# Feeding Snakes Chicken Legs



## dezza09 (Sep 5, 2012)

Has anyone had any trouble doing this?

any advice in doing so? 

I'm sure I've read in places that people do, as well as Chicken Necks


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## Cockney_Red (Sep 5, 2012)

Never understood this Philosophy and never will!


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## loungelizard (Sep 5, 2012)

My Diamonds eat chicken necks no problem, just put them on the floor of the enclosure like any other food.


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## dezza09 (Sep 5, 2012)

Anyone used Legs?


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## sharky (Sep 5, 2012)

Nope, only rodents for me


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## emshep85 (Sep 5, 2012)

Why would you not use a whole animal body diet?


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## Leeloofluff (Sep 5, 2012)

I got into a big fihht with a friend over this topic a few days ago. She fed her snake a big piece of chicken and i said it wasnt such a good idea, even rarely. Then i heard of her friend that feeds her snakes chicken legs all the time....

The thing is you have an animal that eats one thing, not very often. They dont get variety like we do. By giving them chicken necks, legs or flesh you rob them of vital nutrients, and roughage. Its all just calcium, phospherus and fat. You miss out on everything else thats in organs, skin, smaller bones ect. 
I strongly advise against this, just feed whole prey items.


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## solar 17 (Sep 5, 2012)

dezza09 said:


> Anyone used Legs?


this has to be the 99th thread on this subject


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## dezza09 (Sep 5, 2012)

feel free to link me to them Solar 17 

feel free to link me to them Solar 17 

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Truthfully I'm just wondering as I am out of Rats at the moment but have a freezer full of Chicken Drumsticks and remembered reading about people using Chicken, I have never fed my snakes on anything other than Rats just to be clear


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## loungelizard (Sep 5, 2012)

Don't get me wrong i only use them as an addition to rats , birds , and other rodents.
Mainly if i have leftovers from my lacies.


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## rockethead (Sep 5, 2012)

is full chickens ok for larger snakes 
i thought chickens are ok to feed snakes not sure about legs or necks


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## notechistiger (Sep 5, 2012)

Certainly can. Snakes can and will thrive on just about anything, and I'm of the opinion we don't understand their nutrition really all that well. The logic behind feeding whole prey items is definitely a good one, yet snakes will do well on food that isn't a whole item. I will feed snakes chicken necks every now and again because it's cheap. That doesn't mean I don't care for my animals and it doesn't make me irresponsible. Kinda the same if you give your dog human food instead of their usual RAW or packaged food that contains "all the necessary nutrients", not optimal but certainly won't hurt them (obviously not the same, but you get the point xD).

If you're concerned, then don't do it. But will it hurt them or suddenly make them sick from lack of nutrition? Certainly not.

I defrost them as you would normally for rats and mice and feed them in the same way (tongs to hand it to them, etc).


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## Colubrid (Sep 5, 2012)

I have fed my bigger coastals necks and drumsticks on the odd occasion when rabbits and XXL rats weren't available. They are still alive today and the earth's gravity didn't suddenly stop either.


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## leamos (Sep 5, 2012)

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/...eeding-snakes-drumsticks-chicken-necks-90521/


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## Crystal..Discus (Sep 5, 2012)

I choose to do my research rather than believe the first person that comes along and tells me the sky is green. Chicken will not harm your animal, regardless of the body part. If you're worried about nutrition, give them suppliments (which you shouldn't have to, anyway.)


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## Kimberlyann (Sep 6, 2012)

Sounds like a cheapskate option in my eyes. Why wouldn't you go buy a chicken for them? I know my local reptile shop sells all different sizes frozen for snakes and monitors to eat along with their frozen mice, rats, rabbits, quail.


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## Skelhorn (Sep 6, 2012)

Load of S*&^ people saying its not nutritious. It has skin, low fat meat with high protein (if anyone on here actually does exercise and "work out" they will realise chicken is one of the healthiest meats!)
Scent it with Rats. Use a chicken leg with a big bone in it. Simple. I feed my Bredli a chicken leg between rat feeds.

Make it an inbetween feed. In the wild snakes eat more then just the same rodent! So it won't hurt to mix it up if you feel like it!


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solar 17 said:


> Hi there.MAYBE l can speed this debate up a bit...[approx.] 5 years ago l purchased a yearling female bhp off a guy who said [after l paid for her] she ONLY eats one week old chickens, well the novelty wore off these real quick[ living in an inner suburb]so l tried her on a small drumstick BINGO!!!! well for the last 41/2 years [SHE WILL NOT EAT RATS] all she has eaten is chicken drumsticks [with one MYADEC multi-vitamin capsule placed in the flesh via a knife cut]........well for the last 2 years she has produced 8 hatchies each year and is gravid again....and she is so shiney she looks like she has been dipped in clear oil.....cheers solar 17



I agree with Solar 17 

Good man!


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## disintegratus (Sep 10, 2012)

I tried our coastal with a drumstick, mostly just to see if he'd take it. He smashed it!! I wouldn't feed them animal parts as a staple, but I like to mix it up and feed them all different things sometimes.


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## MR_IAN_DAVO (Sep 10, 2012)

This debate has been around for a long time. So when i first heard it i thought that i would give it a go, because at that time rats & other such foods were in short supply.
Works a treat. My BHPs & larger morelia liked them & took to them no worries, necks with fat taken off & chicken drumsticks.
I was so impressed at the cheap easy food supply that i thought that i would give it an extended trial. So some of my BHPs were fed chicken drumsticks/necks only & some where fed a full rat diet. The results so far are that they appear to have even growth & weight gain,with no ill affects. My large female who is gravid now & about to have pre-lay shed was fed chicken drumsticks long before her condition now, so has not hurt her too much. It will be interesting to see how the eggs turn out.

I have heard of some people feeding chicken drumstick diet for many years with great breeding results.
At the same time i have had people say that they need the whole food to get vitamins from the liver & gut content, as Baden said that is easily overcome by adding vitamins with the food. They certainly seem to like them & do well on them. Another thing that i have noticed is that they do not do great big poops, i was told that is because they digest most of the food item with no waste. The poop from a snake eating whole food is the left overs from what they do not digest, feathers/hair & guts.

People should feed whatever they are comfortable with & i am not saying for one minute that this is the be all & end all, but rather just an alternative to whole food supplies.

Cheers
Ian


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## JrFear (Sep 10, 2012)

has any one tryed chicken eggs? lol


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## Bluetongue1 (Sep 10, 2012)

Using body parts as a staple would definitely require supplementation with a complete mineral and vitamin mix for reptiles. How much and how often I would not have a clue but it will no dout be on the label. The only other thing to watch out for is that they are still passing wastes and their body is geared for and will develop problems if it doesn’t happen with some measure of regularity. As for using parts to supplement the diet, given the excess of nutrients taken in by captive reptiles, I do not see any problem. The only question is, how often?

*FYI*
If you have the time and the interest, here is thumbnail sketch of that nutrition underlying the post...

Skin feathers and fur are called *roughage*. Roughage cannot be digested and therefore must be passed as wastes. Thick pieces of bone are often not fully digested as it takes too long and there will already be more than enough bone digested. This, mucous and a small amount of dead cells combine with the roughage to produce digestive wastes. As these waste pass through the large intestine, bacteria living in then produce vitamin K, which is absorbed through the intestinal walls. So the elimination of some digestive wastes is required to maintain the health of your animal in the long term.

The liver, the largest of the body organs, contains fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K and a significant range of minerals. Water soluble vitamins and a variety of minerals are found within different cells, body fluid and the blood stream. So a diet (whether captive or wild) of whole vertebrates, irrespective of whether it is mammal, bird, reptile or amphibian, will contain all the necessary nutrients. There is no dietary need to alter the feed animal. While the relative amounts of the nutrients may vary a bit, given the total mass a snake will consume compared to its own mass, it will get sufficient of each irrespective. The only precaution would be to not feed fatty food to fat intolerant species.

Proteins are broken down by digestion into their “building block” chemicals called *amino acids*, so they can be absorbed into the body. There are only 20 different types but they can be put together to make all the different proteins in all the different living things on earth. 9 of the amino acids must be present in the diet of animals. These are called the essential *amino acids*. The other 11 can be made by making changes to another amino acid. Animal meat invariably contains all 9 essential amino acids. Vegetable protein does not and so a variety of vegetable matter is required in the diet.
Amino acids are used to make structural, enzymes, hormones, antibodies and a few other things. What is left over from making these things is converted into carbohydrate and used as a source of energy. In this conversion, the amino group is removed from the molecules and gotten rid of as urea, uric acid and/or urates – the white stuff on the end of the food wastes.


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## MR_IAN_DAVO (Sep 10, 2012)

JrFear said:


> has any one tryed chicken eggs? lol



I have not tried eggs as a food source for snakes, but have heard of people feeding them with success, just as would happen in the wild. But once again would not make up a full diet. 

Cheers
Ian


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## Snotty (Sep 10, 2012)

Personally I am all for increasing variety in captive diets - within reason at least. Snakes in the wild as far as I know do not live on lab rats and mice kept in a box and grown on dog food. If it is lean and clean and the animal obviously goes for it then it should be beneficial. A cultured rat or mouse is really quite different to a wild one, the fat content is generally way higher and the bone density far lower. 

The only thing to beware of is the fat (Hepatic lipidosis) but that is unfortunately common enough in many captive reptiles anyway.


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## Bluetongue1 (Sep 10, 2012)

Sorry *Snotty* but I have to disagree. Dogs and cats in the wild do not get their meals out of a packet or a can. Neither would most aviary birds in the wild get sunflower and others seeds that are commonly found in commercial seed mixes. If you had to emulate wild diets, you would be stuffed trying to keep Black-headed Pythons. Their measured diet consists of over 90% reptiles. 

It is not about what they eat in the wild. It is about what they need to eat to be healthy. Where the staple food item contains all the required nutrients, variety is NOT required to maintain nutritional based health. This has been shown to be he case with rodent or bird based diets. Introducing variety is a personal preference but by no means necessary.

The amount of fat present in feeder animals raised for reptile consumption is dependent on a number of factors. Their diet, their activity levels, their sex and their age. The only real concern is with rats of around 200g and up. Depending on diet and activity levels, these jumbo sided rats may or may not have excessive fat stores in their bodies. Fat intolerant species, in particular BHPs and to a lesser degree Womas, can develop a fatal condition commonly referred to as “fatty liver disease” as a result of excessive amounts of fat in the diet. This is not the same condition (Hepatic lipidosis) that you have mentioned.

Blue


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