Few questions about live feeding

So I have 2 snakes that like eating live. One is a fairly new addition and the other used to eat f/t then went on a 6 month fast and eats live now. I tried feeding both of them f/t the other day an they show interest but no strike.

I thought of a tactic I'm wondering if anyone has tried. What if I held the live rat by the tail with the tongs? Maybe after a few times of that they will take a f/t? I'm wondering it either me or the tongs are scaring them off?

Also, sometimes I buy a few lives at a time and have to keep them for a week or so before they get fed to the snake. Is there a food that I can feed to them that will be good for the snakes? I used to buy gut loaded crickets and mealworms for my leopard geckos, do I was wondering if this concept works for balls as well?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


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I don't believe holding live rats with feeding tongs is very respectful of or pleasant for the rat(tail skin breaks and comes off with far less effort than one would think)...being eaten is probably no picnic either, but we should try to keep unnecessary discomfort to a minimum when otherwise possible.

Ya I was thinking about that after I posted. Weird thing is I used to keep rats as pets when I was a kid. Weird transition. Lol. What about the gut loading?


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I havent heard anything on the gut loading thing but I have heard that there are things you could feed the rats that could be harmful to snakes but I am not positive as to the truth behind some of the claims. I have heard things with dies in them like some dog foods are not good for snakes and then I have also heard that some seedy foods that the rats eat can be harmful to the snakes. Not sure if they are true but I stay away from things that have this just to be safe...

yes what you feed the rodents can effect how nutritious they are for the snake. I would suggest that you get a bag of lab block like this

http://www.reptilebasics.com/harlan2018

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I havent heard anything on the gut loading thing but I have heard that there are things you could feed the rats that could be harmful to snakes but I am not positive as to the truth behind some of the claims. I have heard things with dies in them like some dog foods are not good for snakes and then I have also heard that some seedy foods that the rats eat can be harmful to the snakes. Not sure if they are true but I stay away from things that have this just to be safe...

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Dog food in general really shouldn't be fed to rodents (heck most shouldn't even be fed to dogs in my opinion...) rodents fed dog food tend to have all sorts of health problems.

Thanks guys!


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