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Is it ok to feed people food?

daufoi

daufoi

New member
Would it be ok if I fed my corn "people food" (ie, chicken, beef, pork, etc that you would get from the store and cook it up)? Would salt, seasonings, butter, etc present a digestive problem?

I hear that they make snake sausages. How different can these be from regular sausages?

I know my snake is attracted to people food cause she always comes out of her shy, reclusive self when she smells my cooking.
 
What do adult corns eat in the wild? Rodents, and maybe a bird here and there. Why would you feed your captive corns differently?

Snake sausages are ground, whole prey items, excluding entrails and fur. We can only hope that the sausages intended for human consumption are not made of whole prey items (blech). They are not supposed to be.

I'd stick with mice.
 
Also the snakes need the entire animal.. including the bones and people food won't include everything that they need.

That snake sausage sounds like a pretty cool idea if it is indeed nutritionally adequate for the snake. If they include the bones and everything but the fir when they grind it up, i think that would be easier and more convenient for some people. I know some people don't like to have snakes as a pet because "they have to eat mice" Well i buy frozen/thawed but of course some people would still have a problem with being afraid of mice, even dead mice... and feeding a "snake sausage" would be easier i believe.... IF the nutrition is adequate.

but i definitely would not feed people food becuase it might hinder their apetite for when its time to eat what they need to eat..rodents...and they need the bones for calcium and such.
 
OK, sounds like it is best to stick with the mice... thanks.

@Quigs

Usually I cook after the sun has gone down (late eater). I am pretty sure that it is the smell of food that lures her out because I could approach her any time of the day and she hides away. However, her curiousity is peaked and she will come out to see if my fingers are something edible if there is something boiling in the back.

@ashleynicole

I don't know the specifics of snake sausages, just that it was presented as an option in the Cornsnake Manual.
 
*twitches*

Are ya kidding me?! :eek1:

People food is meant for people. Snake food is meant for snakes. Why would you want to feed a breakfast sausage to your snake? Most sausage isn't healthy for humans, let alone snakes. Lots of fat and salt and not much else.

My cats whine in the kitchen when I open a can, doesn't matter whats in it, they came pre-programmed with the "open can sound = run to kitchen and beg underfoot" skill. My dog loves beer, but I don't think she should get any. My goats used to love eating cigarettes, but again..not quite ideal for them.

I'm sure your cooked food smells good, but I don't see the point of getting a thrill/novelty out of feeding your snake cooked foods. That's kind of why I got a snake, they're so easy to take care of. You don't have to buy prepared foods or cooked foods. Thaw and feed, or in my case, bop and feed.

And where did this idea that the Snake Sausages don't include fur come from? Can you imagine all of these foriegn sweat-shop workers skinning mice and rats? Maybe thats why the sausages are so darned expensive. I think the common concensus is that fur, while not digestible, does play a role in digestion, as fiber.

I love that link to T-rex, why bother listing the ingredients if thats all they put down..."meat and meat derivatives". Goodness knows what they put in them or where they get it from. Is it pork, beef, horse, goat, chicken?? Are they whole? Are they by-products that wouldn't make it into our food supply? Its just one more reason why I refuse to buy T-rex products. They're out there to make a buck off any poor unsuspecting schmuck that they can. They don't seem to care about the health or safety of the animals they make products for. Our Petsmart uses their crappy sand on baby leos, because T-rex paid for the spiffy new display case for all of their reptiles.

I also personally love this quote, "Its health status effectively removes the risk of disease or parasite transmission, inherent in feeding dead rodents." Freezing pretty much removes any risk, whether the rodent is in its natural form or ground up and shoved into a casing.

I think a better course for research would be to search for "chicken necks". :rolleyes:
 
Why would you want to feed snake sausages???

Just got done looking at the snake sausages and one thing pops up in my mind...

A pinky mouse contains almost 4 times as much protein, 2 times as much ash and 4% more fat then a sausage...Also over half of the sausage is water...The mice also contain more vitamins/minerals than a sausage...I would say that a mouse would be the better food for a healthy snake...

Personally I would rather feed mice as they are cheaper and easier to get, plus you can get all the in-between sizes for those that are almost but not quite big enough for the next size mouse...

Just my 0.02
 
Maybe I should rephrase my question: if I feed my snake "people food" would my snake receive the nutritional requirements that it needs?

Only ashleynicole has addresses this but maybe I can get some other opinions.
 
The snake sausages aren't actual "sausage" but i agree.. who knows whats in them??? However... i like the general idea... why not ground the mice whole.. hair entrails and all and package it like that and freeze it.. then you would have a convenient "mouse sausage" so to say that you could feed.. wouldn't that be just as healthy as feeding a mouse? I think if it was done properly and the producer shared exactly what is in it, that i would be willing to try it... Raw ground mice, hair and all, packaged in a sausage form to feed your snake...

and another argument is, snakes eat mice in nature.. why substitute what they eat in nature? well cats eat mice, bugs, snakes, rabbits, birds in nature but yet we feed them processed cat food. Fish eat algae and insects and other fish and we feed the flakes, pellets, and wafers. While live and frozen food is available for fish, the packaged freezdried stuff works just as good and is more conveinent.

Just food for thought...
 
although snakes eat mice in nature, why wouldn't it be more noutrishes to give them something you have just cooked? I would think cooking it would make it safer by killing any parasites.
 
daufoi said:
although snakes eat mice in nature, why wouldn't it be more noutrishes to give them something you have just cooked? I would think cooking it would make it safer by killing any parasites.
Click to expand...


Because they need the entire RODENT... bones, fur, entrails and all.. not just the meat... Also what you cooked may have spices and stuff that is unhealthy for the snake.. like cooking oil. Also a snakes digestive tract is made to digest raw meat... not cooked... are you planning on cooking your mice??? They really need the bones for calcium
 
ashleynicole said:
and feeding a "snake sausage" would be easier i believe....
Click to expand...

why? Mice are basically just snake sausages with fur and a tail, it's not like it's packaged any more conveniently. And besides that, I'd rather just pay for the mice rather than for the product, the packaging, the shelf space, the copyright to the name, and all the other crap that they have to charge for just to get the product on the market.
 
TrpnBils said:
why? Mice are basically just snake sausages with fur and a tail, it's not like it's packaged any more conveniently. And besides that, I'd rather just pay for the mice rather than for the product, the packaging, the shelf space, the copyright to the name, and all the other crap that they have to charge for just to get the product on the market.
Click to expand...


ok, personally the feeding mice doesn't bother me... but whats wrong with a product that can be bought on the shelf... probably cheaper than live mice or even F/T mice... and will probably last longer??? WHY NOT??? You all keep pushing the why whats the point, but if it were out on the market, cheaper and more conveinen that buying live or F/T mice... why not? As long as it meats all of the nutritional needs.

Think about it... you buy your mice F/T for maybe 50cents a piece... first you either have to get the pet store to order them if they don't carry them (i know I do...) Or you have to order them online and pay an additional $30 Shipping and Handling.

A guy has a "rat sausage factory" He raises the mice... he throws 5000 mice into a grinder...that pumps out so many packages of meat that is the complete nutritious meal for your snake... at first it may be expensive but as it becomes more commercial and more companies start doing it it will become more convenient and more affordable...

as i said before.. just food for thought
you don' thave to always be set in your ways just because "weve done it for years" doesn't mean its the best way. For example Gas cars... "weve used gas as fule for years" well they are on the verge of perfecting hydrogen powered cars... are you not going to buy a hydrogen powerd car that gets 100 miles/gallon just because "ive used Gas forever" Think about it.. think about innovation... think about what can be better.
 
Yes, but in that case the moter, feul injection, catalytic converter, etc have all been redesigned to run on hydrogen based fuels. Cornsnakes have not been redesigned to eat snowpeas and carrots.

An animal that has developed over millenia to eat one type of food cannot be just switched over to another.

Look at humans as the perfect example. With our high convenience lives and pre-packaged everything, we are eating a lot more fat, protein (and not to mention preservatives and chemicals) and a lot less fibre than 2 generations ago and just look at any western nation to see the effect it's having.

Think about this. Look at dogs that are fed a whole rabbit carcass as their staple diet (popular enough in Australia). You will bever see those animals having all of their teeth removed becasue of periodontal disease...compare them to all the soft mushy, extra added salt canned food fed dogs that are overweight and have no teeth.....easy to see who has the most 'natural' diet.



Dog owners...read this...
 
daufoi said:
although snakes eat mice in nature, why wouldn't it be more noutrishes to give them something you have just cooked? I would think cooking it would make it safer by killing any parasites.
Click to expand...

Uh, no. Cooking does not add nutrition to food. If anything, it takes nutrition OUT of food. And freezing kills parasites just as effectively as cooking. It is better to just stick with mice. That is what snakes were designed to eat, and that is what they should be fed.

Also, would a snake even eat cooked food? Personally, I don't think so. I doubt it would even recognize a cooked, buttered, spiced, seasoned bit of chicken as food anyway. Cooking does change the smell and taste quite a bit.
 
princess said:
Yes, but in that case the moter, feul injection, catalytic converter, etc have all been redesigned to run on hydrogen based fuels. Cornsnakes have not been redesigned to eat snowpeas and carrots.

An animal that has developed over millenia to eat one type of food cannot be just switched over to another.
Click to expand...

I wasn't suggesting going from meat to carrots... i was suggest the same EXACT food product in a differnt Format... WHOLE GROUND MICE... just ground and packaged conveniently all in a box for 6 months worth of feeding! As long as there are no additives... straight ground mice, bones fur and all... packaged in sausage FORMAT... nothing added nothing taken away... same food different package.. see what im sayin???
 
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