Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do any of you guys see a long-term problem with feeding kings and milks a 50/50 mix of mice and chicks? Aside from the smell.
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Hi,

I feed lots and lots of chicks to my kings. They are cheap, nutritious and tasty (based on the the zeal with which they consume them). I have been using chicks for all of my adult and sub adult kings for over a decade with no downside other than the incredibly stinky shat that the chicks are reduced to. I would say that my chick to mouse ratio is probably 3:1.

Will

Is the smell that much worse compared to an all-mouse diet.
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Mark

I don't think it is...but then they usually get at least one or two mice a month too so maybe that impacts it? A bit looser stool sometimes but it's not particularly worse.
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
1.3 African House Snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
1 corn snake
4.3 Florida Kings
2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
1 Argentine boa
1 Texas Rat Snake
1 checkered garter snake

>>Is the smell that much worse compared to an all-mouse diet.
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>>Mark

My WC Pacific Coast Gopher snake craps out whole chick legs....and it DOES have an odor worse than digested mice......
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Hi Mark,

Yeah, a fresh chick crap smells much worse than a fresh mouse crap...not that the mouse is like roses, but the chick inspired poop is like a punch in the face. I can tolerate a lot of bad smells, but a fresh steaming load of refined chicks is enough to make my eyes water.

Will

...and say you don't work for a chicken producer or rodentpro....

:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

LOL..I think I'd rather deal with the crap that comes from a chick than the crap that is made of digested chicks.

Will

Very colorful description, Will, lol. I was considering chicks. I think now I'll do an occasional chick feeding. Thanks all for the info.
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Mark

I've often wondered why rodents are the common fare for reptiles. I can get chickens from the feed store for a quarter the price of a jumbo rat at the pet store. I say go for it. The snakes in my experience prefer birds over rodents. Although I know it does happen, I didn't notice any difference in stool smell or consistency in burmese pythons when feeding an all chicken diet. (Which is what you have to do when the local rabbit breeders find out what you're doing with their prize offspring. Haha.)

Terry

I can't find a reliable place to get anything bigger than chicks or I'd have my retics on chickens in a heartbeat. I do use chicks a lot though, cause yeah, 1/4 the price of a similar sized rat
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
1.3 African House Snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
1 corn snake
4.3 Florida Kings
2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
1 Argentine boa
1 Texas Rat Snake
1 checkered garter snake

I feed chick to mine in the spring for two reasons. That is when they would naturally be available (at least in larger numbers) and because they are so readily eaten its a good way to get some extra weight on the females.

After breeding I go back to mice because I can't endure the stink year round.
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