Day Old Chicks as a food item? really?

[CrazyHedgehog]

OK, so browsing around I came across this article...
Suitability of day-old chicks as food for captive snakes | Kevin Arbuckle - Academia.edu

At first I just assumed it meant larger snakes, (I have fed chicks to smaller boa constrictors in the past just to mix their food up a bit - variation being the key and all that!)

but this article seems to suggest that day old chicks are also a suitable food item for larger Thamnophis species....

Not sure I would try this myself, but an interesting article none the less, but then wondered if anyone had tried??

[thamneil]

I have been wondering the same thing! I'm able to get them very readily and cheaply here. Would love to hear what everyone has to say!

[Invisible Snake]

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/gene...ld-chicks.html

[CrazyHedgehog]

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/gene...ld-chicks.html

Thank you, (I did a search first and didn't find this?) yes the inability to process the feathers and beaks would be the worrying thing then

[guidofatherof5]

A dip in boiling water to remove the feathers and you could remove the beak and toenails before feeding them off.

[Jeff B]

I used to feed day old chicks to corns, don't think I ever fed to garters, would take a pretty big girl to take down a day old chick, they are the size of a large mouse. When I fed to corns they would have smelly, messy stools.

[Spankenstyne]

I feed several of my Drymarchon, Pituophis & larger Kingsnakes day old chicks but I wouldn't think a garter would be able to handle one, even my beast momma Checkered who's creeping near 4' I wouldn't even attempt.

Like Jeff said they're large mouse, even weaned rat comparable size, might just be my supplier though?
Maybe something like baby finches or another species of more appropriate smaller size bird should be fine. Nice variety, and no doubt some larger garters in the wild would take hatchling birds if they were small enough to get down.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

Conccinusman

"A large trout, or a chicken is too big for baby garters, but you can still feed it to them. All you need is a knife or scissors."

[Spankenstyne]

Yeah I was going to say that one could chop it up if they really wanted to deal with the mess.

[ConcinusMan]

The only problem with chopping a chick would be that this leaves bone ends free which can get lodged on the way through. Anyway, appropriately sized chicks are great food for garters. I've fed my large concinnus' on day-old quail, european starlings, and english house sparrows and they absolutely adore them. The latter two species I collected from nests I stumble upon and froze them first to reduce chances of parasites. I only use them if they are still very young. Once they've developed long quills and feathers I don't use them but 1-5 day old's are perfect. House sparrows and starlings are invasive and considered pests so I don't feel bad about raiding their nests. Both produce large clutches. From one nest I can get anywhere from 7-14 chicks. That's a lot of free meals and they're perfect size for a 2-3 ft garter.

In the spring I can get live day-old quail chicks for a dollar from local farms so I usually buy 20-40 or so and freeze them. Also perfect size for garters 24 inches +