Feeding bp live or thawed

[majesticsami]

I'm in need of some advice ,

I bought 5 feeder mice live and I'm going to feed my bp tomorrow , but I have abit of hesitation in feeding it live because I'm afraid of the consequences and also don't really want to watch the mice getting killed. So my question is..

1. Should I feed it live ?
-If not how do I humanely kill the mice?

Thanks!

[Craiga 01453]

I would avoid feeding live unless your snake absolutely will not eat F/T or fresh killed.
I buy frozen, so I don't want to lend advice on killing the mice. I know there are a few options, but I'll leave that to people with experience there....

[decensored]

The most humane way to kill mice is fairly uncomfortable to do and unless you know how to do it properly and confidently you can end up being unintentionally cruel. The best thing to do is take them back to wherever you got them.

Alternatively you can feed live, but is uncomfortable to watch and you do need to watch so that you can intervene if the mouse starts to hurt the snake. Live mice is a bad habit to start them on though, it can be difficult to switch them off.

My advice; return the mice, get some frozen rats.

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[Stewart_Reptiles]

Be knowledgeable learn how to safely feed both ways and decide what works best for you and your snakes.

I mainly feed live but keep a few BP on F/T to get rid of over stock since I breed my own feeders and have to euthanize when they reach their maximum size, I also prefer to feed F/T to y colubrids because it works best for them.

[Zincubus]

Be knowledgeable learn how to safely feed both ways and decide what works best for you and your snakes.

I mainly feed live but keep a few BP on F/T to get rid of over stock since I breed my own feeders and have to euthanize when they reach their maximum size, I also prefer to feed F/T to y colubrids because it works best for them.

Hi..

May I ask why f/t work better with Colubrids ??


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[Stewart_Reptiles]

Hi..

May I ask why f/t work better with Colubrids ??


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Because my colubrids (Honduran Milkshakes and Hognose) have a tendency to take live litterally, rather then killing their prey, they just want to swallow them alive, I believe in the prey being dispatched as fast and as humanly as possible, so those get F/T, plus I really don't want to keep more live mice than I need too and they are very prolific so the best place is once they have the right size is the freezer.

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[majesticsami]

Okay so I've killed the mice most humane possible way to me which is doing a cervical dislocation which really was uncomfortable that my hand was actually shaking. But I respectfully said thank you to each time I do it.. just my way of respect.

But now my bp seems like it's scared to eat , maybe the mice might be abit too big to what it's comfortable too, so another question here is

1. How do I switch smaller mice to a little bigger (pinkie to fuzzy)

[Craiga 01453]

You're feeding pinky/fuzzy mice or rats?

Pinkies and fuzzy mice are too small for a hatchling fresh out of the egg. A hopper mouse should only be fed for the first few meals, and then prey size upped to small adult mice or switched to rats...

[majesticsami]

I'm feeding it fuzzy rats , eyes are already open so it's a good size for my ball python

[majesticsami]

He finally ate frozen thawed, at first it was scared of the food but with a little patience I just kept wiggling it and if it doesn't eat.. I dip it in hot/warm water so the rat would have a little heat. Then when he got curious , it smelled it and got nearer to it and BAAM got it . Hahahahha so thanks to everyone who helped ! Really appreciate it