Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a baby retic, about 4 feet long. I've been wanting to experiment with a diversity in his diet. I have at least 10-15 bird nests around my house, and most of them either have fledgling birds or eggs. I was wondering what the odds are of me running into a problem if I decide to feed one of the fledglings. What would be some of the negetive effects if I did? Thanks

What the hell is wrong with you? Aside from brining in parasites both external and internal, you want to feed your BABY retic birds from your yard? Wait till its big enough to eat chickens and go from there... Honestly i dont think this is a serious post so im not going to waste any furter time on it....
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-echo-

Well because its a baby i would deffiantly(sp?) not reccomend it. CB retics dont have then ammunities compared to those that in the wild. Even when the animal is an full grown adult dont feed in WC prey.. Your chances of then animal gettin eternal parasites are greatly increased with WC prey. Just casue you wanna save a few bucks. Just feed it CB prey.. Your much better off that way
stephen

Why does it matter how big the retic is? Why could someone feed WC prey to a bigger retic, but not a baby...I've seen people feed racoons and wild turkey to their retics, but no one says anything because these are "experienced" people. The reason I asked is becuase I was uncertain about it, and looking for someone to kindly clarify it for me. You reply as if everyone knows everything and I'm an idiot for asking. Sure I knew there would be risks and I knew about the possibility of parasites but I wasn't sure how real those risks were, and if other experienced people did it then there must not be anything wrong with it. If you think I'm unintelligent for not knowing that, thats fine your entitled to your opinion, but I dont need to know that so if you dont want to help me, dont respond to my post. People come to this forum seeking help and advice from other more experienced people, not to be attacked and taunted.

"Why does it matter how big the retic is? Why could someone feed WC prey to a bigger retic, but not a baby..."

Well as it was previously stated yournger snakes wont have the tolerence for groups of parasites as a lager one would...

"I've seen people feed racoons and wild turkey to their retics, but no one says anything because these are "experienced" people."

If they are feeing racoon, etc., to their retic they arent as experinced as you might think, its a wreckless act with disregaurd for the safety of the snake, especally if it is live. I would say something if some one was on here talking about the racoon they just fed off... Also i recomended on waiting untill you retic can eat a chicken before going to birds, and as far as i know there arent too many feral flocks of chickens for you to get them WC....

"and if other experienced people did it then there must not be anything wrong with it."

see above

"If you think I'm unintelligent for not knowing that, thats fine your entitled to your opinion, but I dont need to know that so if you dont want to help me, dont respond to my post."

you're right, I am. And i was tring to help you. Im sorry if you took it worng or if its sounded overly hostile... in retrospect i shouldnt have started with "what the hell is wrong with you" but it was an honest question. the birds in your yard were never ment to be eaten by a retic so leave them alone...

"People come to this forum seeking help and advice from other more experienced people, not to be attacked and taunted."

Ne ner ne ner ne ner!

love, echo
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-echo-

WOHA DUDE.....ALL I DID WAS GIVE YOU SOME ADVICE.....I NEVER SAID ANYTHING BOUT YOU BEING INEXPERIENCED SO YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN AND READ WHAT I WROTE CAREFULLY MAN... ALL I SAID YOU SHOULD NOT FEED IT WC PREY CASUE ALL THE RISK INVOLVED..BUT IF YOU INCISED(SP?) ON DOING THAT..YOU SHOULD AT LEAST FREEZE THE WC PREY FIRST SO YOU CAN KILL ALL THE BAD THINGS IT COULD BE HARBORING..THEN YOU POSSIBLY CAN.... i NEVER CALLED YOU INEXPERIANCED I THOUGHT I COULD HELP YOU OUT A BIT BUT IF YOUR GUNNA SAY ALL THAT CRAP THEN ITS ALL GOOD...WHATEVER...

My reply was to echo, not you.

OHH..LOL...SORRY BOUT THAT DUDE...BUT HEY GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR ANIMAL..PICS MAN PICS

There is a similar topic over on the Burmese forum. I replied to it over there, but the flames haven't ignited yet. So here goes over here. I have at times fed my pythons wild animals. Many years ago, I was told by a very knowledgeable veterinarian (who was a boa breeder and very good with exotics of all kinds) that it is acceptable to feed captive snakes wild caught prey. He said that reptiles are not susceptible to mammal diseases. I once had a 16 1/2 foot albino female that was fed a wild caught rat or two when she was a juvenile. I was in college, and the local pet stores couldn't get big rats. She wasn't large enough to eat rabbits yet, so we set out some live traps and caught a couple of big rats in the basement of a nearby fraternity house. We killed the rats and fed them to her dead. She gobbled them right up. No parasites, no sickness, nothing. This wasn't a regular practice, but it worked when domestic rats weren't available.

I also have a 12-foot normal male Burmese that has eaten both rabbits and squirrels from the wild when he was smaller. These were roadkill animals that were in very good shape after their untimely introduction to four-wheeled vehicles. I guess it's been about 4 years since he's eaten anything from the wild, and he experienced no problems at all.

I didn't mention this over on the Burm forum, but only because I was talking about my experiences doing this with Burms. But I also fed a retic an owl that flew in front of my truck and got stuck in the grille. This particular snake was finicky, and would only eat birds (i.e. chickens, quail). The owl was small and fresh, so I dropped it in the cage. She ate it up, and again, had no problems. I think the owl incident happened in early '97 if I remember correctly.

I posted about this myself on the Burmese forum maybe a year ago, and got flamed pretty hard for it. I don't make a habit of doing this, and I haven't fed a captive python a wild animal in about 4 years. I have a good supply of domestic rabbits, so it's not necessary.

If you decide to go this route, do not feed a snake anything that has been shot. Even a .22 that passes straight through the animal leaves traces of lead behind, and they'll even digest steel shot if you use a shotgun (so I've been told).

I've also heard of people using wild prey items to stimulate a feeding response in animals that are refusing food. Something about the "wild" smell/taste that is supposed to stimulate feeding.

However, I wouldn't go so far as to recommend this practice. I've done it out of necessity at different times in my herp career, and it's always worked out. If you go this route, proceed cautiously and realize there are risks involved.

RP

In most areas it's illegal to do anything with any raptors that are roadkill(except maybe to remove it from your car). I also would prefer that their death go to SOME purpose, but if you get caught it brings a hefty fine.

Well, this was 7 or 8 years ago, so I kind of figured I can tell about it now. I didn't say much about it when it happened, though!

RP