Feed chicken to Milk Sake?

[Pareeeee]

I caught a juvenile Eastern Milk snake today and have decided to keep it. It's been years since I've owned a snake and I have never owned a milk snake. I was wondering if I could feed it raw chicken meat when it gets a little bigger as long as I added reptile calcium to it? I will be feeding it worms for now as it is very small little snake. There is nowhere near me that sells frozen mice - I live in the boondocks - so I was wondering about alternative foods.

[infernalis]

They are tough to jump start.. Never seen one take a worm.

Small pinkies split in half has always worked for me.

[Little Wise Owl]

Is there a pet store near you that sells pet mice? You could buy a pair and breed them for food.

[Snakefood]

mealworms??

[youngster]

mealworms??

I'm assuming earthworms.

[Pareeeee]

See my problem with live mice is I don't have the heart to kill them. I would want to keep them as pets. LOL call me silly...

[Pareeeee]

no I've done research on Milksnakes and the field guides and herping websites I've seen all say that juvies feed on worms and slugs in the wild.

[totheend]

I believe that it is not legal to keep eastern milks.

[Pareeeee]

Probably wasn't legal when I kept an Eastern Red Bellied Snake either...

[Pareeeee]

Anyway as I said, I live in the 'boondocks' lol. Most of the pet stores around don't sell pets - just dog food etc....it's so annoying!! :(

Maybe it won't be possible to keep the little guy. It's such a cute little snake and very vibrantly coloured...I wish there was a way...will keep researching. Can't keep it indoors for long if I'm not gonna keep it.

Argh just realized I typo'd my thread title. o_O

[totheend]

Well then if you live in the "boondocks" the laws don't apply.

[Pareeeee]

Well then if you live in the "boondocks" the laws don't apply.

haha awesome response

[Pareeeee]

if I drove into the city and bought frozen pinkies how much do they usually cost? and how fast do you go through them for a snake the size of a milksnake?

PS: the Yale university website herpetology section lists the food of the wild Eastern Milksnake as follows:

Eats a variety of vertebrate prey. Amphibians, small mammals, small birds, and even snakes and lizards are constricted before being swallowed.

[Pareeeee]

Seriously though, guys, if it's too difficult or possibly detrimental to keep an Eastern Milk Snake in captivity then tell me straight up. I mean, I know reptiles, but it's been a while and I have never owned this particular type of snake. Let me know if it 'can be done'.

Pics.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a368/Pareeeee/zz-1.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a368/Pareeeee/z-2.jpg

[Little Wise Owl]

Prices of pinkies from a pet store in Canada is usually about a dollar each.

If you order them from a rodent breeder you can probably get them for around $0.40 each.

[SnakeyJay]

Awwww, what a cute little guy.

[blindfireak40]

It should be fairly easy to keep him happy and healthy. Native Colubrids are about as hardy as you can get. At his size, he'll probably only need a pinky a week for a little while, but they DO grow quite quickly. Regardless, there are larger and larger available sizes of feeders. Best of luck! :)

[SnakeyJay]

Awwww, what a cute little guy.

[millertime89]

Cute little guy! Hope you can keep him. I would probably just order some online or find a breeder somewhere close that will ship to you as you don't necessarily have to buy in bulk then to get the same prices.

[ZARADOZIA]

I buy all my rep food from RodentPro.com. It's cheaper than buying at the pet stores and they smell better. I buy in bulk so even with the shipping charges, it is still cheaper than buying from the pet stores.

Pinky mice are .16 cents each and pinky rats are .39 cents each.

They sell Mice, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, quail, and chicks.

[Little Wise Owl]

I don't think Rodentpro ships to Canada or else I'd be ordering from them too.

[Aaron_S]

Don't keep it. All native reptiles to Ontario are ILLEGAL to keep without proper permits.

Secondly, if you are wanting to attempt to feed it chicken, which isn't even possible, maybe you should re-think keeping it?

[Valvaren]

I second that you shouldn't keep it. Imagine the stress on the little guy to be pluck out of his home and stuffed into a tank, plus the fact that it will affect the balance, no matter how small still has an impact.

[ZARADOZIA]

I don't think Rodentpro ships to Canada or else I'd be ordering from them too.


I just read their terms and you are correct, they don't sell to Canada. Sorry :sorry:

[Will0W783]

It's a very good-looking snake, but wild caught snakes of any kind are notoriously hard to acclimate to captivity, especially if you arent' familiar with the species. Milk snakes will not survive on store-bought chicken- they use chemicals to wash the meat that will harm the snake, and the snake cannot get all the nutrients it needs from chicken. Snakes have evolved to glean calcium from the bones of their prey, nutrients from the meat, the blood, the skin, etc. They need a whole prey item in order to get all the nutrition they need, so your snake would not live for very long on tiny strips of chicken. If you cannot bring yourself to feed it rodents, you should not keep any snake. I'm not trying to be harsh, only realistic. It's not fair to the animal to keep it if you cannot feed it what it needs.
Also, most wild caught snakes have moderate to heavy parasite loads, and these can overwhelm and kill them in captivity, where the conditions are less than optimal in many cases. In the wild, snakes can get away from their waste, shed and leave the skin behind, and in so doing they can keep parasite loads down a bit. When you take a snake that has parasites and confine it to a cage, it cannot escape its waste, and therefore builds up parasites until it succumbs. In my opinion, ALL wild caught snakes should have a fecal sample taken to a qualified herp vet for testing, and the animal should be treated with Flagyl and Panacur. If you're not experienced in dosing snakes, and don't have a reptile veterinarian and medicines available, let the little guy go and save up for a quality captive bred and born baby....provided you can feed it its proper diet.

[Pareeeee]

I released the little guy back into the forest yesterday. Thanks everyone for your varying opinions and responses.

After much research I learned that Eastern Milksnakes in particular can be difficult at times to feed and may always be skittish, even with handling. Especially wild caught.

The legality issue...let's just say I've raised wild animals before, several species, several times.

I don't care about feeding it rodents. I just wouldn't like them to be live or raised by me, lol. If they are already dead and frozen I don't care. It's just another form of meat in my freezer. I don't want to kill the cow but I love to eat steak!! If you know what I mean :P

Anyway, I am still considering buying a snake. Not sure which species though.

[totheend]

Great to hear that you did the right thing!

Good luck in your CB snake hunt :D

[Aaron_S]

The legality issue...let's just say I've raised wild animals before, several species, several times.


This somehow makes breaking the law ok because you've done it before?

No one should be condoning the breaking of laws especially on a website that is and can be viewed by minors!

Aaron

[Pareeeee]

No it's just my personal view that the humane and proper rescuing and/or raising of an animal is not wrong. I once saved a baby bird's life from being killed by a bluejay by taking it and successfully raising it myself. I do my research before ever undertaking something like that - and that is why I decided not to keep the snake. After the research I realized that this was not something I wanted to attempt. Also the fact that I discovered the Eastern Milk's status is currently "Threatened".

As you have seen I am being responsible about this.

[ZARADOZIA]

As you have seen I am being responsible about this.

You did good Paree. I know how it is when you live in BFE and the backyard is your personal zoo & playground. lol

Late one night a couple of weeks ago I caught a baby snake (It was no bigger than 6 inches long) at my best friend's driveway. (She lives next door and isn't much of a reptile enthusiast, but she actually helped me catch it, I was very proud of her.)

We showed it off to all our kids and they wanted to hold it. We told them no because but I wasn’t sure if it was a copperhead or not. (I have never seen a baby copperhead before and the colors were very close. I couldn’t remember what the markings looked like.) Sandy asked if I was going to keep it if it wasn’t poisonous and I told her I wasn’t sure. It was so cute!

We couldn’t release it right away because I wasn’t going tromping through the woods when I couldn’t see. So I went inside to ID it and learned it was a Northern Water Snake. I debated with myself all night as to whether I was going to keep it or not. I really liked the little guy.

What finally made the decision for me was the Cardinal Rule I have drilled into teach my son’s head since he was two, “You may catch it to examine it and learn about it, but you must let it go home. Most wild animals die in captivity and it’s not fair to the animal if you take it away from its habitat and sentence it to death. The only exception is when you have to nurse it back to health and then you must release it.” I wouldn’t be much of a teacher if I broke my own rules.

So I can fully understand where you are coming from. And in the end you made the right choice. That’s all that matters.

[Aaron_S]

No it's just my personal view that the humane and proper rescuing and/or raising of an animal is not wrong. I once saved a baby bird's life from being killed by a bluejay by taking it and successfully raising it myself. I do my research before ever undertaking something like that - and that is why I decided not to keep the snake. After the research I realized that this was not something I wanted to attempt. Also the fact that I discovered the Eastern Milk's status is currently "Threatened".

As you have seen I am being responsible about this.


Being responsible? Not really. You first come here wanting to feed CHICKEN to a snake. You were willing to stress out a snake for your own pleasure and wants. That's not responsible. You also didn't do any research until you've already captured the animal for a couple of days. That's not responsible either.

This wasn't a rescue of any sort so don't play yourself off as some animal saint.

[Pareeeee]

Being responsible? Not really. You first come here wanting to feed CHICKEN to a snake. You were willing to stress out a snake for your own pleasure and wants. That's not responsible. You also didn't do any research until you've already captured the animal for a couple of days. That's not responsible either.

This wasn't a rescue of any sort so don't play yourself off as some animal saint.

Wow, that's very rude of you. The reason I came here was to ask if I could feed it chicken because I didn't know much about the species yet. I was hoping that I could feed chicken to it because that would be easier than driving all the way to the city to a place that may/may not have the food that I need. When I found out it was bad for this species of snake I realized it was not possible for me to feed it to it.

I wouldn't have come here to ask you the question if I was willing to stress it out "for my own pleasure"! How dare you say that I would have pleasure in harming animals! You do not know me from a hole in the ground. You are making assumptions. That's why I asked you guys because I didn't want to feed it the wrong thing and I was just wondering if chicken was bad or not! I found out it was.
I know that many people wouldn't even come and ask but would just keep the snake and it would end up dying.

In this area it is very hard to find certain species of snakes, that's why I kept it for a day to see if it was possible to keep it - knowing it may be years before I see another juvie Milksnake. It's not like I was starving it, they don't eat every day. I gave it a hide, water, humidity, everything it needed. I then spent HOURS researching (something I do with any animal I keep as a pet, wild or not) to find out if I could keep it. I read about chicken and snakes, I read about milk snakes, about this particular species, read about it's current status in Ontario, etc... I could have gone against my better judgement and kept it, but I didn't.

Never did I say I was rescuing this snake. I said I rescued a bird once. Also, never did I say I was a saint.

Many animals kept as pets are wild caught. This snake was a juvie - I would not like to capture an adult snake and keep it - an animal that has known the wild for years taken and put in a tank would be cruel.

It is not irresponsible to ask questions when you are not sure about something. I hope you don't tell your kids (if you have any) things like that.