Rodent Helper



Once in awhile I find myself in a bit of a bind and use dressed/prepared food.







You can get several good meals out of a $6 bag of frozen chicken quarters found in your local grocery store.



However, like Laura said, it's not "whole prey" and does lack nutrients 'n such that snakes gain from whole prey items. The blood, organs, and even the hair/feathers. Hair & feathers is roughage that works like the roughage we humans are said to need.



I don't feed dressed prey very often but I believe that it could safely be used as "Rodent Helper" here & there. I don't see anything wrong with adding a few chicken legs to a whole prey meal once in awhile (Whole prey only for one or two meals & then add a few dressed pieces to the next whole prey meal). That's just my personal opinion, though.



As an experiment I have fed one Burmese python strictly chicken quarters (leg & thigh) at one feeding session every 1 1/2 - 2 months for about a year or so now without any visible harmful effects. Granted, she's my garbage disposal and will eat anything you put in front of her, so it was no problem getting her to eat dressed meals. I've only tried feeding chicken quarters to two other Burms and both are finicky eaters that took them without hesitation.



It might be a good idea to dust dressed prey with a reptile multivitamin powder. However, I still wouldn't consider it to be the same quality as whole prey.





I'd canvass your area pretty thoroughly by hitting every feed store & asking them for a rabbit breeder & looking over the ads that are posted in the stores. Also look at Farm Trader type publications, like Auto Trader, and other sale magazines/papers, online classifieds, etc... While there may not be any in this week's publications, keep looking continuously.



When my rabbit production gets low I've got two sources. I can get small - medium rabbits for $8 - $10 from one source and small ones for $5 from another source.





One more time - for the record:

I don't suggest feeding strictly dressed prey on a regular basis. But, based on my personal experience, I believe it's OK to do so periodically, if needed.



Have a great day!

HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,

this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:

Appalachian American





www.natures-signature.com

[ Show Entire Thread ]