Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a friend who breeds pigeons and is currently very over run with them. Has anyone else fed chicks, pigeons, or any other birds to their atbs, or know anyone who has and how it worked out? It would be nice to have free food for awhile, but I don't want to hurt my atb.

Thanks

A couple of thoughts:

1.) You should feed nothing to any snake that's wider than the widest part of the snake. BABY pigeons might be small enough if the A.T.B. is big enough.

2.) Birds have a tendency to pick up salmonella and histoplasmosis. The snake would then get it and could pass it to you. Consider this before you do it. Maybe have his flock checked.

3.) Birds are not the most common natural food for any tree boa; arboreal rodents are.

I would not feed pigeons to any animal I keep; here's why.

-Pigeons, under even the most controlled conditions, carry a list of parasites and bacterial diseases too long for this post. Many a transmitable to both mammals and reptiles.

-Pigeons have been proven to be an incomplete food item, most studies were done with raptors in mind, but I would hazard to guess that the same applies for herps.

-Studies on the diets of wild adult ATBs show that fowl make up less than 10% of their diet. So it would not make sense to feed them birds as a staple in captivity.

-You would have to feed the adult snakes a baby pigeon under 3 days old, anything else is too large. You would also have to cut out the bird's crop so your snakes would not ingest the crop milk baby pigeons are fed by their parents. This substance is VERY high in fat, cholesterol and protein. Maybe okay for breeder females, but a bit much for adult males and non-breeding fems.