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Alternative Feeders For Large Snakes

Posted By:

PatHigdon

While I was buying feeder rabbits today, the person I was purchasing them from asked me if I would/could use fowl for feeders. I have used chickens in the past. But never ducks, geese or guineas.

So my question is.....

What alternatives are there for feeding large snakes (large boas, condas, burms, afrocks, retics, etc)??

I personally, currently use rats, rabbits & baby pigs when rats/rabbits are scarce.

I have seen people use goats for very large constrictors.


Points:	100
Topics:	General Health , Feeding , Infectious Disease
Tags:	Feeders
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Member Comment

4/19/2009 10:09:40 PM

Sylvias

I don't think a goat is ever necessary...or even a pig in most cases, it's alot easier on a snakes system to take a few smaller meals than one big one. however in place of rabbits and rats i have heard of people using quail, ducks, chickens, and other such game fowl. can also use guinea pigs but they tend to have alot of hair and less meatand bone matter than rats. I have also heard of people feeding squirrells, i would imagine most rodents of appropriate size would work.

Member Comment

4/20/2009 12:28:20 AM

TigerLilly

If you are going to use other types of fowl as feed, I wouldn't suggest doing it on a regular basis. I don't know so much about salmonella, which I'm sure is a concern, but also the stool is less solid & more smelly on a regular diet of fowl.
Is there a particular reason you are asking about alternative feeders--shortage of rabbits/too expensive?--or are you just keeping options open in case the rabbit well runs dry? (just curious)

Author Comment

4/20/2009 9:39:47 AM

PatHigdon

Just trying to figure out my options.
There seems to be a low "feeder" rabbit & XL rat supply around OKC. Several of the big snake breeders in the area are finding it difficult to get rabbits & XL rats for their large snakes. The person I bought my rabbits from yesterday (April 19) asked me about using fowl. He is also low on rabbits.
I have never used chickens as a steady diet, but just to fill in where rabbits or rats were scarce.
A buddy of mine has started using "feeder" pigs for his retics. They are frozen baby pigs that weigh about 4-5lbs. And he likes how it is working out. I got one off of him for my female burm and she took it without issues.
I have only seen 2 people use pygmy goats as feeders. But in both cases the snakes being fed were both over 20ft long.
As far as salmonella is concerned. I freeze my feeder rabbits for at lease a week before feeding to to my snakes. I did the same with the chickens.

Member Comment

4/20/2009 10:19:36 AM

natsamjosh

Pat,

Not sure if it helps, but I recently found a rabbit supplier. So far they have been very responsive, and there were no
problems with the first shipment I received. Let me know if you're interested and I'll PM you.

Author Comment

4/20/2009 11:07:40 AM

PatHigdon

natsamjosh,

That would be super!!!!! Several people I know would appreciate it.

THANKS!!!

Member Comment

4/20/2009 1:38:24 PM

Kaiyudsai

I've used several different large feeders in the past for retics.... Ducks, geese, piglets,doves, quail, bantam roosters..... I even used a baby goat that was born deformed.... Of course there is a large agricultural population in my area.... it really doesnt matter... I've seen all kinds of arguements saying that you shouldn't feed them birds because of nutrition, but it's totally bogus since some species subsist on waterfowl in the wild.... I always tried to feed the bigger snakes a variety of things so that they wouldn't get picky .... people are pretty reluctant to sell pigs at feeder prices around here(to much of a demand for good fresh boudin down here... Bad thing about ordering rabbits is the weight issue.... it doesnt take many of them to fill a single box, and at 42$ a box shipping... well you get the idea... search locally, but make sure the feeders are eating a good diet.... my local source(i no longer buy from rodent pro) feeds his rodents high quality horse feed mixed with corn,vitamins, milo, oats and molassas.... I can actually see the difference in growth when I switched to his rodents.... and nice solid poo...

Member Comment

4/20/2009 1:40:18 PM

Kaiyudsai

shortage of rabbits in OKC.... probably because Bob Clark buys them all ...LOL

Author Comment

4/20/2009 2:03:30 PM

PatHigdon

I know Bob has started breeding his own rats, but I am sure he takes a major tole on the rabbits in OKC. There are several other breeders in OKC that are having issues with getting rabbits. The prices around here don't help either. The specialty reptile stores want $20 for 3lb rabbit. One of the guys I am going to start getting rabbits from only wants $15 for a 10lb rabbit.

Member Comment

4/20/2009 6:48:25 PM

Kaiyudsai

I get them for 10 bucks here.... But there are all kinds of Cajun farmers out here raising all kinds of animals... Good thing I have a bunch of country cajun family

Member Comment

4/20/2009 6:57:59 PM

Sylvias

I didn't think salmenella was really an issue for reptiles, not the way it is for people. alot of reptiles already have salmenella in their digestive tract that aids them in digestion actually. I don't think that is really a concern. I have heard that they come out the other end differently from the typical rodent feeder but have never heard any real evidence of them being unhealthy. I know people who will swear by quails, there only complaint is it smells alot worse.

Member Comment

4/20/2009 7:01:05 PM

vonnick52

There is a small animal auction just north of Tampa here. Usually there are bunches of bunnies to be had for a pretty small price, especially in bulk. A buddy of mine gets 25 or so at a time, gasses and freezes them. I think he gets them for as little as 5 bucks sometimes.

Member Comment

4/21/2009 5:32:11 PM

xanaxez

they're normally around $3 for babys and 5 dollars for adults around the small shows around here.

Member Comment

4/22/2009 10:36:23 AM

ImBooBy

Man im glad i live in the country....Alot of farmers around here will actually sell slug baby pigs and goats but personally Ive never tried. I own a chicken farm so Ive been using a few chickens for my boas and my burm but the poop REALLY has started to become more liquidy and stinky. I think mixing it up between large rats and chickens is working for me but I just met a biology student at school that breeds rabbits at home so looks like I got lucky....My herp teacher actually uses squirrels for his rock python. "no point wasting good free meat"....

Author Comment

4/23/2009 9:15:54 AM

PatHigdon

I live southwest of OKC. We have more crop farmers than livestock farmers. I have been picking up rabbits at a flea market. Squirrels have never crossed my mind. I may get a trap and try it out.

Member Comment

4/28/2009 2:13:46 AM

amarilrose

I would worry about parasites & disease in any wild caught prey!

Member Comment

4/28/2009 7:59:24 PM

shellboa

I have fed my big boas rabbits, guinea pigs, large rats, a still born chinchilla, chicken and a small turkey. They seem to stay "full" longer with the rabbits and rats. They have never had trouble passing all the g-pig hair but I have had my big carpet python get impacted by one once. I did not notice the issue with runny stool but I only fed one here one there. Probably not more than one in a month. Had a friend with a farm who was giving me everything that failed to thrive.

I have a friend with a big burm that feeds weaner pigs, chickens and big rabbits to his and he says he hasn't had a problem with poo.

Salmonelle is an issue, usually some thing species specific. Freezing usually wipes it out.

Accepted Answer

6/17/2009 10:15:53 PM

Sam Bearden

Well I guess I am a little late seems you have a bunch of good replies But I will through in my two cents anyway. Only because most of what I have are the big ones.

So here we go.
Rabbits are cleaner and do seem to last a little longer and we are fortunate enough to have a supplier who has never let us down.
We get them for $1.00 per pound and go through 250+ pounds a month so we are lucky.
But it has not always been that way we to had problems finding rabbits for a long time so we have experiance with all the other prey items mentioned and here is my take on them.

Birds of any kind (quail, chicken, roosters) while we never had a problem getting them to take a bird the after math was not pretty birds do not have fur to clump the dump together therfore one of two things happend, you either got some nice mushy poo followed by a clump of feathers(the feathers never digest) or you got some less mushy poo with feathers all through it Nasty.... And the smell let's just say eww.
Second problem we had with birds.... For some reason birds just like guinea pigs seem to be snake crack they seem to get hooked and not want to switch back and then you end up having to cut off a wing and tie it to the rabbit and it is just a pain in the butt.

Pigs..... I know there are a bunch of people who swear they are the best thing since rats, But let me tell you how it went here,
We bought 100 pounds of pig got it home froze it then when feeding day came we thawed those piglets and you know what not one burm turned them down I mean out of 15 burms none even thought twice, we where like cool they all like them. Next week we had a situation I was in the hallway and heard what sounded like someone just splashed a 5 gallon bucket on a tile floor so of coarse I went right into the snakeroom and there it was snake diarrhea and it was our biggest female at the time and it was all over the cage top bottom everywhere so we thought maybe it was just her.... Nope over the next week we had fed off a few more and then the liquid starting flowing it was bad....
Pigs as with fowl have no fur to as I said clump the dump so it get's ugly..

I am not saying either birds or pig is bad for your snake I am just letting you know of my experiance.
If I where you I would try to find either guinea pigs or rabbits..
That is just my opinion...
Good luck

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