Honest opinions on feeding.

[earthwormjim]

I have a new adult male BP, The first time I fed him I gave him a medium rat, (the biggest one the breeder had). He took it like a champ and had no issues. He was still searching around like he was looking for more food so I figured I would try to feed him again. After several hours of research and forums I decided that, for health benefits and safety, I would switch him to frozen. I bought a pack of two frozen rats from pets mart. I unthawed one in hot water, it came in a small plastic bag. After it was unthawed and at a good temp I tried to offer it to him, he showed zero interest in it and would move away. I spent 2 hours trying different methods of giving it to him.

I absolutely hated the process, it smelled terrible, two of the legs came off of the rat, and it was leaking all over the place. I was told that the rat could have been bad. I also realize he may not have been hungry. Either way 13 bucks for two medium rats that may be bad is outrageous, and the whole process was horrid.

My question is, how terrible is it for me to feed him live? I understand the risks but the breeder is very reliable and has shown me her entire setup and how she breeds her rats. I can buy a large rat for 5 bucks from her, and she has them readily available at all times. I was scolded by several people for feeding live and they made valid arguments, but I stand right by him and watch the entire process so of anything ever did happen I could intervene.
I would like to keep feeding live but from what I have been told and read so far it seems like a bad idea, at the same time he has always had live and the frozen feed was terrible. What are your opinions on it?

[DVirginiana]

Feeding live isn't a terrible thing at all. The risk of injury is very low if you do it responsibly. Never leave prey alone with your snake for an extended period of time; that's when most of the injuries you hear about occur. I personally stand and watch until the prey is completely dead, waiting with a pair of tongs to put in its mouth if it's in a position where it can bite my BP. I'd personally prefer f/t, but my snake won't have any of that.

If you want to give f/t another shot and you don't want a f/t rat to get water logged and gross, you can put it in a baggie before thawing it. That way it stays dry

[Daigga]

Some snakes just don't want frozen rats. As long as you feed responsibly (like DVirginiana said), there's hardly any risk in it. I think it's silly that people freak out so much about feeding live, especially since some people seem to think stunning a rat is a better option (which IS inhumane).

Having some snakes that eat F/T only and some that eat live only, I will say that I generally prefer feeding live for a variety of reasons. It takes less time to feed live, since there is no thawing process and I don't have to play with a dead rat to entice my snakes to eat. There's also the added bonus of not having to flush money every time a snake refuses to eat, which is nice.

[AlexisFitzy]

I totally gave up on thawing rats in hot water, it is a very unpleasant process sometimes even if you put them in a baggy they can still end up wet. I just let mine thaw at room temp and then use a hair dryer to heat them up. Set them out take a nap and wake up and feed the snakes lol

[hijacked]

I agree with you (AlexisFitzy). I stopped thawing in water. I let rat pups thaw for 2 hours, and Med Rats thaw for 4 hours. Then i set them under a halogen lamp on a paper plate for a few minutes per side.
I tried rats from the large pet stores. I wasnt happy with the quality at all.
The frozen rats i get from my local reptile pet store, are much better looking. After they are thawed, they look like a fresh killed rat. Not like a water logged, shriveled up rodent.

[Eric Alan]

Just so you're aware, the majority of adult males will do just fine on a single small rat (50-90 grams) per week - with an occasional refusal being perfectly normal.

The likely reason he still looked hungry after you fed him is because they're programmed as opportunistic feeders. When prey is available they try to snatch up what they can because they don't know when their next meal is coming. Basically, once in feed mode they can stay that way for awhile. In captivity, we know exactly when we're going to be offering food next so there's no reason we need to feed them more than they need at any given time. It's also quite possible that the reason he refused the frozen/thawed meal was because he had a pretty good sized meal that filled him up in the meal before. How soon after his medium rat did you try the frozen one?

As Alexis said, feeding frozen/thawed doesn't have to be difficult at all. For me, when it's feeding day I wake up and pull out the amount of frozen rats I'm planning on offering and set them out on styrofoam trays in the snake room. After dinner, I break out the hairdryer to heat them up a bit and offer them to my snakes. It may take a little longer than feeding live, but I personally enjoy the time I spend with my collection when it's feeding day - the time spent thawing the rats is a non-issue for me since I don't really do anything besides pull them out of the freezer and let nature do its thing.

Edit: As far as the cost of frozen, buying in bulk online will be your best friend if that's the route you decide to go.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

some people seem to think stunning a rat is a better option (which IS inhumane).

Not sure who those people are but not only is is inhumane to the prey but also increases danger for the snake, nothing worse than a stunned rat coming back from it's dazed.

As far as feeding it comes down to a few thing first being knowledgeable and second being responsible (that includes, supervising, feeding a prey that is not too big etc)

Live is fine, F/T is fine to the question is which one works best for you and your animal.

Now as for the size keep in mind that BP in captivity are overfed and while they surely can take larger prey, larger is not better, none of my males eat prey larger than 55/75 grams, by doing so this allow the animal to feed with consistency versus having an animal that fast, I even skip a week here and there on a regular basis.

[earthwormjim]

Thank you all for your input. The rat was in a bag but it did get wet. I figured it was normal but it makes sense that it would be gross if it was wet. It was two days after feeding him a live that I tried with the frozen, I will make one more attempt in a week and let it thaw at room temp. If he doesn't take it then I will go back to live. The only reason I would still consider frozen is because to get live I have to drive an hour to get them, and petsmart is two blocks away. Thanks again everyone.

[bcr229]

Thank you all for your input. The rat was in a bag but it did get wet. I figured it was normal but it makes sense that it would be gross if it was wet. It was two days after feeding him a live that I tried with the frozen, I will make one more attempt in a week and let it thaw at room temp. If he doesn't take it then I will go back to live. The only reason I would still consider frozen is because to get live I have to drive an hour to get them, and petsmart is two blocks away. Thanks again everyone.

If a male is on medium rats then he shouldn't need to eat more than once every two weeks.

Personally I would continue trying to get him on frozen because male BP's do go on periodic hunger strikes - and if he's not eating, then you're stuck caring for a live rat, potentially for a few months.

Petsmart feeders aren't exactly the best quality though, and I've read that theirs may thaw and then be re-frozen during their shipping & distribution process, which makes for disgusting feeders.

[GoingPostal]

If the snake is used to eating live you should work on getting him to take prekilled, then it would be easier to get him on frozen thawed.