Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ive had many lizards and always wanted a snake just was to busy caring for my breaded dragons and gecko's......My last gecko has now passed and just my breaded dragon remains.....so now im thinking about getting a burmese python...ive read almost everything there is to read.....but i have a particular question about feeding....once the snake grows into a decent size snake (adult basicaly) and then sugest feeding rabbits , chicken etc.....they talk about about teh cost of pre frozen prey its expensive yada yada.....what about frozen chicken from the grocery store...i woulda rather pay 5 bucks for a bunch of chiken drumsticks then 30 for a whole pre frozen rabbit....would there be anythign wrong with feeding an adult phyton pre frozen chicken (or turkey possibly) from the grocery store???????

Before I answer your question a few words of warning. Although I love Burmese pythons and think they make great pets, they don't make great pets for everyone. This snake is generally recomended to an intermediate snake keeper not because of its temperment but due to its massive size, feeding, husbandry, and general care requirements. Becoming comfortable caring for and handling a smaller snake which reaches an adult size of only five or six feet is strongly recommended before you own a giant snake. Do you really want a snake that may grow more than 20 feet long or weigh 200 pounds, urinate and defecate like a horse, will live more than 25 years? At 10 feet and 40 pounds, a 3-year old Burmese is already eating rabbits a couple of times a month and is very difficult to handle alone. You will need to have two people to clean the enclosure, take it to the vet, and help with any thing else involving the snake.
Now to answer your question....
A bag of chicken drumsticks simply wont do. A snake needs to ingest an appropriate sized food item whole to take advantage to the nutritional content of the food item. Simply, a bag of chicken drumsticks just wont meet the nutritional requirement of any snake. And your snake probably wouldn't see the pile of drumsticks as prey. The drumsticks would lack all sensory stimulants that would trigger the snake to eat. If the cost of feeding the snake whole rabbits concerns you then maybe look into aquiring a snake which may only grow large enough to eat jumbo rats which are significantly cheaper then whole rabbits.
Hope this helps.
Good luck with whatever snake you chose. I'm sure you will find snake keeping just as rewarding as keeping lizards.

Acquiring a burmese python as a pet is something you really have to think about. These snakes get very large, very heavy and are not handable alone. If the cost of feeding whole rabbits is prohibitive to you, remember caging these large snakes is also expensive. Then again, these large snakes don't need to be fed every week, they are fine with one or two meals a month.

You could always breed your own rabbits to help offsite the cost. Food rabbits can be consumed by yourself, your snake and extras sold to other snake owners or people who just like eating rabbit stew.