Feeding live

Ginger is enjoying eating live prey instead of frozen/thawed.

She weighs about 1100 gms and was eating f/t small rats before she fasted. I'm feeding her 2 live mice, and she could certainly eat 4. But at $4.99 each, 4 mice are much more $ than 1 rat.

Ginger has developed a great hunting instinct and takes down the mice instantly. Could I safely feed her a live rat? I'm worried that she might get injured by the rat.

I look forward to your advice & comments!

Thanks,
Pamela

Ball pythons have been known to successfully eat live rats.

Feed a small rat - at 1100g I would feed one around 75 grams which is roughly twice the size of an adult mouse. Wait till the rat is calm and place it calmly in the enclosure. Supervise and keep a pencil or something near by. If the rat has its head free after the strike and tries to bite, shove the pencil in its mouth to bite down on that. It's rare but it's important to be prepared.

If your snake was on F/T before I would recommend trying to transition it back. It will be lower cost in the long run and safer. It's also more convenient depending what you have to do to obtain a live rat.

Yes you can, it's all about feeding responsibly.

Pre-scent the room
Make sure the feeder is well fed and well hydrated (since you buy them from a store always offer food and water)
Do not feed an oversized prey
Do not stress the feeder
Do not stun the feeder
Remove is not eaten within 15/20 min
Supervised feeding.

I feed between 1500 to 2000 live rats each year (to my breeders) and never had an issue (and this is a small number compare to some)

Exactly the advice that I was looking for - thanks!