I just got 4 new baby corn snakes. Last night i fed all of them strips of raw chicken. All of them didnt hesitate to eat it. My question is, will chicken be enough nutrients rather than a whole mouse? Im thinking mice is better because they have organs and bones and stuff. So, stick with chicken or go with mice?
2006-09-30 07:29:39 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Reptiles
Chicken strips are not nutritious for ANY snake. Snakes draw every single nutrient from a WHOLE mouse (or chicken or rabbit), including water, calcium, nutrients from the blood, etc.
Get a frozen pinkie (there's less of a chance of your snakes catching parasites or other diseases if the mouse is frozen) and make sure to thaw it out COMPLETELY (to avoid ice crystals from transmitting from the mouse to the snake's digestive system) and you're good to go!
2006-09-30 07:59:02 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mice are always going to be better choice than chicken strips, as mice are a natural food source for corn snakes. My reason mainly being that even though chickens have bones, the meat itself isn't going to provide your snakes with the calcium and vitamin D necessary to grow em into BIG corn snakes, especially if that is all you wind up feeding them. Although those chicken strips are probably cheaper and easier to feed, your snakes actually need that whole bone to get all of it's vitamins and minerals, etc., which is naturally supplied when they eat rodents. However, if you don't have any mice available, I suppose that having an alternative food source that you know your snakes will actually eat is always a good thing, as opposed to letting them go hungry because you can't get mice. I had a boa constrictor that I fed hot-dogs on more than one occasion, when our local feed store was out of rodents!
Good luck with your corns!
2006-09-30 08:10:54 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go with the mice & just use the chicken sparingly as a treat. Don't let your snakes "fight" over food. This fight has fatal consequences. They don't really fight. What happens is that each snake will pick an end of the food source to start eating & when they get to the middle, nose to nose, the bigger snake will swallow the smaller one. Be careful to avoid this or you'll eventually end up with one fat snake. Corns aren't really known as cannabals , but this type of thing is can happen under these circumstances because snakes have a very hard time releasing anything from their mouths since their teeth point backwards.
2006-10-01 05:13:30 · answer #3 · answered by preacher55 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm not a herpetologist but raw chicken doesn't sound healthy, I would go with the mice to cover all of their nutritional needs, and the meat has less of a chance of being contaminated
2006-09-30 07:39:04 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They need the entire mouse-that's how they get their calcium, etc. Chicken strips would only provide muscle meat. It sounds like they'd probably go for a nice, thawed pinkie.
Be sure and feed the seperately so they don't fight over the food.
2006-09-30 07:33:21 · answer #5 · answered by hoodoowoman 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most snakes are OK with eating warmed meat either hamburger or chicken. They will grow either way. Once they get big enough, I would start them off on frozen pinkies. Remember that even though they look tiny, they stretch!! They can eat things that are almost twice their size, or bigger. But I wouldn't make them fight for their food right away. Once they get confident with eating their food, move them up.
2006-09-30 07:49:30 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Go with whole mice. That is a natural food source for them.
2006-09-30 07:38:12 · answer #7 · answered by S.A.M. Gunner 7212 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Short and simple: mice. you should know this, you own them
2006-09-30 13:44:56 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋