Feeding question

[Reptilesaurus]

Hi hi!! In the near future I am going to start breeding Japanese quail for my snakes. I was wondering what age should the quails be to be a suitable size for my pythons? Currently my bhp & costal are on fuzzy rats. Also do the quails beak & feet need to be removed? As I was a little worried they might cause problems.

Also down the track I will look at breeding rabbits too. In the past when I have bred rabbits the babies have been stillborn or die a few days after birth. Are these safe to feed to the snakes or should I only feed things that I have put down myself? Thanks heaps!!

 

[sharky]

I'm not too much help here but you can feed quail full. No need to take off beaks, etc.

That is strange with the rabbits..I have bred rabbits before and never had that problem? I had the occassional still born (litters exceeding 16 kittens) but otherwise they grew up healthily. What were you feeding teh mothers and babies at that time? What living conditions were they in? Just trying to help

 

[Reptilesaurus]

Sorry I didn't mean they are always still born, this is just occasionally, they have large cages & get fed a pellet/grains mix as well a veggies & fresh greens.

 

[Starter]

... In the past when I have bred rabbits the babies have been stillborn or die a few days after birth. Are these safe to feed to the snakes or should I only feed things that I have put down myself? Thanks heaps!!

It depends on what breed of rabbits you have. In the dwarf breeds the specific gene which is responsible for the "dwarf" size has a lethal component. Especially in the Netherland Dwarfs, the smallest type of rabbits, lethality in newborns is about 30 %, simply for genetic reasons (that's why I stopped breeding them, although they are very pretty and cute). If you breed non-dwarf rabbits and give them the right conditions (nesting box in a warm and dry place, good food for the mother, etc.) there should be hardly any dead newborns. Also the litter sizes are bigger in naturally sized rabbits than in the dwarf breeds. If their newborns would die - especially several ones in the same litter - I would not feed them, as I would strongly suspect an infectious disease.

If your snake has been feeding on fuzzy rats (i.e. small rat babies) rabbit babies (even from dwarf breeds) will be still too big for your snake for quite a long time. I would rather move on to bigger sized rats.

 

[stimigex]

If you have only a couple of snakes as stated above then for you to breed food is not a cost effective option. There are plenty of feed suppliers across the country that can supply your needs far cheaper than you can produce it for.

 

[Reptilesaurus]

Yeah was thinking the same thing. Ok will scrap the rabbit breeding idea . The only reason I suggested quails is I am going to breed them anyway as I have a breeding pair already

 

[Brodie]

I'd eat the quails myself. Yummo

 

[RedFox]

I would say that quails would be worthwhile breeding as they can be used for three purposes, eggs, meat and snake food. You will need to incubate jap quail eggs.