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May be a stupid question, but I was just thinking that chicken breast, being so high in protein, would be good for a growing snake. I would think they would occationally eat birds in the wild, but (assuming they would even eat it) would that be good for them?

Then tell everyone how to get a ball python to eat a chicken breast! LMAO

If you have a bunch of chicks running around, go ahead!

CLUK CLUK CLUK....LMAO....

Truth is......balls are strictly rodent eaters. You might try chicks, but I doubt they'll take them. Don't try breast. Not enough nutrition even if they ate them. They need whole animals.
Good luck.

Quig

and she got maaaaaaassssive i wouldnt recommend it for a bp maybe some drummettes haha J/K but you could load the rat up on chicken b4 u feed him to the snake just a thought

It's not a bad question. I've thought of it myself, but after doing some research I found out that it's not a great idea. Here are a couple reasons:

1. No fur. Although it might seem better if a snake is fed hairless things, it actually can be bad for them. The fur acts as "fiber" in a snakes diet, slowing down the digestion process in the large intestine so the water excreted can be reabsorbed. No fur can mean dehydration!

2. No bone. All animals need some source of calcium and carbonate in their diet and snakes get it mainly from the bones of their prey. Calcium is used both for things like bone building but also in many chemical pathways within cells. Carbonate is excreted into upper small intestine by the pancreas to neutralize acid secreted by the stomach.

3. No brains, guts, lungs, etc. Just like humans need vegi's and fruits in their diet, snakes need brains, guts, etc. Muscle has a lot of protein and fat, but not much else. Brain on the other hand is composed of a whole different host of nutrients.

So it's up to you. Just for the heck of it I once warmed up a piece of raw pork chop, just to see if my garbage disposal ball python would eat it...she did...but I have no plans of feeding it to her regularly.

matt

Thanks for the info. I wasn't planning on doing it, just a thought that crossed my mind.

I just got a new male bp two weeks ago and he has shat blood three times since. I went back and the guy that sold it to me said it is because he had quail and it gave him the squirts. First of all bp's wont eat quail, secondly if he did it tore his stomach lining, it didnt give him the squirts so now I have to take my brand new animal to the vet. Go ahead and feed him chicken... have fun. -Joe