Gizzards?

[Lovok]

Been forever and a day since I've been here, but things have been going great, and I've had no questions nor issues, until recently..

Did a search here to find out if chicken gizzards are ok as a food source, but I only seem to be seeing indirect answers to that. I'm not planning on making them a staple to the diet, but because of a number of changes (moved to PA from Baltimore, no vehicle to travel, income has changed, etc...), I need to figure out some more items for the kid's menu.

Because of the no car thing and income thing, I can't get to anyplace to buy pinkies, and I really don't have the $50 to shell out for a bag of pinkies to be shipped to me. Cats are all OVER the place, so finding some mice and raising my own pinks is out of the question. Krell (that's my kid) was born in captivity, so he's got zero resistance to parasites, so giving him anything caught in the wild is a no-go too.

He's ok with any type of fish (salmon, tilapia, swai, etc.), but I want to expand the menu. He's been LOVING the earthworms here, but that's clearly not enough.

Gizzards may be a pain to prepare for some reason (never tired them, so no idea about that), but I've no problem there.

So, to chicken gizzard or not to chicken gizzard- that is the question.
Today (Aug 12th) is his birthday too! He's 4!

[Albert Clark]

I think raw chicken gizzards would probably be accepted but it's a interesting choice. I don't know how you are planning to "prepare" them. What about Canadian nightcrawlers from Walmart or the bait store. Frozen thawed silversides from the bait store is also a option. It's fish, but it's whole fish, so a better form of nutritive value.

[Zdravko092368]

Chicken hearts are another option people use.

[guidofatherof5]

Hearts are better but hard to get in some areas. Gizzards are a pain, I used to feed them but the time involved wasn't worth it. Cutting the connect tissue off to get to the meat was the problem.
Chicken thigh meat is very good, it's lean and more digestible.

[Jeff B]

I would think that beef heart or chicken liver could be another option, though I have not used either. My only consideration would be to make sure to dust any of these options with Reptivite to make sure that the snake is getting enough calcium and vitamins with the protein. I dust night crawlers with Reptivite always.
I guess I am not sure how any of these choices would be better or more economical that buying night crawlers at Walmart as I do.
I also use F/T mice too, but the worms at Walmart are cheap.

[Jeff B]

I just smoked a whole turkey in my Bradley smoker today. I threw the neck in the box turtle pen. I also feed them venison burger, they love it.