chicken necks?

[bredli-sli]

alright so i seen a thread on chicken necks, can i just feed the ones you gett from woolies?

 

[miss_aimee]

Feeding parts of an animal should be a last resort. Snakes need everything in the mouse/rat/chicken to be healthy. The fur provides roughage,the bones calcium,and so on and so forth. I'm not sure if you can feed regular, store-bought chicken necks. I'm fairly sure feeding frozen mice or rats or whatever would cost less in the long run, especially when you have to fork out for supplements because your snake has a vitamin defiency,or when you have to take it to the vet because it gets really sick.

 

[cement]

Hi bredli-sli,
Yes you can.....but why would you?
Snakes don't need variation in their diet. Whole rats, mice or rabbits are all they need. The only reason people feed chicken parts is because it is cheap. It doesnt do the snake any favours though.

 

[garycahill]

Good for monitors,
No good for snakes.

 

[snakehandler]

Even with monitors, it is not an ideal piece of meat. The whole animal is required to ensure correct nutrition. The neck has meat and bone thats it.....the whole animal has meat and bone along with all the body organs, these contain a vast array of nutrients such as vitamins and minerals. If you cannot afford to feed your animals correctly, dont keep them!

 

[garycahill]

Nice work snakehandler, not their sole diet by a long shot!

 

[bredli-sli]

no guys, im not feeding them on them for ever, just wonted to try them, a bbit of a change. i have plent of mice and rats here, cheers

 

[snakehandler]

if you want a change go for whole chickens, whole quail or other animals of similar size, never use body parts....we only use "meat" when we are feeding the lizards and even then the meat is whole ground animals, such as rabbit or kangaroo!

 

[bredli-sli]

cheers guys recon the necks would be okay minced for my ackies? (as a filler so i dont have to give them so meany woodies)

 

[garycahill]

I would love to see a black headed monitor eat a whole chicken or even a whole quail & not split in half.
They are after all only 40cm long including their tails as adults.

 

[jack]

yes the ones you get from woolies are fine, and no your snake will not coil up and die if it even smells them...

 

[snakehandler]

thats why you mince them....they love it......if you mince the necks add some repti-vit

 

[garycahill]

What I'm doing is working just fine.
2 clutches so far this season, 13 eggs.
Will just keep doing what I am doing.

 

[varanid_mike]

We feed chicken necks to our vens as a bit of an extra and only sometimes, an example of this might be giving a large tiger a mouse and a neck. We only use them every 7th to 10th feed and does no harm to them at all. A number of wildlife and reptile parks use chicken necks as a supplement to snake or reptile diet. A variety of quality meat pieces (in small amounts), chickens, quail, rabbits, mice, rats and fish for snakes give's them everything they need. Same thing with monitors and lizards, it’s very unhealthy to be just feeding them meats in either pieces or ground up, variety is the spice of life!

 

[ReptilianGuy]

i to have tried chicken necks as at times i have a surpus for ferrets and a croc, i had got low on mice and rats a while back so as a filler tailed the first feed (mouse) on my vens and bredli with a couple dusted chicken necks. i've done it bout 2 or 3 times now as it does lack other benefits of a full animal so can only really be used as a cheap filler on the odd occasion, not a regular fix unless its being minced and other things added in like veg or insects and suppliments or all three mixed in for most lizards/monitors.

 

[serpenttongue]

How do you mince the necks? I asked my butcher if he could do this and he said "No".

 

[scout]

come on people do the research before making statements. There has been studies that has shown, that just feeding meat and bone will not hinder snakes growth or health. There was a study done where tiger snakes were just fed on beef strips to no ill effects. Now, while they advised it was not suitable with no calcium content ,the snakes suffered NO ill effects. The study was also done feeding fish, same results. try googling nutrient content of prey etc, its quite interesting what you can find. Adult rats with their high fat content are not always the best choice, especially for the likes of BHP's who in the wild survive mainly on reptiles who generally have little to no saturated fat. By feeding them adult rats it has been proven that they can build up a fatty layer around their heart and liver which has been known to cause mortality. While I cant mimic their natural diets i try and vary it as much as possible. My snakes get chickens, occasional ducklings, quail, rats, wild rabbits, mice and chicken necks. I havent tried fish only because of availablity.

 

[scout]

oh.I have also fed turkey necks,but only a few of my snakes are big enough to handle these, so only on rare occassions

 

[cris]

If anyone has any evidence or credible theory why occasional feeding or food items that arnt a whole animals is harmful to snakes i would be vey interested to hear.

 

[cris]

come on people do the research before making statements. There has been studies that has shown, that just feeding meat and bone will not hinder snakes growth or health. There was a study done where tiger snakes were just fed on beef strips to no ill effects. Now, while they advised it was not suitable with no calcium content ,the snakes suffered NO ill effects. The study was also done feeding fish, same results. try googling nutrient content of prey etc, its quite interesting what you can find. Adult rats with their high fat content are not always the best choice, especially for the likes of BHP's who in the wild survive mainly on reptiles who generally have little to no saturated fat. By feeding them adult rats it has been proven that they can build up a fatty layer around their heart and liver which has been known to cause mortality. While I cant mimic their natural diets i try and vary it as much as possible. My snakes get chickens, occasional ducklings, quail, rats, wild rabbits, mice and chicken necks. I havent tried fish only because of availablity.

Nice post, i would just add that if feeding fish try to avoid using frozen fish as a regular thing, it can cause vitamin B deficiancy which may lead to neurological problems.

I wonder how anyone can claim any diet is correct without conducting long term studies, many snakes are known to live over 30 years and its quite possible that they have the potential to live much longer, with humans many dietary problems dont show up as serious health problems for a long time, it would be reasonable to assume the same for reptiles.

I also occasionally supplement meaty foods with wombaroo, multivitamin and/or vit d calcium.