mice or chicken?

[ilovemysnake]

i read something the other day about using cut up chicken breasts (raw) instead of rodents as food for reptiles.
what's everyone's opinions?

i dont know what i think of it. in the wild, a snake isnt going to find a chicken in the wild (at least not around here) but, people do feed larger snakes full chickens and chicks. so, is it basically the same thing?

i've been wanting to ask, tried doing more research on it, but couldnt find anything too convincing.

[kwhitlock]

i read something the other day about using cut up chicken breasts (raw) instead of rodents as food for reptiles.
what's everyone's opinions?

i dont know what i think of it. in the wild, a snake isnt going to find a chicken in the wild (at least not around here) but, people do feed larger snakes full chickens and chicks. so, is it basically the same thing?

i've been wanting to ask, tried doing more research on it, but couldnt find anything too convincing.

stick to rodents.

[drumcrush]

I saw a guy feed beef heart to his corn

[Jinxygirl]

Raw chicken carries so much nasty bacteria.

[RyanReptile]

chopped up chicken breast has no where near as much nutrients as mice or rats. Stick to whole prey items.

[SnakeyJay]

They get nutrients from WHOLE prey items.. Calcium from bones etc... Feeding chicken breast doesn't provide this and shouldn't be done...

It's a cheap way out for people who have little care about providing what's needed and focusing on what's easy.

[CK SandBoas]

As others have said, stick to whole rodents.....

[formica]

snakes cannot get the full range of nutrients they need from pieces of chicken. its a horrible way to kill your snake very slowly. as said, they need whole prey to get a full range of minerals, nutrients, proteins, amino acids and fats from all the diffrent parts of the animal

[SSSSnakes]

I have offered chicken wings with vit added. I mix it up and give them a wide variety of foods to eat. Chicks, rats, mice chicken wings with vit added. My snakes are healthy and live long lives. In the wild snakes eat a variety of different food items.

[lady_bug87]

Honestly aside from the nutritional stuff the poop from the chicken can be soo gross

[LiL Zap]

Snakes were meant to eat whole prey items. People who feed chicken pieces are lazy and want the cheapest way to feed their animal. I don't like that practice at all.

[kelzerman]

My snakes eat whatever I'm eating for the night. Tonight I made them chicken stirfry!! They loved it!! Haha jk

This sounds lazy and what everyone else said about not getting the proper nutrients is correct.

I'm not too educated on the snake vitamins and chicken wings practice... Spicy or mild?

[Sublimeballs]

As chickens are only domesticated red jungle fowl, a snake shouldnt find wild chicken. As everyone has said snakes need whole prey items for nutrition, bones-calcium, liver-vitamin d3, etc... I do supplement my retics diet whole chickens, but not pieces.

[kelzerman]

How often do you feed your retics chickens?

[Sublimeballs]

How often do you feed your retics chickens?

About every 5-6 feedings, they are higher in fat so not a good stable diet. She really seems to like them though and I haven't noticed the horrible smelling feces everyone talks about. If I remember correctly yours is about 3 feet now right? She could take a chick soon, but they are even less nutritious so I would only do it occasionally. Is yours pure mainland?

[kelzerman]

I have never got into chickens and would like to work them into her feeding schedule eventually. Yes she is pure mainland.

[Sublimeballs]

I like giving my tics a varied diet, no chance of prey imprinting like balls, and its gotta be better for them. I'm gonna get some quails soon to mix in aswell. I have pure jampea, and kalatoas. Not sure that ill ever get pure mainlands; but I'm considering a trio of 75% kalatoa crosses if the retics arnt added to the Lacey act. Thinking about suntiger het anery male, tiger het anery female, and purple albino female..

[SSSSnakes]

My Burms eat whole dead chickens when I offer it to them. Like I said, a varied diet works well. How can most of you be giving opinions on this subject when you have never tried anything but mice and rats. I put up my experience and 33 years of offering different foods to my snakes. As I stated before, my snakes are healthy and live to the higher side of their expected life span. The proof is in the results.

Depending on the snake, I also feed fish and worms.

[lady_bug87]

My Burms eat whole dead chickens when I offer it to them. Like I said, a varied diet works well. How can most of you be giving opinions on this subject when you have never tried anything but mice and rats. I put up my experience and 33 years of offering different foods to my snakes. As I stated before, my snakes are healthy and live to the higher side of their expected life span. The proof is in the results.

Depending on the snake, I also feed fish and worms.

I really don't like how arrogant you are. I don't disagree with you but I don't like your attitude

I don't care how long you have been in the hobby. I will say to you what I always say

Congratulations, you're old. You've got a long head start because you were born first

Feel better?

[formica]

My Burms eat whole dead chickens when I offer it to them. Like I said, a varied diet works well. How can most of you be giving opinions on this subject when you have never tried anything but mice and rats. I put up my experience and 33 years of offering different foods to my snakes. As I stated before, my snakes are healthy and live to the higher side of their expected life span. The proof is in the results.

Depending on the snake, I also feed fish and worms.

you are talking about whole chickens as part of a varied diet, that is not the same thing as pieces of chicken breast as the core of the diet.

I am a proponent of varied diets, i think they are essential for all reptiles which are not specialized to particular prey - however, I would rather see a snake eating just whole mice, than just chicken breast.

[SSSSnakes]

I really don't like how arrogant you are. I don't disagree with you but I don't like your attitude

I don't care how long you have been in the hobby. I will say to you what I always say

Congratulations, you're old. You've got a long head start because you were born first

Feel better?

Nothing I said was arrogant. I posted facts of what I've done over the years. I shared my facts and results, this is called science. Test and retest and if you get the same results over and over, then it must be working. Arrogance is when someone who has kept a few snakes for a few years, thinks they are experts and shares their untested advice. And experience and knowledge comes with time and yes you have to be older to get it. I thought I knew it all when I was young, but as I grew older I found out I did not know as much as I thought I knew. I'm still learning. I'm not an arrogant person, and if you took the time to learn a little about me before making a judgement about me. you might find this out.

Also name calling is against the rules of this forum. Express your opinion, but don't disrespect others on the forum.

[SSSSnakes]

you are talking about whole chickens as part of a varied diet, that is not the same thing as pieces of chicken breast as the core of the diet.

I am a proponent of varied diets, i think they are essential for all reptiles which are not specialized to particular prey - however, I would rather see a snake eating just whole mice, than just chicken breast.

As I said earlier, I also feed chicken wings, bones and all with vit. on them. .. I would be willing to show pictures of some of my snakes that eat this diet to show how healthy they are.

[Pareeeee]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's asked this question when starting out, lol.

Like almost everyone else said, it is ideal to give whole prey items. If you want to feed them bird meat, get chicks.

[SnakeyJay]

Yes, whole chicks are fine!! Just not pieces like legs etc with out added vits... I tried chicks and DID get the vile smelling pop from the boas.

[KORBIN5895]

I personally feed a varied diet to all of my snakes. I feed rats, mice, hamsters, degus, gerbils, rabbits, chickens, guinea hens, guinea pigs, finches and parakeets. I don't do it because I feel snakes need a varied diet but because it was cheaper.

[formica]

As I said earlier, I also feed chicken wings, bones and all with vit. on them. .. I would be willing to show pictures of some of my snakes that eat this diet to show how healthy they are.


you feed said snakes just chicken wings? or as part of a wider diet?


i'm not a fan of synthetic vitamins myself, but thats a seperate topic.

[infernalis]

Way out there people....

No wonder things get so out of hand so easily.

The girl has 2 small colubridae, She asked if it was OK to feed cut up breasts to her 2 small Lampropeltis, who give a flying leap what someone feeds their other (off topic) animals???

So now we get all heated up about the non on topic nonsense???

[shaunyboy]

my Carpet Python Mentor feeds chicken breasts to his Black Headed Pythons without issues,they are only PART of their diet,as he feeds the usuals rodents,birds,etc to his BHP' (they even take live snakes,but won't take dead ones)

cheers shaun

[SSSSnakes]

you feed said snakes just chicken wings? or as part of a wider diet?


i'm not a fan of synthetic vitamins myself, but thats a seperate topic.

I feed chicken wings with vit. on and off to the snakes that like it. As I said all my snakes get a varied diet.