Live Feeding

[Tripppysmurf]

Hey other then the debate about being humane and safer for the BP I was wonderign if anyone else here fed live compared to PK? If so any tips you would give when it comes time to feed Mojo two mice a feed instead of one as next feed I am going to try it. Also any advance advice when he mvoes from mice to rats? thanks

[bearhart]

I feed live to both my pythons.

I've found that smaller prey items die significantly faster, sometimes instantly.

I've also found that clutter in the "kill zone" can encourage your snake to take rushed strikes in awkward positions. The quality of the initial strike has a direct impact on the ability of the prey to fight back and potentially injure your snake. If you feed in-cage and have alot of furniture I would recommend removing things that might make it easier for the rodent to come close to the snake without being seen. Be careful sticking your hand in there esp if your BP is expecting to be fed.

I feed my BP one medium adult mouse and one small adult mouse each week. I simply wait until he's done with the first one and then immediately drop the second one in. The couple of times I've gotten busy and waited too long he's gone back into his hide to sleep and it takes forever for him to realize there's a second mouse. I don't like that because the mouse gets to run all over and into his hide etc.

At the moment, I do not plan to switch to rats for my BP. But I might.

[ayobreezie]

My BP is fed live.. I've tried PK and F/T's.. but he'll only take live.. I put him in a feeding tub I have for him(custom screen top) toss in a small rat every week.. and he goes to work.. as soon as the rat gets in there, he strikes right for the face, and clenches tight around the rest of the body.. that first strike is VERY important, but I've never had a problem because my boy always gets a good face strike.

[Nikki0326]

Personally I prefer feeding live. For one thing if you snake happens to not be hungry you can just toss it in a tank instead of decided if you want to refreeze it or just toss. Also I tried a f/t once and they looked pretty gross to me. I always try to keep something handy (like a pencil) when I toss the mouse in, just in case she doesn't make a good strike. If the mouse's head is free I just shove the eraser in its mouth and this way I don't have to worry. I think I'll stick with mice and just feed multiples as she gets bigger (sometimes I feed her two right now), but who knows what the future will bring.

[bearhart]

My BP is fed live.. I've tried PK and F/T's.. but he'll only take live.. I put him in a feeding tub I have for him(custom screen top) toss in a small rat every week.. and he goes to work.. as soon as the rat gets in there, he strikes right for the face, and clenches tight around the rest of the body.. that first strike is VERY important, but I've never had a problem because my boy always gets a good face strike.

Yea, the only times I've had biting is with bad strikes. IMO, A bad strike is one taken in haste or one that lands the back half of the prey. These tend to leave the prey's head fairly unconstrained- at least at first.

The only times I've had bad strikes in a seperate feeding tub was once when Snakey was all spread out and I dropped the mouse in and it ran by him. He crossed over his own body to strike.

I've had a couple of bad strikes feeding in-cage that were due to some furniture. My BP has this big log in front of his hide. He kind of had to either watch to the left or the right and the mouse came around the corner from the opposite direction. What happened was that he took a quick strike with the mouse right on top of him. He almost lost his eye that time. He's still got a mark on the top of his head only a 1/4" from his eye.

IMO, for the snake's best advantage you want a flat open killing zone with the snake either coiled in the corner or in a hide. That way the prey can't approach w/o being seen and it can't flank the snake and approach at and angle that forces them to turn alot. My BP, at least, doesn't move much when he's in strike position so if a mouse flanks him he just lets it crawl over him.