Frozen food can kill not injure your snake

I have read several stories of people loosing their snakes to a bad frozen feeder. One time the snake ate a bad frozen food and died because of that. This is actually one of the reasons why i feed only live. Sick animals get slaughtered and sold as food to your snake. I know that this is the exception, but your snake has to eat a bad frozen only once and that might be enough to kill it. I am not advocating here for live feeding, i'm just mentioning something that rarely get mentioned

That's not a reason to only feed live. Its called get f/t from a trusted supplier who you know has healthy rodents and proper care and living conditions.

Also rodents rarely ever show signs of illness unless they are actually dying, so you could be feeding live sick rodents too and not know..

No bashing for live feeding though, I have a picky boy who will only eat live, but I did previously feed f/t.

To be fair you hear and see ( in this very forum occasionally) far more injuries sustained by feeding live - that said , I guess it's impossible to come to any conclusions given we have no idea of the numbers involved in both types of feeding ..

I'm firmly in the frozen-thawed camp but that's just my personal preference - I've found that there some subjects that are better NOT discussed ;)


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I feed 12 ball pythons with frozen and I have no problems. But to each their own. If getting live isn't a problem for you then go for it. I prefer frozen for the convenience and so live rats can't injure my bp's.

Live prey can carry parasites as well....just saying.

Buy from reputable sources and you should be fine.
I've never had an issue feeding F/T to any of my snakes through the years.

If you know how to handle meat safely, you know how to handle frozen rodents safely. There is absolutely no reason to feed live rodents if your snake will feed frozen thawed. For the vast majority of snake owners it is also much easier to obtain frozen thawed than live.

Feed live if you want to but avoid making excuses for doing so. Live after a certain size in a captive setting where the snake cannot easily escape is a recipe for disaster. It's your snake and your rules but I will continue to advocate for the safety of frozen thawed rodents from reputable sources as long as I have snakes.

Regardless of the method chosen it's abouut feeding RESPONSIBLY based on what you have learn and what works for you, and really it's about common sense. (Which is lacking with some people whether they feed live or F/T)

I feed both depending on the animal time of the year etc and never had issues with one or the other.

Feed what you like and what works it's all that matter.

I cant wait to see you try and feed a live rabbit to the boa. A rabbit can easily kill a boa if it isnt grabbed right. And same with jumbo rats.

Want proof? Grab a live jumbo rat in your hand and squeeze it hard and see what happens....

Sure there are stories of snakes dying from eating a bad FT rat. There are also stories of them getting 'bleached' from a funky FT rat where they lost all color. But like mentioned, there are far more horror stories about live feedings going bad than the FT issue.

And like mentioned, and i've stated this before too, live can carry parasite. Freezing tends to kill most of the parasite. If you feed live, you should get a fecal done every year.

I too started out feeding live when i was young and back before reptiles became a fashion pet. There was none of these FT companies etc so you really didnt have much a choice. I actually didnt feed the live rat to the snakes, i would kill it first by hitting it on the head real quick and make sure it was dead, not just knocked out as a dazed rat can be even more dangerous. Then i learned about cervical dislocation.

You're like the rebel snake owner, Dutti. You do everything that is pretty much opposite of what the practiced standard is in snake keeping. If it works for you, i guess go for it. Live feeding really isnt such a huge deal but your overfeeding, we have beaten a dead horse on that one and that one is a big deal lol.

And also like others have said, if you find a reputable source for rats, you should be fine. I mean Rodent Pro i believe had some issues with their rats a long time ago and i have been told by a few people, they buy lab surplus stuff so that would make me question them. Also i have heard recently of issues here and there with their quality being questionable. If i ordered online(which now that i have my limit of snakes for now), I'll use Perfect Prey aka Loxahatchee Rodents, Big Cheese Rodents or Layne Labs(i know the whole labs thing in the name but i guess they breed their own, not outsource lab surplus from a testing lab) or Monster Feeders for guinea pigs and piglets.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

I cant wait to see you try and feed a live rabbit to the boa. A rabbit can easily kill a boa if it isnt grabbed right. And same with jumbo rats.

Want proof? Grab a live jumbo rat in your hand and squeeze it hard and see what happens....

Sure there are stories of snakes dying from eating a bad FT rat. There are also stories of them getting 'bleached' from a funky FT rat where they lost all color. But like mentioned, there are far more horror stories about live feedings going bad than the FT issue.

And like mentioned, and i've stated this before too, live can carry parasite. Freezing tends to kill most of the parasite. If you feed live, you should get a fecal done every year.

I too started out feeding live when i was young and back before reptiles became a fashion pet. There was none of these FT companies etc so you really didnt have much a choice. I actually didnt feed the live rat to the snakes, i would kill it first by hitting it on the head real quick and make sure it was dead, not just knocked out as a dazed rat can be even more dangerous. Then i learned about cervical dislocation.

You're like the rebel snake owner, Dutti. You do everything that is pretty much opposite of what the practiced standard is in snake keeping. If it works for you, i guess go for it. Live feeding really isnt such a huge deal but your overfeeding, we have beaten a dead horse on that one and that one is a big deal lol.

And also like others have said, if you find a reputable source for rats, you should be fine. I mean Rodent Pro i believe had some issues with their rats a long time ago and i have been told by a few people, they buy lab surplus stuff so that would make me question them. Also i have heard recently of issues here and there with their quality being questionable. If i ordered online(which now that i have my limit of snakes for now), I'll use Perfect Prey aka Loxahatchee Rodents, Big Cheese Rodents or Layne Labs(i know the whole labs thing in the name but i guess they breed their own, not outsource lab surplus from a testing lab) or Monster Feeders for guinea pigs and piglets.

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You are massively underestimating the power of boa constrictor as being one of the most powerful constrictors in the world by claiming that a rabbit or a jumbo rat kann kill a boa if it isnt grabbed right. No way for a rabbit or a jumbo rat to kill a boa unless you put them against a young small boa, or an underfed boa of course. Want proof how powerful boa is? Put a smell of a rat on your hand and give it to a hungry adult boa. The boa is a hunter by instinct if its allowed by its owner to practice its hunting skills. My 5 foot 19 months old boa easily destroys a jumbo rat. Imagine what he can do when he is 8 or 9 foot. Of course my boa has enough muscles and bones to crush a jumbo rat at this young age, otherwise i would not have fed him a jumbo rat. Also a dazed rat is not more dangerous. a dazed rat is a rat that has at least 50% less power than an awake rat. by the way, the last time my boa ate was 22 days ago, so i,m not overfeeding him

To expound on that... Don't hesitate to take your snake in for a checkup if you have a qualified exotic vet. There can be all sorts of asymptomatic creepy crawlies living in harmony in your snake that one immuno compromised illness can turn into a full blown problem. My baby GTP is about to get a full physical from a fecal to checking her overall physical condition. For what I paid for her and how delicate they have a stereotype of being, a vet exam is a great investment to make sure she is in tip top health.

Snakes often don't show illness or are slow to develop life threatening conditions so something that could have killed them can be excused as a rotten food item to someone who has never had a medical expert examine their snake. Just wanted to piggy back this on to a relevant thread.

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Originally Posted by Dutti

You are massively underestimating the power of boa constrictor as being one of the most powerful constrictors in the world by claiming that a rabbit or a jumbo rat kann kill a boa if it isnt grabbed right. No way for a rabbit or a jumbo rat to kill a boa unless you put them against a young small boa, or an underfed boa of course. Want proof how powerful boa is? Put a smell of a rat on your hand and give it to a hungry adult boa. The boa is a hunter by instinct if its allowed by its owner to practice its hunting skills. My 5 foot 19 months old boa easily destroys a jumbo rat. Imagine what he can do when he is 8 or 9 foot. Of course my boa has enough muscles and bones to crush a jumbo rat at this young age, otherwise i would not have fed him a jumbo rat. Also a dazed rat is not more dangerous. a dazed rat is a rat that has at least 50% less power than an awake rat. by the way, the last time my boa ate was 22 days ago, so i,m not overfeeding him

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You are underestimating the damaging power rat and rabbit teeth can do.

Yes boas are great at doing their job but accidents do happen. It only takes one accident and either the rat or rabbit sinking some incisors into the snakes eye or neck/spine and you have a huge vet bill or possible a dead snake.

And here we go with the lack of knowledge on your part. A nice relaxed rat is less likely to be on the defense and this wont react as quick when grabbed by the snake. A dazed rat that come out of it, is going to be one pissed off rat that is on the defensive and ready to bit anything. That is the reason people say if you do feed live, dont dangle a live rat by the tail to the snake as that puts the rat on defense and stresses it. You calmly put the rat in the cage and let it explore so it is calm and not suspecting when the snake grabs it. It hopefully wont have time to react unless of course the snake makes a bad grab.

And you should go check out some of the videos on wild snakes like anacondas and stuff that biologists study in the wild. A lot of them have some serious battle scars on their body and head. I saw one anaconda that had a serious mouth infection and the biologists didnt know if it would actually survive but their job wasnt to treat animals in the wild so they just let it be. Generally an animal in the wild is going to have a better immune system than out lazy captive bred ones who never experience any kind of onslaught by bacteria, viruses etc on a daily basis like its wild cousins do.

You believe what you want man. You seem to think that boas or your boa is a superman that is indestructible but I'm telling you a rabbit or rat CAN seriously injure a snake and/or kill it but most likely not directly. It would come from secondary infection as rabbits and rats and even humans have pretty filthy bacteria ridden mouths. Now like i said, it's not really common but there is that chance. Why take that risk and roll the dice at every feeding whether your snake gets injured and you end up with a huge vet bill. Breeders i can see a reason behind it as some have hundreds of snakes to deal with and trying to thaw out 100 mice and then feed them off would be a job in itself but for a hobbyist that only has 9 snakes, i find it easy to just throw everything in a bucket of warm water and come back in an hour for the small stuff and 2-3 hours for the big stuff and feed knowing dang well i wont possibly have the rush my snake down to my vet on an emergency call. My vet cuts me deals on stuff as i take all my stuff to her but still, it's not $20 for a visit. It still runs me anywhere from $150-$300 depending what I'm having done lol.

My only query about live feeding is that so many say it's the most natural way or it's just like it is in the wild BUT I can't help thinking that a crazy rat is gonna act differently in a confined tub to how it would behave in a more open space ... just me thinking aloud ... Live feeding isn't for me anyways as I simply couldn't bring myself to hurt or harm anything intentionally .. My stomach turns when I stand I on a snail in the dark :)


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Originally Posted by Zincubus

My only query about live feeding is that so many say it's the most natural way or it's just like it is in the wild BUT I can't help thinking that a crazy rat is gonna act differently in a confined tub to how it would behave in a more open space ... just me thinking aloud ... Live feeding isn't for me anyways as I simply couldn't bring myself to hurt or harm anything intentionally .. My stomach turns when I stand I on a snail in the dark :)


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What's your definition of intentional hurt/harm? Regardless of if you feed f/t or live, you're still the rats cause of death.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

You are underestimating the damaging power rat and rabbit teeth can do.

Yes boas are great at doing their job but accidents do happen. It only takes one accident and either the rat or rabbit sinking some incisors into the snakes eye or neck/spine and you have a huge vet bill or possible a dead snake.

And here we go with the lack of knowledge on your part. A nice relaxed rat is less likely to be on the defense and this wont react as quick when grabbed by the snake. A dazed rat that come out of it, is going to be one pissed off rat that is on the defensive and ready to bit anything. That is the reason people say if you do feed live, dont dangle a live rat by the tail to the snake as that puts the rat on defense and stresses it. You calmly put the rat in the cage and let it explore so it is calm and not suspecting when the snake grabs it. It hopefully wont have time to react unless of course the snake makes a bad grab.

And you should go check out some of the videos on wild snakes like anacondas and stuff that biologists study in the wild. A lot of them have some serious battle scars on their body and head. I saw one anaconda that had a serious mouth infection and the biologists didnt know if it would actually survive but their job wasnt to treat animals in the wild so they just let it be. Generally an animal in the wild is going to have a better immune system than out lazy captive bred ones who never experience any kind of onslaught by bacteria, viruses etc on a daily basis like its wild cousins do.

You believe what you want man. You seem to think that boas or your boa is a superman that is indestructible but I'm telling you a rabbit or rat CAN seriously injure a snake and/or kill it but most likely not directly. It would come from secondary infection as rabbits and rats and even humans have pretty filthy bacteria ridden mouths. Now like i said, it's not really common but there is that chance. Why take that risk and roll the dice at every feeding whether your snake gets injured and you end up with a huge vet bill. Breeders i can see a reason behind it as some have hundreds of snakes to deal with and trying to thaw out 100 mice and then feed them off would be a job in itself but for a hobbyist that only has 9 snakes, i find it easy to just throw everything in a bucket of warm water and come back in an hour for the small stuff and 2-3 hours for the big stuff and feed knowing dang well i wont possibly have the rush my snake down to my vet on an emergency call. My vet cuts me deals on stuff as i take all my stuff to her but still, it's not $20 for a visit. It still runs me anywhere from $150-$300 depending what I'm having done lol.

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What i have wrote came out of my own experience. The boa strikes with an unimaginable speed, so when the rat or rabbit realizes that there is a danger it will be already too late. Either his head is inside the boas mouth or he is so strongly being constricted that he is hardly trying to breath, no power or mind left to think about biting. The worst thing that could happen would be a harmless bite that does not penetrate more than the skin if it ever happened. What happens in the wild is another issue as large constrictors in the wild would attack a very large animals like Crocks or whatever, so injuries are to be excpected. Those injuries did not result in the wild out of small mammals like rats and rabbits rather of Crocks and large mammals. Also dangling the rat in front of the snake is not dangerous. a dazed rat won,t have the chance to come out of it, if you put a dazed rat in front of a hungry snake he will be eaten immediately.

If a reptile will eat frozen thawed it is the responsible thing to do. Live feeding should only be done as a last resort if the reptile refuses frozen thawed. I don't like the game Russian roulette especially with the welfare of my snakes involved. I have been bit but rabbit, guinea pig, hamster, and rat and if I can get an open wound from a fuzzy rodent, my 4 foot ball python sure can as well.

Please stop feeding the troll, everyone...


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Originally Posted by PythonBabes

What's your definition of intentional hurt/harm? Regardless of if you feed f/t or live, you're still the rats cause of death.

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It's hardly the same - I love baby pigs and I love bacon - it may be my skewed view on things but as long as I don't have to kill the baby pig or see it being slaughtered then I'm ok with it - I'm not killing it with my own hands or having to watch it die is the difference .... can't explain it any better , sadly ..


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Originally Posted by Zincubus

It's hardly the same - I love baby pigs and I love bacon - it may be my skewed view on things but as long as I don't have to kill the baby pig or see it being slaughtered then I'm ok with it - I'm not killing it with my own hands or having to watch it die is the difference .... can't explain it any better , sadly ..

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Ahh, well I'll accept that answer. Flawed logic is better than none, I guess..

I see the point of view that 99% of the time the Boa will win. However, I like what Sauzo said, “all it takes is one accident...”


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Originally Posted by PythonBabes

What's your definition of intentional hurt/harm? Regardless of if you feed f/t or live, you're still the rats cause of death.

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And i quote Ted Nugent...'you gotta kill it before you can grill it'. i have no problem with the death or killing of any animal assuming it is for a justified purpose like food. Senseless killing is where i get mad and humans are the only animals that kill for the pure pleasure of killing.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

And i quote Ted Nugent...'you gotta kill it before you can grill it'. i have no problem with the death or killing of any animal assuming it is for a justified purpose like food. Senseless killing is where i get mad and humans are the only animals that kill for the pure pleasure of killing.

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Hold on there! My cat as a little girl would present me treasures of killed birds as trophies for her skills as a big game hunter. I think that is where my twisted personality first started.

https://www.ranker.com/list/animals-...on/laura-allan

To quote that link "Honey Badgers Are Just Angry and Deadly"

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

And i quote Ted Nugent...'you gotta kill it before you can grill it'. i have no problem with the death or killing of any animal assuming it is for a justified purpose like food. Senseless killing is where i get mad and humans are the only animals that kill for the pure pleasure of killing.

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Yeah, I see your point I'm not one of those people that believe no animals should be killed for any purpose And not only humans kill for fun, had a red fox kill 20 of my friend's ducks and didn't eat not one of them. End game it was his fault, his pen should have been more secure, but I'm just saying.

And my reason for that question? People who have a holier than thou attitude when it comes to them feeding only f/t and act like feeding live is the absolute worst thing that you could ever do. Guilt tripping doesn't work on me, especially when I'm doing what's best for the well-being of my pet, but it's still extremely annoying.

I like snakes because they are amazing predators. I like most all predators, because they reign supreme in the kingdom of living things.
Killing is cool with me. It’s raw nature. I’m crazy.


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Lots of animals kill for the pleasure of it. It's the nature of a predator to kill, and they sometimes indulge in killing. Dogs will kill sheep or goats for the fun of it. All wild canids will. POssums and raccoons will kill entire hutches full of fowl, leaving all to rot except for the innards of one or two.

Frozen rodents don't kill a snake. Spoiled rodents kill a snake. If you feed spoiled rodents, you're irresponsible, just like if you don't supervise live feedings.

A rabbit can absolutely kill a large snake. Just because the large snake is strong enough to kill the rabbit doesn't mean that it will hit the rabbit correctly 100% of the time. If it makes a bad hit, and the rabbit can kick it properly, then your snake could be mortally injured. It CAN happen. Absolutely can. A frozen/thawed rabbit will never kick the snake.

So stating "frozen can kill" is silly. Live can kill. Spoiled can kill.

And lab excess isn't a bad thing. They aren't selling you animals they've tested drugs on. Those have to be used for the results. The excess supply a lab sells is never exposed to anything, because the breeding colony is kept strictly separate or it will destroy the entire colony for use in their testing regimes. They simply breed more rodents than they need to use, and sell the excess. They're good healthy animals.

As mentioned before, you can believe what you like. But rats have teeth that can gnaw through wood. I have a very good friend who lost a healthy 9 foot boa due to a rat bite to the spine many years ago. In an enclosed space, an animal’s survival instinct is unpredictable. It would only take a second for your snake to sustain a devastating injury. You may not have seen it yet, but it would only take once. Not a pleasant way to see your pet go

I know many years ago I learned my lesson on feeding live to my adult boa. It was litterally 1mm from the rat sinking its top teeth into my snakes eye. Other than feeding a live mouse rarely to "reset" a snake, never again. But a lot of people feed live with great success. Feeding a "bad" frozen prey item can have it's consequences. Humans think they are eating "good" frozen food and looks what happens each year.

CDC estimates that each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) gets sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases.

Any form of eating comes with a risk both chronic and acute for both man and beast.

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

Lots of animals kill for the pleasure of it. It's the nature of a predator to kill, and they sometimes indulge in killing. Dogs will kill sheep or goats for the fun of it. All wild canids will. POssums and raccoons will kill entire hutches full of fowl, leaving all to rot except for the innards of one or two.

Frozen rodents don't kill a snake. Spoiled rodents kill a snake. If you feed spoiled rodents, you're irresponsible, just like if you don't supervise live feedings.

A rabbit can absolutely kill a large snake. Just because the large snake is strong enough to kill the rabbit doesn't mean that it will hit the rabbit correctly 100% of the time. If it makes a bad hit, and the rabbit can kick it properly, then your snake could be mortally injured. It CAN happen. Absolutely can. A frozen/thawed rabbit will never kick the snake.

So stating "frozen can kill" is silly. Live can kill. Spoiled can kill.

And lab excess isn't a bad thing. They aren't selling you animals they've tested drugs on. Those have to be used for the results. The excess supply a lab sells is never exposed to anything, because the breeding colony is kept strictly separate or it will destroy the entire colony for use in their testing regimes. They simply breed more rodents than they need to use, and sell the excess. They're good healthy animals.

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Well they might start healthy but Rodent Pro definitely does something wrong or did on multiple occasions. They had problems a long time ago i remember reading about. And now there was a whole issue on FB about multiple people having problems with their quality and snakes getting sick, dying or losing color after eating rats from them. Never heard of problems with Big Cheese, Layne Labs or Loxahatchee Rodents. Only issue i heard was that Layne Labs had some pretty piss poor packing by a few people but the rats themselves were clean.

I personally just wouldnt use Rodent Pro as like I've said, in the past 10 years or so, I've heard a few issues with their quality and more than a couple people who have fed their rats and then their snake or snakes have died. Not worth chancing to me as my collection is worth a lot more than a few dollars in rats.

And actually a frozen rat can kill a snake...if you dont fully thaw it and it's still frozen in the core of a jumbo one :P

And yeah, i guess some animals do kill for the heck of it too

I wasn't talking about RodentPro in particular, but excess lab rodents. RodentPro had an issue in the past but I think it was spoiled rodents, which wouldn't have anything to do with initial quality, but probably treatment in holding and shipping.

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

Lots of animals kill for the pleasure of it. It's the nature of a predator to kill, and they sometimes indulge in killing. Dogs will kill sheep or goats for the fun of it. All wild canids will. POssums and raccoons will kill entire hutches full of fowl, leaving all to rot except for the innards of one or two.

Frozen rodents don't kill a snake. Spoiled rodents kill a snake. If you feed spoiled rodents, you're irresponsible, just like if you don't supervise live feedings.

A rabbit can absolutely kill a large snake. Just because the large snake is strong enough to kill the rabbit doesn't mean that it will hit the rabbit correctly 100% of the time. If it makes a bad hit, and the rabbit can kick it properly, then your snake could be mortally injured. It CAN happen. Absolutely can. A frozen/thawed rabbit will never kick the snake.

So stating "frozen can kill" is silly. Live can kill. Spoiled can kill.

And lab excess isn't a bad thing. They aren't selling you animals they've tested drugs on. Those have to be used for the results. The excess supply a lab sells is never exposed to anything, because the breeding colony is kept strictly separate or it will destroy the entire colony for use in their testing regimes. They simply breed more rodents than they need to use, and sell the excess. They're good healthy animals.

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Im not buying that argument that a rabbit can kill a large Constrictor by kicking it. That might happen with an underfed Constrictor that has a weak bones and a small muscle mass. Not all Constrictors have the same hardness of bones and muscle mass. Humans and other animals don’t also. What I like about boa is that it’s a hunter by instinct, an efficient hunter. Either it will strike with full speed and power or it won’t.

The troll is over fed, everyone... please stop feeding it anymore, live OR f/t...


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Originally Posted by jmcrook

The troll is over fed, everyone... please stop feeding it anymore, live OR f/t...


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Well played, hahaha. :gj:

My first ball python got a bad bite on a medium rat, grabbed a leg instead of the face, she still constricted it, but since she had a poor bite angle, it took longer than usual to suffocate the rat, and the rat had its hind leg free to scratch in desperation at my Snake’s head. Finally the rat died, but my python had a bloody scratch on her head. Luckily my python wasn’t a scaleless morph, but a tough normal and the scratch healed very quickly and the scales were whole again after her next shed.
A scratch by an adult rat is no big deal, but a good solid bite by adult rat or rabbit teeth could surely kill a snake! My friend’s red tailed Boa was chewed to death by a rat, but this was a case of stupidly leaving the live rat in the cage overnight with no supervision and the Boa wasn’t hungry.
Bottom line is that frozen or live are both safe as long as the person feeding is not an ignoramus.


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Originally Posted by Godzilla78

My first ball python got a bad bite on a medium rat, grabbed a leg instead of the face, she still constricted it, but since she had a poor bite angle, it took longer than usual to suffocate the rat, and the rat had its hind leg free to scratch in desperation at my Snake’s head. Finally the rat died, but my python had a bloody scratch on her head. Luckily my python wasn’t a scaleless morph, but a tough normal and the scratch healed very quickly and the scales were whole again after her next shed.
A scratch by an adult rat is no big deal, but a good solid bite by adult rat or rabbit teeth could surely kill a snake! My friend’s red tailed Boa was chewed to death by a rat, but this was a case of stupidly leaving the live rat in the cage overnight with no supervision and the Boa wasn’t hungry.
Bottom line is that frozen or live are both safe as long as the person feeding is not an ignoramus.


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Sorry, your friend killed that boa constrictor deliberately in my opinion. It was not a case of stupidity, it was an intentional kill. No one can be that stupid to leave a rat overnight with a boa that is not hungry. If there were laws protecting snakes he should be sentenced for that

No, it was an accident. He was not an experienced snake owner and made a fatal mistake. Some people learn things the hard way.


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Why don't you feed prekilled? Your snake can get fresher food and you don't have to worry about your snakes getting injured by live prey.

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Originally Posted by MD_Pythons

Why don't you feed prekilled? Your snake can get fresher food and you don't have to worry about your snakes getting injured by live prey.

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I personally don’t worry that my snake might get injured. Boa is a skilled talented hunter. It’s a joy to watch him hunt and how he is proud of his kill after the hunt smelling it from top to bottom. He uses his energy and power and stay active. And killing a small rat or a mouse is a simple thing to do, but hitting a jumbo rat on the head until it dies is more difficult, takes more time. I prefer that the snake do the job.

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Originally Posted by Dutti

I personally don’t worry that my snake might get injured. Boa is a skilled talented hunter. It’s a joy to watch him hunt and how he is proud of his kill after the hunt smelling it from top to bottom. He uses his energy and power and stay active. And killing a small rat or a mouse is a simple thing to do, but hitting a jumbo rat on the head until it dies is more difficult, takes more time. I prefer that the snake do the job.

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Actually the most humane way to kill them is to do cervical dislocation which takes about a second.

And even a skilled hunter can make a mistake or miss.

'A joy to watch him hunt'? It's a snake eating a rat where both are contained in a 4x2 or 6x3 box. Hardly hunting. Thats like being proud you shot a fish in a barrel lol.

And eating a FT or live rat both uses energy and power. Not sure about your boa but mine slam FT rats and rabbits with authority. You want real power, get a retic. They take eating to the next level. Caesar slams his guinea pigs so hard he rattles all the doors in the cage stack. It's actually kind of scary.

And you can enjoy the snake doing 'its job' until it misses and get bit, then you get to do your job of taking it to the vet lol.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Actually the most humane way to kill them is to do cervical dislocation which takes about a second.

And even a skilled hunter can make a mistake or miss.

'A joy to watch him hunt'? It's a snake eating a rat where both are contained in a 4x2 or 6x3 box. Hardly hunting. Thats like being proud you shot a fish in a barrel lol.

And eating a FT or live rat both uses energy and power. Not sure about your boa but mine slam FT rats and rabbits with authority. You want real power, get a retic. They take eating to the next level. Caesar slams his guinea pigs so hard he rattles all the doors in the cage stack. It's actually kind of scary.

And you can enjoy the snake doing 'its job' until it misses and get bit, then you get to do your job of taking it to the vet lol.

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This isn't worth our time, he'll just have to learn the hard way

He won't learn anything. Period. He isn't here to learn. Or share. Or participate anything worthwhile.

I wonder why people even still bother. I fell for it in the beginning but its like running in a hamster wheel. Or doing the same thing twice, hoping for a different outcome.

The OP starts with some controversy and then keeps it going with utter and complete disregard for any and all good advice or common sense. It literally DOES. NOT. MATTER. how good ones argument, advice, research, etc is. He knows better.

At this point I'm not so sure this isn't simply someone that enjoys the "fall out".

There are so many people on here that need advice and help. It takes time and thought to type out a long and helpful post, that energy is better spent on someone that actually appreciates advice and help, rather then comes back with more goading horse manure such as their snake sniffing its kill all "proud" like.

As its been said. Don't feed the troll.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MD_Pythons

This isn't worth our time, he'll just have to learn the hard way

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Lol so true. I dont know why i keep replying to him. It's almost as bad as my obsession for keeping snakes :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zina10

He won't learn anything. Period. He isn't here to learn. Or share. Or participate anything worthwhile.

I wonder why people even still bother. I fell for it in the beginning but its like running in a hamster wheel. Or doing the same thing twice, hoping for a different outcome.

The OP starts with some controversy and then keeps it going with utter and complete disregard for any and all good advice or common sense. It literally DOES. NOT. MATTER. how good ones argument, advice, research, etc is. He knows better.

At this point I'm not so sure this isn't simply someone that enjoys the "fall out".

There are so many people on here that need advice and help. It takes time and thought to type out a long and helpful post, that energy is better spent on someone that actually appreciates advice and help, rather then comes back with more goading horse manure such as their snake sniffing its kill all "proud" like.

As its been said. Don't feed the troll.

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'Horse manure'....so eloquent, i love it :)

Yet people still feed it. I'm reading people's replies because op is on ignore. Why are we even interacting? In a week are we going to feed him again? Two? How long are we going to do this?

I'll tell you, this post made me scared of feeding my expensive snake f/t. Thanks.

Fudging hell.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xShevi

I'll tell you, this post made me scared of feeding my expensive snake f/t. Thanks.

Fudging hell.....

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I wouldnt worry. I've been feeding all my snakes F/T for years and never had a problem and i got snakes close too $1000 each. You just have to get from a reputable source. And generally, you will know when a F/T is bad when you thaw it out and it stinks to high heaven and makes you want to gag lol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

I wouldnt worry. I've been feeding all my snakes F/T for years and never had a problem and i got snakes close too $1000 each. You just have to get from a reputable source. And generally, you will know when a F/T is bad when you thaw it out and it stinks to high heaven and makes you want to gag lol.

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Good. I had that once and returned it all. Thanks for this Sauzo.

Here in the Netherlands it's hard getting by f/t food from reputable sources. I just go by pet stores or order them online from this one company that seems to be good, but if they don't have any I would have to order somewhere else.. I did that last week and I received the rats by post a little soft, yet frozen inside wrapped in a tempex box in an ice pack that was frozen solid inside and a little thawed on the outside. I fed my snake one of these rats 2 days ago, but actually didn't smell anything, so they are good then.

Is it me or do rats smell more neutral, or not like anything at all, compared to mice, who just don't smell very nice?

I was doubting myself, then reading this, nearly had a breakdown in front of the vivarium cursing myself and apologizing to the snake lmao... Thanks Sauzo.

(The content of this post has been removed. See post below for more information.
-Thanks from the Admin.)

I would like to put this reminder here in case some of you did not see it in the original thread it was posted in:

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Originally Posted by mlededee

For those that wish to comment, please do so in a mature and calm manner. Do not make posts that are for the purpose of inciting more drama with others. You can share good information without being argumentative or insulting.

You have all been warned about this multiple times by our moderators. If the argumentative and trollish behavior continues, you will receive large and repeat custom infractions, your threads may be locked and/or posts edited or removed at our discretion. This may also result in a temporary ban from the forum.

This is a place for sharing knowledge and helping each other out. If you cannot do so in a friendly and mature manner and in return, if you cannot accept such help and knowledge in a mature manner (especially if you came here for the purpose of asking for said help), then you do not belong here and should re-evaluate your level of participation on the forum.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by xShevi

Good. I had that once and returned it all. Thanks for this Sauzo.

Here in the Netherlands it's hard getting by f/t food from reputable sources. I just go by pet stores or order them online from this one company that seems to be good, but if they don't have any I would have to order somewhere else.. I did that last week and I received the rats by post a little soft, yet frozen inside wrapped in a tempex box in an ice pack that was frozen solid inside and a little thawed on the outside. I fed my snake one of these rats 2 days ago, but actually didn't smell anything, so they are good then.

Is it me or do rats smell more neutral, or not like anything at all, compared to mice, who just don't smell very nice?

I was doubting myself, then reading this, nearly had a breakdown in front of the vivarium cursing myself and apologizing to the snake lmao... Thanks Sauzo.

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Rats can be pretty funky with their scent naturally. They are just foul little critters normally and if they urinated on themselves it can smell pretty skunky. I find them less appealing than mice but maybe that is just me.

I also feed frozen thawed and have for years. The potential of a very expensive bite being a vet trip is just not something I am willing to risk for my snakes. If you can't find frozen thawed then my recommendation is get used to killing your live prey before feeding once you get to a larger size. It is just not worth a bite no matter that reason behind feeding live.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xShevi

Good. I had that once and returned it all. Thanks for this Sauzo.

Here in the Netherlands it's hard getting by f/t food from reputable sources. I just go by pet stores or order them online from this one company that seems to be good, but if they don't have any I would have to order somewhere else.. I did that last week and I received the rats by post a little soft, yet frozen inside wrapped in a tempex box in an ice pack that was frozen solid inside and a little thawed on the outside. I fed my snake one of these rats 2 days ago, but actually didn't smell anything, so they are good then.

Is it me or do rats smell more neutral, or not like anything at all, compared to mice, who just don't smell very nice?

I was doubting myself, then reading this, nearly had a breakdown in front of the vivarium cursing myself and apologizing to the snake lmao... Thanks Sauzo.

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Depends how well said vendors clean and prepare their rats. I've seen some with poop in the bags and stained rats which I'm assuming is piss. Others i have seen were clean and no real smell. The area i get my rats and stuff from all get theirs from the same local supplier that i know so they are good for the most part. But I'm a crazy person who spends about $120 a month on snake food when i should be buying a small chest freezer and ordering in bulk.....but i keep spending money on more snakes and cages :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

I wouldnt worry. I've been feeding all my snakes F/T for years and never had a problem and i got snakes close too $1000 each. You just have to get from a reputable source. And generally, you will know when a F/T is bad when you thaw it out and it stinks to high heaven and makes you want to gag lol.

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As i said at the beginning, you can feed them many years F/T and it takes only one bad frozen to kill the snake. You will never know. Besides, its healthier to feed live or pre killed. Its advisable if you feed F/T to add vitamins to the prey.