Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm wondering if button quail would work as snake feeders, they are easier for me to make, and they don't stink. Does anyone know anything about feeding poultry to snakes?
Thanks

I know a few people feed chicks to their snakes, but others feel there is too much of a salmonella risk so they don't feed them poultry.

Also, I'm thinking that even if you do feed them quail, I would think you would still want to feed rodents as well, like every other feeding.

Feeding poultry also leads to other less appealing aspects of snake husbandry, as I've heard that snakes who eat birds have smellier and messier poop.

So, by feeding quail instead of mice, you would get around the smell of the mice, but then have the snakes cages smell more.
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alstiver@hotmail.com

1.0 '01 Hypo snow cornsnake (Tesla)
0.1 '02 Ghost (pastel) cornsnake (Banshee)
1.1 '02 Bloodred cornsnakes (Desi and Luci Too)
0.0.1 Northern water snake (temporary pet)
0.0.4 '03 American toads (temporary pets)
0.0.3 Goldfish (Kabuki, Isamu, and Yuki)
1.0 American Eskimo mutt (Rusty)

I always wanted button Quail!!! Always!!! The fact that they are very prolific and stay small are only side benefits. I was thinking of buying some eggs on eggbid.com and using my hovabator to hatch them. They are right up their with rodents on productivity. If you take the eggs out of the nest and hatch them in an incubator, you can keep them laying. I think they will lay every other day.

If you want, you can also check out day old chickens. Variuos web sites will sell them for about a buck as long as you order 25.

I remain unconvinced that salmonella is much of a problem in backyard flocks or day olds, but I have no research to back that up.

DeMak

I tend to agree...birds can carry salmonella, but so can nearly any animal. It's the ones that are crapping all over each other in factory farms that are the biggest risk for that.

Alright, I think Il'l buy a pair, and see how it works out. Even if there is a problem with using the chicks as food, Il'l still have a couple of cute pets.
Thanks,
Jack P