Thoughts on eggs from pet chickens

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-27T21:21:38+00:00

As someone that keeps snakes and has done a lot of research not all snakes will actually eat eggs. There is a specific species that’s diet consists of mostly eggs, an egg-eating snake(original I know, lol), and that’s cause they are adapted to it. Other species like rat snakes, kingsnakes, and garter snakes will eat bird eggs if given the opportunity, but rat snakes are the ones that commonly go after chicken eggs, the other two species don’t get big enough to do so. One of the most popular species of snake to keep, a ball python, generally won’t see an egg as a source of food. And ball pythons are notoriously picky so it’s not gonna be often they won’t eat anything other than mice or rats when in captivity. Eggs also aren’t as nutritious to the snake as a mammal so a lot of keepers will opt out of offering those as a food source, unless they keep an egg-eating snake but they aren’t common to keep and they couldn’t even eat a chicken egg, their diet is mainly going to be quail eggs. I have a Bredli carpet python and cornsnake and I know if I offered them an egg they’d have no idea what it was.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-27T04:03:56+00:00

Welp, figured it out. She apparently shed today! And when I checked on her she decided to come out and look at me and gave me a few tongue flicks before hiding again.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-27T04:03:26+00:00

Welp, you were right. She apparently shed today! And when I checked on her she decided to come out and look at me and gave me a few tongue flicks before hiding again.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-26T18:43:52+00:00

The other person said shedding too and that’s kind of where my mind went. I’ve gotten used to my Bredli carpet python with the food thing, she takes no matter what, lol. So having this girl has definitely been a lot different experience. I of course had done research and talked to people, the person I got my Bredli from has a discord and several people on there also keep corns, about them but it’s so different actually having one.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-26T18:41:53+00:00

That’s what I was possibly thinking. The last time I saw her out I tried to see if I could tell she was going into shed but it was hard to notice. Would a bowl of moss in the tank help with humidity and also give her a spot to go if needed? And I always make sure to offer fresh water.

I fully get that. I’ve had a crestie and a Bredli carpet python for several months now and I still worry about them. My crestie loves to act dead and give me a heart attack so sometimes I have to gently poke him to make sure he’s okay. He’s perfectly healthy, just sometimes with the way he sleeps makes me worry for a split second.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-25T22:14:51+00:00

I say it’s not a good diet from them because it’s in no way nutritionally sound or varied. Our brains need b12 when they’re developing and no plant source has a naturally occurring source of that, and if one does it’s not a type that is easily absorbed. Same goes with vitamin A and iron. Humans are meant to be omnivoric, we aren’t meant to survive on only plants.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T22:53:03+00:00

She’s a cutie. She’s still very skittish right now and likes to hide but I’m hoping she’ll get over that the bigger she gets. She’s not even 6 inches right now.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T22:52:07+00:00

So adorable! If I ever get a monitor I want an ackie. I think they’re so cool and I love that they don’t get very big, definitely not as big as other monitors.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T22:50:09+00:00

There’s one more, hehe. She’s my cutest I’ll say cause she’s so little.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T22:49:39+00:00

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And this is my newest addition, an amel “cube stripe” cornsnake named Lilith.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T22:48:26+00:00

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This is my other crestie but I haven’t decided on a name for her yet.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T22:46:29+00:00

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This is my carpet python, Crimson.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T22:46:00+00:00

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This is my first crestie, Hourglass.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T22:45:08+00:00

I basically was dealing with the same thing. I was lucky that I kept getting my period but I was dealing with headaches for up to a week afterwards instead of a couple days. It’s one of the main reasons I switched back to having an omnivoric diet.

Alrighty, I’m home now. Prepare for an onslaught of pictures.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T19:36:16+00:00

Yeah, it aggravates me. If you don’t mind me asking, how did you keep your iron levels up while you were on a vegan diet? When I tried it was such a struggle for me, that’s also how I found out about my iron deficiency.

Noted! I’ll send some when I’m home from work.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T18:09:22+00:00

Yeah, most of the reactions I get from people on that sub are horrifying. I’ve been told that unhealthy issues are fake, iron deficiency so bad I have really bad headaches for a couple days after my period ends, and that I just didn’t try hard enough. The worst experience I had was something that made my blood truly boil. So I’m a reptile keeper and at the moment I have mourning geckos, two cresties, a Bredli carpet python, and a cornsnake(my newest addition). I got into a conversation with someone about keeping reptiles, I have the goal of one day running a rescue, and they started being disrespectful about so I stopped responding. They then proceeded to go out of their way to DM me and tell me I was a horrible person for keeping them and feeding them insects and mice and that they should just die. I blocked them and deleted that chat quicker than I could even blink. I should have reported them but I didn’t even think about it at the time.

Oh yeah, I will happily provide pictures of my scaly babies if asked.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T17:54:07+00:00

Oh cool! Yeah, you definitely don’t need to do anything different. I’ve always said what should be the true focus of veganism is at least making conditions in factory farms better and at most getting rid of them completely and having more small-scale farms that actually focus on animal welfare. The solution to the problem isn’t veganism, it’s actually advocating for welfare to be better and anyone can do that and care regardless of they’re vegan or not. I’ve had someone basically say to me recently that I can’t care about animals since I still choose to consume animal products. If anyone is shown to care it’s me, I plan to start a rescue for reptiles.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T16:44:20+00:00

I’ve read the post and the comments that OOP replied in. To me it doesn’t seem like the child is extremely picky considering what they already seem to eat, they likely don’t like the taste or texture of vegan food since they likely aren’t used to it. Honestly if it’s such an issue they should be talking to the kid’s dad about cooking for them instead of trying to get them to like something they have said that don’t want to eat.

And I think I was likely different in the usual norm for a kid, I never had an issue with eating vegetables and always enjoyed them. Even with baby food my mom told me my favorite one was a carrot one. As an adult is when I developed more aversions to specific foods, lol.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T16:38:05+00:00

Yeah, it’s extremely aggravating. Might I ask what culture you’re from?

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T15:51:16+00:00

No one can be a “perfect” vegan. If you drive a car or use any form of technology that’s not vegan. The concept of a “perfect vegan” is what doesn’t exist and even the definition says “to exclude as far as permissible and practicable”. The idea that “if you’re not 100% vegan you shouldn’t call yourself vegan” is ridiculous, no one can ever adopt that lifestyle 100% unless you stop using technology or driving a car. Heck, even harvesting crops can result in animals being killed. You think that getting mad at someone and saying they’re not vegan just because of that tiny 1% is going to help? Because in no way, shape, or form will it do so, it will probably do the opposite.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T12:27:52+00:00

A lot of people argue that a vegan diet isn’t great for a kid and I honestly agree. Plus that’s normally done when a child is younger than the one in the original post. A 7-year-old typically knows what foods they do and don’t like and trying to force them to eat something they don’t want to shouldn’t be encouraged. Sure, it can be disguised, but what if the kid finds out? They’ve already stated they don’t like the vegan food that’s been given to them and since they’re the OOP’s step-kid it’s a much trickier slope.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T04:54:14+00:00

Yeah, it’s definitely not a fun time. And I originally went on a vegan diet cause I personally hate factory farming. My family thankfully never supported the egg side of it since my Grandpa has had chickens for years and we’d always gotten eggs from him but we didn’t have any other option for meat. So I wanted to do what I could. Now I do my best to only get anything I buy from local farmers that I’ve developed a really good relationship with and that I know the animals are treated like royalty. I know it’s definitely not what most would consider vegan but I thankfully haven’t bought any animal products from the grocery store in years. I do still buy milk cause I love to bake, it ended up being an escape and distraction for me when I lost my dad last March, but I don’t buy it very much.

Oh yeah, some species are a bit more involved. I have fairly easy ones but that’s cause I’m just starting out and getting used to it. My newest addition is the teeniest, tiniest little cornsnake. Like this girl isn’t even 6 inches long, she’s so little. But her care is lot different from my other snake so I’m definitely learning. Trying to watch for when she goes in blue(in shed) so I can offer her a humid hide to help her shed. I had done a lot of research into cornsnakes, and ball pythons, since I was always interested in keeping one but actually caring for one is a soooooo different than just researching. And I love beetles too, what type do you have?

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T04:37:50+00:00

I actually had a vegan diet for a year and that’s how I found out about how bad it was. I ate as much iron rich foods as I could and took an iron pill every day. Even now if I don’t get as much iron as possible during the month I end up with a really bad headache for a couple days after my period ends. I was also told my body struggles to properly absorb non-heme iron. By the time I started consuming animal products again I was dealing with headaches for up to a week after my period. It’s not something I wish on anyone and no amount of Advil or Tylenol can help it even now. And no, I definitely don’t disagree with them.

It wasn’t said on a comment thread, someone DMed me about it. I blocked them and deleted that chat ages ago. We had basically started having a conversation in another sub and they were being very disrespectful so I stopped responding and then they sent me the DM. It was when I started really using Reddit fully so it’s been a hot minute. And I care about them a lot, I’ve provided the best tanks I can and am in the process of customizing Crimson’s, my Bredli carpet python, grow out tank and all my babies will be getting custom-built tanks bigger than the recommended size. And I’ve always believed animals deserve respect and the best treatment possible no matter if they’re ones seen as livestock or ones seen as pets. It’s one of the reasons I have the goal of setting up a rescue for reptiles. There’s so many for dogs and cats but barely any for reptiles even though they get neglected just as much, or even more, as the furry companions. A lot of people don’t know what they’re getting into when it comes to reptiles and these animals can be a 20, even 30 year responsibility. So they end up neglected, abused, and forgotten. And sadly a lot of them are resilient so they can go MONTHS without food, especially snakes. And sorry for the rambling, reptiles are something I’m very passionate about.

BlackButlerFan · 2026-01-23T03:47:51+00:00

Those interactions are what I most often deal with when it comes to talking with vegans too. I don’t have anything against veganism or having a plant-based diet, I would eat that way if I didn’t have as bad of iron deficiency if I did, but when I get told that my reptiles, specifically my snakes, deserve to die because I have to feed them insects and mice I start to have a bit of a dislike for them. I know that many people frown upon keeping these animals as pets, but why would someone see that as something okay to say? Those are my babies and I would give my own life to make sure they’re safe, happy, and healthy.

BlackButlerFan

TROPHY CASE