Feeding Snakes drumsticks, chicken necks, etc

[Carpetcleaner]

I tried to feed my Carpet Python a chicken drumstick today.He didn't like it.
It was a KFC hot and spicy.
I am going to try him on the original recipe tomorrow.:|



Just kidding, though it does like day old chicks.

 

[gruntbox69]

I have been feeding my 2 coastals and only one of my jungles chicken necks lately i first herd of the idea from a freind who new some one else had feed there coastal chicken necks for 12 years and still is. so i went to the local buchers and asked for some chicken necks he said $3.00 a kg my jaw nearly hit the floor so i said what do people normally buy them for, he replied for pet dogs or soups, I said have you ever herd of people feeding them to there snakes and he just look at me like i was about to though a snake at him. So i said ok what does the soup taste like, He said its the tastest part on the chicken, So i bought a kg of chicken necks and feed my pythons only 1 out of pythons did not want to eat them but the rest did. The coastals ate quite a few five to be exact, I Watched them carefully over the next few days one thing i noticed was there poo was as clean as i ever smelt and after a week there skin shiny and smooth. the one that did not eat the chicken necks scales are mat and poo really stinks. so... so far so good.

 

[pythoness]

lots of hormones and antibiotics in meat chickens.

 

[BenReyn]

bout time soneone finds out mate!

 

[cris]

lots of hormones and antibiotics in meat chickens.

Chicken farmers havnt been using hormones for ages. Im not sure if the antibiotics would still be active when the meat is consumed, it would be interesting to know. I think freerange type chickens are probably better but it doubt commercial ones would cause any harm. Is there any evidence to suggest they may be harmful?

 

[daniel1234]

Wow what a great thread. It's got every thing, education. humour, and other stuff I am to tired to say properly. I have read the whole thread, just wish I knew how to do multiple quotes. I heard some where some one said that animals such as cats, need to eat a bit of fur, skin, etc because it provides them with roughage or something as in the wild when they eat through an animal. Mind you it doesn't matter if your vegan, alternative, have fast food gold cards, or whatever, something will kill you eventually. Especially those soy beans, like drinking cough syrup only without the high:shock:....oops.

And as for freedom of choice for your herps, I really don't know, my childrens got on ebay once and almost brought a car......

 

[Sdaji]

lots of hormones and antibiotics in meat chickens.

The hormone thing is a myth, but hey, believe what you like *shrug*. They do use antibiotics, although if they're safe enough for people they're presumably safe enough for snakes. Either way, I don't use chicken of any type, age or source to feed my snakes. If you want to talk about nutrition issues and chicken you might want to think about the lack of certain vitamin in babies, but then again, snakes are pretty hardy and adapt well to dietary issues... mostly... usually... we think. Anyway, it doesn't really seem new or relevant to this thread.

daniel: glad you like the thread Since the thread has been bumped up, the snakes are going well and Tails is probably about four or five times his initial weight, and looking good

 

[m.punja]

good to hear Sdaji. Are you cutting away the excess fat from the chicken necks? You have probably already explained that but I'm too tiered to go back through it. When feeding chicken necks to my reptiles, especially if it's going to be a tight fit, I also chop off the protuding sharp bones and the fatty parts. All my reptiles take them readily, one tiger is a little hesitant.

 

[Sdaji]

Dude! I'm not using chicken! :lol:

 

[m.punja]

oh

 

[Snake Catcher Victoria]

The v.f.f say that there are no hormones or antibiotics in chicken..
Might be true, but the same people also say there is no hormones in beef where as i know for a fact there are.
This is because when i worked on a beef producing farm we would worm(drench orally) and spray the pink eye spray castrate and dehorn them them in the crush and also deliver a hormone capsule via a hypodermic gun behind the ear of each animal that was in the crush.
This was biannual event.
Any way i fed chicken necks to most of my animals from skinks to frogs and snakes and have done so for years with no ill effect that i know of.

 

[moosenoose]

The hormone thing is a myth

So how do you explain the monster breasts and thighs phenomenon 8)

 

[caustichumor]

So how do you explain the monster breasts and thighs phenomenon 8)

Augmentation???:lol:

 

[Choco]

Sdaji,

Great idea. I don't see whats some people can't understand about the concept; can a snake be raised to be healthy on an alternate food source other than whole animals? I knew some people occasionally fed chicken necks etc but didn't realise there were so many. Might have to look into it myself. Certainly cost effective.

A couple of questions now that your a month or so in. I've read the entire post and might have missed these but
1. If not chicken what exactly are you are feeding? You mentioned road kills are you actually using these(I might have missed the sarcasm)?
2. For those using chicken necks and/or whatever you are using is there any risk of sharp bones doing damage to a snakes internals as it goes down and so should be trimmed. A comment was made "you don't trim Rats" but their bones are intact ie. no sharp points and covered by fur.
3. Do you warm/prepare the feeds the same as feeding a frozen rodent?

Cheers,

 

[dragozz]

some rats still have sharp nails but when they go down it doesn't do the snakes any harm, the chicken neck bones that stick out (if any) are not big so really it shouldn't do any harm.

Sdaji,

Great idea. I don't see whats some people can't understand about the concept; can a snake be raised to be healthy on an alternate food source other than whole animals? I knew some people occasionally fed chicken necks etc but didn't realise there were so many. Might have to look into it myself. Certainly cost effective.

A couple of questions now that your a month or so in. I've read the entire post and might have missed these but
1. If not chicken what exactly are you are feeding? You mentioned road kills are you actually using these(I might have missed the sarcasm)?
2. For those using chicken necks and/or whatever you are using is there any risk of sharp bones doing damage to a snakes internals as it goes down and so should be trimmed. A comment was made "you don't trim Rats" but their bones are intact ie. no sharp points and covered by fur.
3. Do you warm/prepare the feeds the same as feeding a frozen rodent?

Cheers,

 

[Carpetcleaner]

So how do you explain the monster breasts and thighs phenomenon

I know of plenty of women with "plentiful" thighs and breasts and they don't take hormones to achieve the result. Hahahaha.

 

[junglepython2]

I know of plenty of women with "plentiful" thighs and breasts and they don't take hormones to achieve the result. Hahahaha.

They just eat plenty of chicken

 

[BlindSnake]

We use chicken (or beef) heart when we have the need to force feed. (in place of pinky mice or parts thereof)
As there is much less water content, and it is basically pure lean muscle, you get more bang for your buck, so to speak. We have noticed that this substitution can improve condition in the animal, much quicker than an equivelant amount of pinky would have.
When we do have occasion to use them, we give the leftovers to a cpl of our pythons who are pigs, and will eat anything, any time. They seem to give a boost to these snakes who are still growing aswell.(the only drawback is the gross squelchy sound thaat a whole heart makes when being eaten!)

I know that this is not the aim of the experiment, but thought this observation might add to your ideas on the topic of nutrition and food subtitution.

We got the idea from overseas keepers who also see the same results, and use heart to start their hatchies.

We have found it invaluable, when a rapid increase in condition is necessary.
(and at 50c for 6 chicken hearts, well, you cant beat that!}

What I would find very interesting, is if you notice similar differences when trying different animals and different muscle groups..

 

[Sdaji]

I won't feed them chicken or beef, or any meat intended for human consumption. Don't worry, I'm fully aware that it would turn them into monsters which would make Godzilla look like a Garden Skink. I won't do it! Disaster averted! You're all free to go about your normal lives.

Choco: Thanks for your questions. Any apparent cynicism is humour, all in good fun, and not directed at you.

1) I'm still using rat legs, tails and fillets. I'll probably use road kill in the future, likely stuff I run over myself. I hit a deer and a kangaroo on the way back from my girl's place recently, there's always a lot of goodies on the road there. Maybe they'll have been eating hormones left out by goverment conspiracy workers, but I'll take that risk.

2) Most people don't bother.

3) Yeah, room temperature or so, sometimes warmer, sometimes cooler, depending on how I feel and how quickly I'm working. (many will now want to assasinate me for not strictly heating them to 37.1 degrees celcius, flame away ).

4) Oh no! We're all going to die!

 

[Choco]

Thanks. I have a fussy jungle who doesn't like thawed mice only fresh killed. I might see if she'll take drumsticks.