzies, $1.25 for half pound, $2 for 1 pound, $4 for 2 pound, and then it goes up $1 per pound from there. By sort-of locally I mean I throw two big coolers in the trunk and drive an hour to pick up once every 8 weeks, but it beats paying for shipping.

[artgecko]

Thanks!
He's fine on rats for now, but I have read many opinions that once they are large enough to take a large or xlarge rat, they need to be switched to a lower fat food item, so I'm trying to plan for that.

I will have to see if there is a source for feeder rabbits in my area... The few prices I have seen online are insane.

[Sauzo]

A large rat is fine, its the XL of anything that is fatty. Feeding a couple large rats every 3 weeks is going to be fine. My 6' BCI girl is almost 3 years old and she feeds on large mediums still so unless you are powerfeeding yours, you got lots of time to decide And dang bcr, those prices on rabbits are sweet! I'm paying $6 for a large medium rat every 2 weeks and $5 for a small rat every week as well as $2 for an adult mouse every week.

[Sauzo]

And Artgecko, I checked into Layne Labs and when I factored in shipping from either them or Big Cheese, it ends costing me on average about $6 per frozen rat which is the same price I pay now for live rats that I just kill myself. The dang shipping on frozen stuff is a killer. Its actually more for the shipping than the rats themselves from Layne labs to me lol.

[artgecko]

That's why I wait until bigcheese has the flat rate $29 shipping going and I order like 4 months worth (at least, usually more) at a time, otherwise it is cost prohibitive. :/