We know that snakes eat rodents, lizards, and fish, but what about chicken? Can you actually feed your pet snake chickens?
Chickens seem like a good option. They are easy to get almost anywhere, and they are affordable, so it seems like a great option for the snake, right? To find the answer, I’ve gone ahead and asked my vet along with some of my snake-owning friends (that have had snakes for longer than I did), and here is what I’ve found.
So, can snakes eat chicken? Snakes can eat chicken as long as they are in their raw form without seasoning or spices, but rodents should be your pet snake’s primary source of nutrition, not chicken since chicken doesn’t provide them with all the nutrients they need. Bigger Snakes like pythons are more suitable for eating chickens
To understand why snakes can eat chicken, and why it still may not ben the best idea to feed them chicken, as well as the snake species that can eat chicken safely, keep reading, as I answer all of these questions and more in the simplest way possible.
Contents
Can Snakes Eat Chicken?
Generally speaking, snakes can eat most kinds of meats. This doesn’t only cover the meats we eat, but also the meats we won’t eat, like lizards, reptiles, other snakes, and insects.
Snakes are strictly carnivores and can’t be vegetarian, but they don’t normally eat chickens in the wild. Most snakes thrive and survive mostly on Mice and other rodents, others strictly eat eggs, but no snake survives just on birds.
The diet your snake requires is determined by the species of snake. Smaller snakes will mostly eat insects and rodents, while larger snakes will prefer fish, frogs, and amphibians. Giant snakes like the green anaconda will eat large animals in one swallow, like pigs which the anaconda can devour whole.
Why Mice are better than chicken (and anything else) for pet snakes
You can feed mice to basically any snake you may have. Newborn mice, called pinky mice, are the best option and the most loved by snakes.
However, you should never feed your snake live or wild mice as explained here.
Snakes require this diet for a variety of reasons, including the fact that it gives them the highest levels of nutrients.
Commercial reptile meals can be used as a substitute, but they frequently fall short of providing everything a snake needs. A 300-gram mouse will usually have 63 grams of protein, which means it is quite nutritious for snakes.
Snakes require a high level of protein for proper function.
How to feed your snake chicken?
Snakes can eat chickens if they are in their raw form without seasoning or spices. However, rodents should be your pet snake’s primary source of nutrition since chicken doesn’t provide them with all the nutrients they need to stay healthy.
Bigger Snakes like pythons are more suitable for eating chicks or chicken breasts.
Why Snakes can’t eat only chicken
The main thing to remember here is that snakes can’t thrive on chicken only, even if they can eat it when you are in a pinch for food.
Simply put; animals in captivity should eat things that they would have eaten in the wild, because that is what they have evolved to eat and thrive on.
However, just because snakes should eat mice doesn’t mean that this is all your snake can eat, and if you don’t want to feed them rodents at all, you can find snakes that don’t even feed on rodents. I discuss this further in this article on do garter snakes eat mice.
In general, just like you should feed your other pets multiple foods in their diet, your pet snake’s diet should also contain more than one food. Fish is a very good option for most snakes, and insects are another protein-rich insects that most snakes will happily consume.
What Snakes Can Eat Chicken?
Most snakes we keep as pets don’t eat chicken in the wild, and they don’t normally attack chicken coopes.
The five most common snakes that do eat chickens are:
- King Snakes: These snakes are easily distinguished by their white or yellowish chain-like band that you will find running across their backs.
- Milk Snakes: Milk snakes can be recognized by their alternating black and red bands. They can also have a row of small yellow or white spots running down the center of each band.
- Rat Snakes: Rat snakes can be identified by their dark, broad bands that are offset from one another with white or yellow lines.
- Black Snakes: Black snakes can be easily identified by their black coloring. They are also quite big and they love moisture, so you will find them in humid climates and under logs and other moist places.
- Chicken Snakes: Non-poisonous snakes that are found in Texas, and they look a lot like copperheads.
There are over 50 varieties of snakes in the United States. Not all of them will consume chickens, but many will eat young ones.
It’s also important to know which snakes eat chickens because if you have one of them and live in a rural area, you will want to make sure your snake can never escape and attack the neighbor’s farm and eat their chicken. It has happened before and it doesn’t end well for the snake and its owner.
If you do own a snake that always seem to be trying to find its way out of the enclosure, you can learn why your snake keeps trying to escape and what to do in this article.
Can Ball pythons eat chicken?
Ball Pythons can indeed eat chicken if it is in its raw form without any seasoning or spices. However, the majority of a ball python’s diet should come from rodents. Rodents, such as mice and rats, provide all of the nutrients that a ball python needs to survive. Feeding your snake chicken alone will not give enough nutrition. These snakes also have an inborn appetite for eggs and can be fed a raw egg every week or so.
A wild ball python’s diet is considerably different from that of a captive ball python. Wild ball pythons have an innate knowledge of what to eat at any given time.
Rats, mice, small mammals, tiny snakes, birds, and even the odd fish are just a few of their natural food sources. It’s all about what is accessible vs. what is best in this situation. It’s all about survival.
We can provide a proper meal, on a daily basis, as and when they require it for captive ball pythons. As a result, rodents should be the majority of their diet. Variety is not necessary in their diet, and they have no preferences for specific foods.
Can Snakes eat cooked meat?
Snakes are meant to eat raw meat, and no one suggests feeding them cooked flesh. I believe a pet food company produces “snake sausage” that is supposed to provide adequate nutrition without the necessity of keeping live or dead rodents at home if this is your problem with feeding your snake.
Conclusion
Some snakes can eat chicken as long as they are in their raw form and without any spices or seasoning.
These are the larger species of snakes, but even those snakes should not be fed only chicken, and their diet, actually the diet of any pet snake, should be primarily of rodents unless the snake species has a certain other preference. For example, some snakes will eat only eggs while others will prefer fish or insects to rodents.
Related Questions
Do Snakes attack chicken coops?
Snakes do attack chicken coopes, and while the smaller snakes are interested primarily in the eggs, the larger snakes will attack and eat your chicks and even adult chickens whole. That’s why it’s so important to do your best to keep the snakes out of the chicken coopes.
You can do this with fences and, of course, dogs. You can choose one of these snake-killing dogs that will hunt and kill snakes if they get anywhere close to your chickens, and you can also keep a cat or two in the house as cats will almost always attack the snakes and keep them away.
Do Snakes Kill Chicken?
Larger snakes do kill chicken and eat them whole.
Helpful Resources
How to Use Rodents as Snake Food
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