For those who feed their pythons quails.....

[louise77]

I have a few questions, if you don't mind.

My girl (a yearling Stimson) took her first feed with me last night (the last meal she ate was with Snake Ranch on 23rd Nov). Last night she had a baby quail and I was just so happy to see her take something!

It took quite a few strikes and figuring things out last night for her to take it - but whenever I previously offered rodents (pinkie rats - which she mostly ate at Snake Ranch or a mouse) she would turn her nose up at it (quite often literally) and wouldn't be interested at all.

SO next week I'm going to offer her a mouse and see how she goes. If not I'll back tot he quail (I have two baby ones left over and will try giving her the two of them). But after that - what should I do - what size would be good and how often should I try mixing it up with rodents? Does anyone feed quail exclusively?

Thanks in advance for any help or info!

Louise

 

[hornet]

i have a female rough scaled python, it fed on rodents for the breeder but refused rodents for almost 2 months in my care. I offered it a quail and it snapped it up and follwed it down with a mouse so try feeding 2 items at a time, quail followed by a mouse. Also try scenting the mice with the quail to see if she will take them. You may have to keep buying quial for a bit till you can get her back on rodents though

 

[louise77]

Thanks Hornet.... I'll do it that way next week then - I'll defrost them together and give the quail first and then hopefully finish it with a rodent chaser

 

[Guest]

i dont see any reason for being concerned about feeding only quail! unless quail are harder to find than rodents for you!
I feed a few of my snakes only quail as they wont touch rats, although i do think its good to mix it up a bit if you are able too!
Aspitites feed on reptiles in the wild, in captivity we feed them only rodents and they seem to do fine so i wouldnt expect feeding an Anterisia birds would have any greater effect

 

[louise77]

Farma - I agree with you, but I'm a novice and my only reasoning is that I waited so long for her to feed that I was just so happy she was taking it, so if it is all she takes then that's all I give her! As long as she's eating But I just wanted to make sure an exclusive quail diet wasn't going to restrict her health in any way - they're easy for me to get (and actually cheaper too!).

 

[Guest]

it should be fine!
a varied diet is always best though but sometimes its not easy to do
alot of the time you will hear quail make their crap go runny and if they have only ever eaten rodents it probably will its just the change in diet after 2-3 feeds it will return to normal

 

[louise77]

I did read that about the runny crap and although by this stage I was like 'I don't care - I can deal with that if she eats' - it's an added bonus to hear that isn't permanent - thanks heaps Farma!

 

[hornet]

I've had no runny poo from feeding quail what so ever

 

[FusionMorelia]

i was under the impression that feeding baby birds to snakes isnt very good because they have very high levels of vitiman A
is this information incorrect?

 

[Guest]

Nutrition Feeder Mice | Nutrient Composition of Feeder Animals

 

[cement]

quail can be deficient in vitamin E, which is good for the health of the heart, skin, and healthy production of hormones and function of some glands. So a balanced diet is best. Like someone said earlier a quail to get them on, and then as they are finishing the last mouthful and they open up to get it down just shove in the head of a rat or mouse. They'll just keep eating.

 

[louise77]

That chart is great! Answer so many question about nutritional questions about food !

And cement - that's a good idea of just the quick follow up! That's what I'm doing next week

Thanks again everyone!!

 

[FusionMorelia]

ok so i was given wrong info, baby birds are good for a snake? yes i read that list thing but cant seem to work this out,
are newly hatched birds really high in vit A or not?

 

[BenReyn]

You can try and ween it from quails to rodents.
An old trick that you can do is put a feather of a quail in the rodent's mouth, and rub the rodent over a quail, so it smells similar.
Alternatively (depending how squeamish you are), you can cut a thawed quail open, and rub the rodent on it's insides... I've never performed the latter, but I have heard of it's success.
Hope this helps,
Ben.

 

[louise77]

NatoRey - the chart doesn't mention hatchling quails and I tried looking for the info but couldn't find anything on vitamin a (all I could find was the lack of vitamin e). I know you can give a hatchling quail to a snake - for it was a snake food brand that I bought (and I bought it from the snake food section in the pet store). Like people are saying varied diet is best (just like for humans) but not always achievable (Lord knows I don't always eat from the five food groups! But I take my multi vitamins)

BenReyn - next week I'll definitely rub the mouse with the quail and get a few feathers in there and chase it quickly down after the quail and see how she goes. Try doing that for a few feeds - and if that doesn't work, I'll con the husband into the gross job of coating the mouse in quail guts :? If all fails - to make sure she is eating a nice sized meal I'll just up the size of the quail and maybe add some vitamins to make up for the lack of vitamin e.

Feeling heaps more confident with all the info here - plus a search on google for 'nutrient content of prey'. At least now I have an idea on what to do and confident my girl will be fine

 

[-Peter]

The chart says rats are high in vit A. much much more than quails.
I want to know what "n" represents. It isn't stated. I'm probably missing the obvious.

 

[louise77]

If you're missing the obvious - then so am I Did a quick read of the study:

http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/zoo/WholePreyFinal02May29.pdf

and still not sure. But I think maybe it might be the number tested? Now that's just a complete guess...

 

[Nathan_T]

In statistics, n means the number of items tested, yes. You can pretty much disregard it, basically it's just there because the averages have been changed a little to reflect real world values

 

[pythons73]

I had a Chondro that was 12months old and the breeder couldnt get it eating,so it was forced fed.It was not much bigger then that years hatchies,however the first night i was feeding a few snakes and the Green was really active,i put a head of a quail in too see if he-she would take.Within 2 minutes it had it in the mouth eating it.From that point i rubbed the quail on some pinkies and offered it one,in which it ate no problems..It ate consistently from that point,the first 3-4 were scented and then straight to rodent without scenting..Then there was nothing that would stop it from eating,turned out to be a real pig...Ive been feeding alot of my others a mix of rodents and quails for years,i like to give some variety...

 

[Snake_Whisperer]

Nutrition Feeder Mice | Nutrient Composition of Feeder Animals

Outstanding share Farma, ta!

A mix of prey items is best, if your animal is taking quail but refusing mice or rats, you can scent your rodents by rubbing them over a quail. I find this works best on difficult feeders if they are very hungry at the time of offering the scented item. Good luck with it!