Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well the other day i was a the tractor supply store and saw they had chicks for 1$ and ducklings for 2$. so could they be used not exclusivaly but as a meal or two while theye are available and cheap?

I wouldn't recommend it because even though your balls may love them; there's a chance they may get hooked on them and refuse mice & rats altogether. Besides, chicks and ducklings aren't always available. Just my opinion.

Lance

Why bother? You run the risk of your pythons deciding they ONLY want chicks or ducks.
Personally, once your snake is on rats...I say leave them on rats.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

cause from everyone i know that feeds foul to their snakes the end result is usually quiet nasty, or so i've heard

not to mention the possible hooked factor
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I've not tried it with ball pythons but years ago I had Burmese and big boas. At times I fed adult chickens and even pheasant (frozen thawed with the beaks, spurs and claws trimmed). I actually got very dry and crumbly piles to scoop shovel out. Maybe it would have been different with younger bird feeders but I thought the feathers had a fiber effect. At least in my case the old adage about feeding fowl and cleaning foul didn’t seem to apply at all, quite the contrary.

I've fed adult pigeons and ringneck doves to boa constrictors and Burmese pythons with the same results as Randy. Day old chicks do produce some pretty nasty results. I think it is from the yolk that the chicks are still living on. I don't know how many days old the chicks would have to be before they would be good food for snakes.

A couple of years ago I tried to feed a zebra finch to a ball python. It absolutely refused to touch the bird. Many other species of snakes go nuts for birds. That was the only time I tried to give a bird to a ball python, so I do not know if the response was typical of the species or an individual peculiarity.

Good question if ball pythons tend to like birds or not (regardless of if they are a good feeder choice for keepers). I concur on some other species loving them. I did once have a male burm go on a long fast one winter that I eventually broke by buying him some quail that he apparently thought where candy.

But back to ball pythons, I had a pet store owner tell me about solving a recurring mystery of missing fish when he finally caught an escaped ball python fishing. I found that one a little hard to believe but I've known him for years and he seems reliable in everything else. Could ball pythons really like fish more than birds?

...why would you pay a buck apiece when you can get them frozen from rodent pro for 16 cents each??? I always have several bags of chicks in my freezer just in case I run out of rodents. They are a cheap nutritious supplimentary food source for me. I use them for kings and pythons (balls, carpets, boleni, diamonds) as a suppliment or to put on weight quickly. My snakes love them when offered, but they always go back to rodents, so don't worry about bps imprinting on them and refusing traditional food. But feeding of chicks does produce loose, extra stinky stools. Be prepared!

Will