Live Feeding: Drop or Dangle?

Hey guys, my BP is a brat and will only eat live so I was wondering how you guys fed live and what works better/is safer. Do you dangle the prey into the enclosure until snatched up or do you just drop the prey in and watch until it's snatched?

I just drop mine in. Keep a pencil handy in case of a poor hit.

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Originally Posted by KING JAMES

I just drop mine in. Keep a pencil handy in case of a poor hit.

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What do you mean by that?

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Originally Posted by Eazyyyb

What do you mean by that?

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If the snake does not hit head first then you need to kill the rat before it begins biting at your specimen. To increase the odds of a good hit, I usually place the prey on all fours, hold the rodent's tail with a pair of tongs, and guide it slowly toward the snake.

All I meant was to keep something within reach that can be used to occupy the mouth of the feeder until it expires. This is only needed if the snake makes a poor hit (example, it bites the rat in the hind quarter and does not wrap it well leaving the head free to bite away)

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Originally Posted by Eazyyyb

Hey guys, my BP is a brat and will only eat live so I was wondering how you guys fed live and what works better/is safer. Do you dangle the prey into the enclosure until snatched up or do you just drop the prey in and watch until it's snatched?

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I've been working on switching my youngins over to F/T, so I've been using live and freshly killed to help them make the transition. I've found that Sophie (Spider F) plucks her meal right off the tongs, dead or alive. However, Peyton (Pastel M) is more stubborn and likes to slowly make his way to his meal after it's been dropped in. Generally speaking, I try to keep them "head to head" to avoid a strike to the tail end, which could result with the snake being bit when being fed a live meal.

Hope that helps..

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Originally Posted by Physician&Snakes

If the snake does not hit head first then you need to kill the rat before it begins biting at your specimen. To increase the odds of a good hit, I usually place the prey on all fours, hold the rodent's tail with a pair of tongs, and guide it slowly toward the snake.

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Interesting.....over 5K live feedings, I've never had to intervene, or guide the prey to the snake, direct hit or not. No injuries in all those live feedings either. :confuzd:

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Originally Posted by KING JAMES

All I meant was to keep something within reach that can be used to occupy the mouth of the feeder until it expires. This is only needed if the snake makes a poor hit (example, it bites the rat in the hind quarter and does not wrap it well leaving the head free to bite away)

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It's been my personal experience that no matter how the snake hits, the prey is more concerned taking its last gasp than inflicting any damaging bites to my snakes. As in the previous post, in over 5K live feeds, I've never intervened in the process for my snakes.

Drop it in.

You drop a live rodent in there that's the appropriate size, your snake will figure out everything else for you.

I don't guide, put prey in with as little stress as possible so it's just going about investigating new surroundings, normally no more than 30 seconds go by and it's coiled...

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