Could you feed a larger snake home bred Chicks/rabbits?

Praireboyfarmer · 05-30-15, 05:25 PM

I raise Rabbits and Chickens for me and my entire family to eat and so I have a lot of baby Chicks and a huge surplus of rabbits and it occured to me that I could potentially feed a snake with them.

Is there any reason this wouldn't work with a larger snake (Say adult Ball Python or Jungle Carpet Python)

that1guy · 05-30-15, 05:37 PM

I wouldn't feed a Ball python chicks or rabbits, only rats. Ball pythons are notoriously picky eaters, if you get them started on chicks or rabbits they may not go back to rats. I have no experience with Carpets, only Ball and Burmese pythons. You could absolutely feed a Burmese python chicks and rabbits, and even adult chickens for larger ones.

**Minkness** · 05-30-15, 06:45 PM

In my opinion there is nothong 'wrong' with it, but, the above guy said, since BPs are fussy eaters, it may not be too smart. However, an adult king snake or bull snake should be able to take day old chicks and maybe new born rabbits. Not sure 100% on that though. I know that next time I go to the local store for feeders, I'll be trying day old quail chicks for my MBK. =)

bigsnakegirl785 · 05-30-15, 06:50 PM

Yup no problem with that. In fact, I'd say feeding animals you raised yourself is better than buying food from somewhere. You know what's going into them, you know they're healthy, etc.

prairiepanda · 05-30-15, 07:12 PM

Lots of people feed chicks or rabbits to snakes, so if you've got a surplus anyway then go for it! I've heard that chicks can make their poop real nasty, but nutrition-wise they're okay. The rabbits are probably better, though. I believe rabbits are more calorie-dense than rodents, so feeding schedules might need to be adjusted. Just monitor your snakes' weight and you'll know.

I do agree with others that the ball python should stick with rats. Most other pythons, or even colubrids, would be fine though.

**millertime89** · 05-30-15, 11:52 PM

I feed chicks and rabbits to my snakes. They work great. The only problem with adult chickens is they're so large around you usually have to feed a lower weight than you would want normally because the snake can't quite get it's mouth around it. If you're near Denver I'll buy extras from you actually. A lot of people would actually.

**Minkness** · 05-31-15, 05:42 PM

I got a quail chick today for my MBK!!! I hope she can take it >_>