Chicks as feeders

Boas
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I’ve always fed FT rats to my boas. I’m thinking about mixing in chicks periodically. What are your thoughts? Any real benefits? Any downsides?

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I love providing variety. I’ve fed, rats, mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, chicken parts, other snakes (those were to kingsnakes). Only real downside i can think of is extra stinky bowel movements on a chicken heavy diet.

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Thanks for the feedback. I just added some chicks to my rat order.

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I totally misinterpreted this title :joy: :woman_shrugging:

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Seriously? :scream: Out of curiosity… why chicken, in particular? As opposed to other meats?

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Good question, I’m unsure of the reasons behind the result, but it never failed whether feeding Boas, Burms. Retics, when it was a regular part of their diet the resulting waste produced was a punch in the face.

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That’s… really interesting. Kind of makes me wonder about the effects of chicken-based dog and/or cat foods… :cold_sweat: I never actually thought to take note of any… odorous side-effects, since my general reaction to any form of pets’ “presents” is… :face_vomiting:

I wonder… has anyone noticed a similar reaction to other poultry or game fowl? Turkey, duck, pheasant, quail, etc.? :thinking:

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I’ll tell ya in two weeks what the smell is like… just had the opportunity to clear out a pigeon loft which left a lot of squabs without parents. Waste not want not so fed them to several of my boas. Not one turndown either which was surprising since none of them have any experience with bird. I don’t really care for excessive hair on rodent and do have a feeling that the feathered birds my be messy. As far as meat quality, I’d say chicken is one of the better meats of the dogfood market right now but could be due to availability. So called premium dog chow companies/blends routinely substitute inferior proteins(soy) after the first quarter of production as it is allowed as long as the % of usable protein is within margin.

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Uggh, I hate that… :rage: Although dogs, at least, are omnivores… Still, having a hard time imagining them living on soy in the wild. :stuck_out_tongue:

It’ll be a LONG way off before it’s considered “cheaper” by mass-manufacturers, but I’ve been really interested in the developing technology for growing meat from cell cultures… It could eventually mean being able to “grow” any kind of prey, without the issues of trying to breed them in captivity or the risks of disease/parasites being shared (as with frogs/toads). It would obviously need to expand to growing every useful part of a whole carcass, but imagine being able to easily provide any animal with exactly what it would be feeding on in nature… :open_mouth:

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Long story short- worked fine, hardly noticed feathers which surprised me. Never refused. However, the actual breeder of these pigeons mentioned the hollow bones of bird. Not sure what that amounts to as far as calcium but worked as a treat and better than nothing.

edit- given the nature of pigeon, wouldn’t recommend as a thing- potential for coccidia or giardia is probably high.

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