Quails

[Brutus]

Quails sound good - like the price. But does anyone know their relative fat contant in comparison to large rats? It's one thing to save money, but I wouldn't want to be feeding excessively large quantities of fat to my snakes.

Well, for that matter, does anyone know the fat content of rats? I know it increases with age/size, but what is it? 2%? 5%?

 

[RevDaniel]

sorry these are answers that only steve can give you

 

[Pythoninfinite]

i heard feeding bird's isnt good for snake's on a long term basis as they can contract many disease's from the bord eg: salmanella (i think thats how u spell it) and worms and stuff JMO im most probably wrong

I have to say the claims made for quail re: snake colour, hatchie size and patterns etc really are in the imagination of the quail promoter. Snakes don't actually digest the feathers and fur of the things they eat - it gets passed out in their faeces.

Salmonella of various species is a part of the normal gut flora for reptiles - as I understand it, they all carry it, snakes, lizards, crocs and especially turtles. That's why we must WASH OUR HANDS whenever handling herps, and really ensure that kids do the same - it can cause much more serious symptoms in kids. For salmonella to affect the health of your reptiles, the animal would have to be poor health for some other reason. The sale of turtles under 10cm diameter is forbidden in some US states, because authorities have had problems with youngsters putting the baby turtles into their mouths and contracting salmonella as a result.

Most of the stomach contents sampling done in the extensive collections of museums indicates that birds form a VERY small part of the normal diet of most pythons, even GTPs which were once thought to bird specialists because they live in trees I suppose. But GTPs descend to the forest floor (or within reach of the forest floor) at night and mainly pick off rats from above.

Most quail (from backyard breeders) will have extensive worm loadings, as is the case for most aviary birds which have access to the ground, if they are not routinely treated for these parasites.

Jamie.

 

[Pythoninfinite]

i heard feeding bird's isnt good for snake's on a long term basis as they can contract many disease's from the bord eg: salmanella (i think thats how u spell it) and worms and stuff JMO im most probably wrong

I have to say the claims made for quail re: snake colour, hatchie size and patterns etc really are in the imagination of the quail promoter. Snakes don't actually digest the feathers and fur of the things they eat - it gets passed out in their faeces.

Salmonella of various species is a part of the normal gut flora for reptiles - as I understand it, they all carry it, snakes, lizards, crocs and especially turtles. That's why we must WASH OUR HANDS whenever handling herps, and really ensure that kids do the same - it can cause much more serious symptoms in kids. For salmonella to affect the health of your reptiles, the animal would have to be poor health for some other reason. The sale of turtles under 10cm diameter is forbidden in some US states, because authorities have had problems with youngsters putting the baby turtles into their mouths and contracting salmonella as a result.

Most of the stomach contents sampling done in the extensive collections of museums indicates that birds form a VERY small part of the normal diet of most pythons, even GTPs which were once thought to bird specialists because they live in trees I suppose. But GTPs descend to the forest floor (or within reach of the forest floor) at night and mainly pick off rats from above.

Most quail (from backyard breeders) will have extensive worm loadings, as is the case for most aviary birds which have access to the ground, if they are not routinely treated for these parasites.

Jamie.

 

[andrew_555]

that sounds like a reasonable assumption wokka. Interesting thread, i might have a look around.

 

[da_donkey]

Everytime i gave one of my snakes a quail.....it would come out the other end a real big mess :?

So no more quail

 

[rodentrancher]

Fat content of rodents depends on what you are feeding them. A good commercial rodent pellet would be best. If you fed them too many nuts and seeds such as almonds or sunflower seeds, it would up the fat content of your feeders. If fed in moderation, along with some greens, should be ok. Check out

http://www.anapsid.org/foodnutr.html Cheers Cheryl

 

[Pythoninfinite]

Feeding birds, especially chickens, does tend to "loosen" things up for a snake...

Jamie.

 

[newbe]

Quail

My female Diamond, 1.8m went 5 months without feeding until last week when I tried a live Quail. It was all over in 15sec. She ate 2 more last night. Previous to this I had tried rat's, mice and day old chooks. I even tried scenting a rat with Quail last night and again she ran away to the point of being scared of it.

 

[6ftpythonsgirl]

RE: Quail

i have seen big pythons eat large chickens and nothing recognisable to ever once being a chicken come out the other end. maybe there like caviar and you have to have an accuired taste for it?
maybie i should try my MD on quail she is only a hatchie who small do qauils get?

 

[hazzard]

Just bought 50 XXXL Japenese quails. They certainly were no where near the price being advertised here. They are big, some very big. Many are over 300g. Bought straight from the supplier (and I'm fairly certain it's from the same supplier mentioned in this thread or that's what they told me).

The birds needed cleaning and then packing and freezing (-25), I didn't mind especially with the price. They pust peck the living daylights out of each other as the amlost looked plucked. By the way quails absolutely stink.

One of my Bredli only eats birds (5 years) and It's fantastically healthy. Freezing at the right temperature kills all nasties. And as for the mess out the other end, I don't notice it.