Scary feed incident

I feed live to my bp who has ate live all 4 of her years on this green earth.

Last week I had one of the scariest moments in live feeding i have had. I usually give the rat a slight flick on the nose to disorrent them slightly. Well this week I just didn't do it because it was a pretty small and docile rat.

WELL What a mistake I made. The rat was wrapped up and then WHAM blood was oozing out from the pythons head. Suddenly I looked closer and then it looked like he had snagged her eyed. Horros stories shot through my head. The vet bills the rush witha bleeding snake. Losing my breeding female. OH THE TERROR.

Lucky me the rat had only bit it's own leg and it was bleeding profusly with a broken foot.

I think I need to consider thumping the rat a little harder to disorient him. Becasue she went 6 weeks off food trying to switch over. Zombie rat dances and all.

Anyone else have any live feed horror stories?:snake:

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Originally Posted by oliverstwist

I feed live to my bp who has ate live all 4 of her years on this green earth.

Last week I had one of the scariest moments in live feeding i have had. I usually give the rat a slight flick on the nose to disorrent them slightly. Well this week I just didn't do it because it was a pretty small and docile rat.

WELL What a mistake I made. The rat was wrapped up and then WHAM blood was oozing out from the pythons head. Suddenly I looked closer and then it looked like he had snagged her eyed. Horros stories shot through my head. The vet bills the rush witha bleeding snake. Losing my breeding female. OH THE TERROR.

Lucky me the rat had only bit it's own leg and it was bleeding profusly with a broken foot.

I think I need to consider thumping the rat a little harder to disorient him. Becasue she went 6 weeks off food trying to switch over. Zombie rat dances and all.

Anyone else have any live feed horror stories?:snake:

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Or you could try a smaller rat. I have fed live for years and have never had a feeding incident or had to "thump" a rat. I don't believe in it and won't do it. Even prey items deserve a little respect. My guess is that you are feeding too large of a rat to your snake.

Hope this helps...

i try to respect the rat and there fore think i dont really do much more than tap it on the nose with my single finger. I feel bad and get attached to them.

I will try feeding smaller. I feed her a large medium once every ten days is it better to feed a small or medium medium once every 5-7?:confused:

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Originally Posted by oliverstwist

i try to respect the rat and there fore think i dont really do much more than tap it on the nose with my single finger. I feel bad and get attached to them.

I will try feeding smaller. I feed her a large medium once every ten days is it better to feed a small or medium medium once every 5-7?:confused:

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I don't know how big your snake is but for me, I don't feed anything bigger than a small to my biggest girls. I feed adults ever 7 days and hatchlings/juvies every 5. My snakes all grow normally and aren't starving. :) I think when feeding live it's best to feed smaller and avoid any real risk.

she is 1200grms

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Originally Posted by oliverstwist

she is 1200grms

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In my opinion, far too big of a prey item and with live you are risking serious injury to the snake. I don't even feed 2700 gram girls prey that big. Just my opinion from experience, take it as you will.

you know more than i do i KNOW that. so i will move down to a small rat

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Originally Posted by oliverstwist

you know more than i do i KNOW that. so i will move down to a small rat

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I'm sure you'll do fine. This hobby is all about constantly learning and adjusting to do the best we can for our animals. I think with a smaller prey item you'll get a more consistent feeder and far less chance for injury. Best of luck!

Jamie

Jamie is right on, I feed a little over 200 live preys each months and never had an incident, I mainly feed small rats (about 4 weeks old - 85 grams ) even to my largest females.