Reptile & Amphibian Forums

just curious if rat snakes cherish quail...

Most ALL North American Ratsnakes will eagerly endulge in quail and many other types of birds. Birds make-up a large portion of their natural diet.

They as a general need to be fed a little more often as opposed to rodent's though. I'm guessing you noticed how cheap(no pun intended.LOL!) they are when bought in bulk from the rodent supply companies??

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

thank you!

My understanding is that all ratsnakes eat quail except for really aweseome looking luec blacks...guess you're out of luck.

Yes,...mine(especially this female) would much rather eat ME than any quail!..LOL!........PURE EVIL I tell you!!!!..hahaha!

She is much larger now than in this pic, and she hasn't gotten any nicer either!....GEEESH!

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

more than likely your snake will down quail, baby ducks, chickens, mice, rats, lizards, squirrels, baby raccoons and just about anything else fuzzy or feathery that moves. However, you should consider the possibility that some of these food items may have parasites that could harm your snake. Rodents are frozen for prolonged periods which kills bacteria and parasites.

Your snake will likely be fine if he downs a few quail, but I'd try to keep him on F/T rodents after that for safety's sake.
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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

Thanks, but aren't the quail frozen for prolonged periods too?

I think he assumed wild-type quail that you might have raised, etc..

Yes, the frozen quail you'd get from a rodent supply company would be fine, although they could possibly cause the snake to have smellier feces as opposed to eating rodents. I have heard of this from a few people that fed their snakes F/T chic's.

I think if I were to try them, I might be inclined to clip off the wings though, since they are of no real nutritional value to the snake, and it would also make them much more "stream-line" for swollowing, depending on the size of the quail and of course the snake as well.

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Actually here's my dilemna. My rat snake stops eating rats/mice around this time of year. The problem is she does not start eating until spring time and loses some weight. I'm trying something different (quail) in the hopes I can get her back on track at least until the end of November.

Ah!,..okay,...yeah, some individual snakes tend to keep to their own little seasonal schedule, no matter what the keeper does. Trying different things as you are thinking of doing can sometimes snap them out of their stubborness sometimes, but no real guarantee.

It's certainly worth a try!, but if it doesn't work, and you want to keep good weight on her for breeding, etc..., you might want to simply brumate her earlier at the cool temps. This will drastically slow the snake's metabolism so it won't loose much weight as opposed to keeping her in warmer temps.

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I'm hoping she goes for the quail, if not then I guess I'll do what you ssy and brumate her a little earlier then normal. Thanks again.