eggeating snake vs chicken egg.(DUW)

[dtknow]

Eggs will last a month or two in storage in the fridge. Supposedly the snakes can judge if they are good or bad also-I wouldn't feed any eggs that are dented or otherwise compromised however. So if you had one adult eggeater eating quail eggs 1 dozen quail eggs(can be had for about $1 at many stores) could last you 1-2 months easily.

A petstore or two I've been to has been kind of defensive(you want eggs?)...they often think I'm trying to hatch them or something(even though they will throw them away). In chain petstores it is against store policy to breed animals so even if the finches have eggs they cannot give them to you. They throw them in the trash. Actually, some employees just as readily throw baby birds into the trash-but that is another story...

Many stores are very cooperative after hearing what they are for though and I've had some people put aside eggs for me and let me know!

 

[Lucas339]

thanks for the info. i will have to start looking into the asian markets around me. i know of one bird store but i assume i will run into the same opposition once they hear what they are for.

these animals have a super unique look about them which is what draws me to them. ill have to get my ducks in a row!!

 

[1Lord Of Ants1]

Whoa...I gotta get me one of those! I have 3 quail and 5 chickens and I'm sure I would be set for a couple of those, I'm overloaded with eggs! Of course my mom would freak out...

 

[crixalis]

wow! this is amazing

 

[Dravensmom]

wow I had no idea snakes could eat eggs. Can all adult snakes do this or just eggeaters? Do they live on just eggs? I have never been able to keep a snake because I could never feed it mice.. I could feed a snake an egg though lol. What is the price range on these guys?

 

[Lucas339]

there are 2 CB ones in the classifieds right now by a certian someone....hint hint!

not all snakes can eat eggs. i have seen/heard of hognose snakes eating hard boiled eggs but would reccomend feeding eggs to anything but egg eaters.

 

[dtknow]

Dravensmom: Some other snakes will eat bird eggs. Gopher/king/ratsnakes are well known for this. But this doesn't mean they can be fed solely eggs in captivity.(it'd be an interesting experiment-but I bet some kind of malnutrition would set in)

However, Dasypeltis(African egg eaters) feed only on bird eggs in the wild(very rare, one species of snake outside Dasypeltis is thought to do this). Also, they are by far the best adapted for the job. They can swallow eggs far bigger than their nonspecialized cousins can for their body size-and are the only snakes that reject the eggshell. Other species can only eat rather small eggs for their size.(i.e...the snakes are nearly big enough to eat the parent birds as well) and digest the shell.

 

[Lucas339]

i think a calcium deficiency would develop with a diet of eggs in other species of snake.

 

[dtknow]

Perhaps.

But keep in mind that other species of snake would not reject the shell. However-recall chicken eggshell as quite high amounts of phosphorus in it. Presumably eggeaters get some calcium from swallowing tiny bits of shell-but based on the excellent job they do keeping the whole package together it must be an incredibly small amount.

 

[Dravensmom]

Cool thanks for the info.. I will have to look into getting one of these someday

 

[Lucas339]

it would be interesting to compare the amounts of calcium in the shell of an egg to that of a rodent. im sure that info exists somewhere on the net but id put money on rodents having more calcium. egg eaters probably have developed (almost used the evil word) to being able to survive with smaller amouts of calcium than rodent eaters.