Feeding larger snakes

[serpenttongue]

Adult quail are the size of a jumbo rat, and have far less body fat, from what I've read. They are an excellent prey item that never gets turned down by pythons, and are far cheaper than rats or rabbits.

 

[thepythonguy]

Adult quail are good but really stink when they come out and make a mess. I'm breeding quail for my snakes the spotted pythons and have between 1 day and 1 week old chicks and the larger water python and coastal take adults

 

[Rox.n.Lix]

Yep, i have been told rats above 250-300gm are too high in fat?? I have just been offered some young roosters from a friend -score! I assume, like rats, you just chuck em in whole?
I dont much like the ides of them being stinky on reappearance though...

 

[Bel03]

Thanks Dragonwolf, that was what i thought.......i am not quite sure how i even knew that though actually! :? & Rox.n.Lix, yeah im not too sure i like the idea of Matilda's 'messes' being any yuckier then they will be once she is at full size.......might have to start training the kids to do the cleaning! :lol:

 

[Dragonwolf]

You're welcome Bel, I only know because one of our local butchers stocks them and I considered making rabbit stew (like my nanna made when I was little). Unfortunately the rabbits in the freezer were scrawny compared to the fat bunnies my dad used to bring home from hunting.
*sigh* another childhood memory bites the big one....
Speaking of gag-able poos.... I wonder what the end result of a scrubby eating a piglet would be like :shock:

 

[snakeynewbie]

I reckon piglets would be very fatty

 

[Dragonwolf]

I reckon piglets would be very fatty

Some would be..... and probably full of hormones and other additives.

 

[Pinoy]

I've been feeding my snakes a mixture of rats and ducks.
They are fed rats one week and a duckling each week the next three weeks. I feed them this to ensure when they are bigger they will take bitds when offered. I heard sometimes, if they've eaten rats all their life, its a bit harder to get them to take birds. The re appearance doesn't bother me, regardless what it is made of, it's still poo, even if you fed them rose scented rats it would still be nasty lol.
If you don't mind that, you could always buy baby ducks, keep them for a few weeks then feed them to your snake, they grow really fast!

 

[wokka]

Yep, i have been told rats above 250-300gm are too high in fat?? I have just been offered some young roosters from a friend -score! I assume, like rats, you just chuck em in whole?
I dont much like the ides of them being stinky on reappearance though...

If you are going to feed whole chooks its best to cut the legs off so the spurs dont puncture your snake.

 

[Pinoy]

Are adult ducks any better than adult chooks?

 

[mattyg]

im in qld and i use rats, rabbits and quails, yet to try chickens. dont go to mt gravatt tho, i got 2 medium rabbits there and cost me $20 each!

 

[mje772003]

im in qld and i use rats, rabbits and quails, yet to try chickens. dont go to mt gravatt tho, i got 2 medium rabbits there and cost me $20 each!

where would you recommend?

 

[wokka]

im in qld and i use rats, rabbits and quails, yet to try chickens. dont go to mt gravatt tho, i got 2 medium rabbits there and cost me $20 each!

How big are medium rabbits?

 

[DeadCricket]

I can't imagine that a full grown scrubby (possibly up to 7-8mtrs full grown) would be happy with one jumbo rat a month. I've seen a photo of the size prey that full grown wild olives will take, jumbo rat ain't got nothing.

Would it be wrong of me to feed it annoying children. 16yr old girls seem to breed fairly regularly and consistently these days.

And as far as waste goes, my coastal seems to be toilet trained. I just take him outside as while after he feeds and he finds a nice spot on the grass and does his business. Not a lot of cage cleaning with this guy.

 

[mattyg]

mediums there are 300-350 gram, a little bit bigger then a xl rat which is mostly fat.

 

[Feurety]

sounds like one awesome coastal you have there deadcricket. ;P miss my big guy >< !!

 

[Darlyn]

Has anyone ever tried wallaby or kangaroo as a supplement?

 

[DeadCricket]

sounds like one awesome coastal you have there deadcricket. ;P miss my big guy >< !!

Yeh he is. I give big props to his previous owner. He eats like a champ, shed was no problems, friendly as and even toilet trained!

Has anyone ever tried wallaby or kangaroo as a supplement?

I could imagine that wallabies would be small enough but when I read kangaroo all that came into mind was my spotted stuck on the tail of a 6ft red LOL!

 

[cwebb]

soooo not looking forward to my bredli getting big haha

 

[bally]

olives are generally the only wild snake to target Kangaroo. As wokka said, a jumbo rat a month or fortnight is sufficent for an adult python. You shouldnt have any problems changing food items when adults either. Ive easily changed different carpets diets with ease. I would be only considering rabbits and adult chooks for scrubbies and olives. But thats just me personally. And if i was to ever feed adult chooks or large rabbits to carpets, i wouldnt feed them again for a few months.

Just have to remember captive animals arent as physically active as wild ones most of the time.