Feeding wild birds to my snakes

[longqi]

I lived in Cairns and had a huge veranda
Used to put a couple of jungles out there each day to let them wander around the rafters
Rarely had to feed them
Indian mynas are pretty dumb birds

 

[Pythoninfinite]

The vet nurse is correct in suggesting that your snake won't contract mites from birds - snake mites are specifically reptile mites and don't live on birds. The fat content of wild birds would be far less than the fat content of the domestic rodents we routinely feed. I think 4-6 weeks freezing will be fine before you feed it to your snake.

Jamie

 

[geckodan]

There are no nematode worms carried by birds that will cross infect snakes. There is no risk associated with the feeding of these items if they are fed fresh or used after even a minimum period of freezing. There is a small risk of cestodes such as spirometra if a waterbird is used fresh but once frozen this risk is eliminated. Protozoa are equally non transferrable and mostly die as soon as the carcase cools but again freezing eliminates all doubt. There is no need to worm your snake after feeding these items.

 

[n3xia]

once frozen this risk is eliminated.

When you freezing, what temperature do you mean? And is there any difference in using a frost-free freezer over the frosting ones?

 

[butters]

As a kid I couldn't afford to buy feeders from a pet shop and to be honest I don't think they were even available. This is 30+ years ago. My snakes lived on turtle doves, sparrows and feral pidgeons acquired with my trusty air rifle or bb gun. I never saw any negative results from their diet. Always got an excellent feeding response though!!!

 

[Ramsayi]

When you freezing, what temperature do you mean? And is there any difference in using a frost-free freezer over the frosting ones?

Frozen is -18C,frost free or otherwise.


Used to feed sparrows to our macs years ago.Didn't seem to do them any harm.

 

[paultheo]

nothing wrong with wild caught feed, my large coastal loves bunny- whenever he can get it, just treat for worms once every 6 months and you should have no problem.

 

[Pythoninfinite]

There are no nematode worms carried by birds that will cross infect snakes. There is no risk associated with the feeding of these items if they are fed fresh or used after even a minimum period of freezing. There is a small risk of cestodes such as spirometra if a waterbird is used fresh but once frozen this risk is eliminated. Protozoa are equally non transferrable and mostly die as soon as the carcase cools but again freezing eliminates all doubt. There is no need to worm your snake after feeding these items.

I'm glad Dan, a vet, has cleared that up. I was always under the impression that the parasite species were largely host-specific, if that's the case then bird roundworms won't infest reptiles, as Dan confirms.

Jamie

- - - Updated - - -

When you freezing, what temperature do you mean? And is there any difference in using a frost-free freezer over the frosting ones?

Frost-free just means the freezer pulls the water-vapour out of the air and disposes of it in an evaporation tray outside the freezer, rather than having it build up as ice on the surfaces in your freezer.

Jamie

 

[n3xia]

I'm glad Dan, a vet, has cleared that up. I was always under the impression that the parasite species were largely host-specific, if that's the case then bird roundworms won't infest reptiles, as Dan confirms.

Oh cool, I didn't realise Dan was a reptile vet. Thanks for that Dan