Is it ok if my bp eats a live mouse, live?

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Originally Posted by Brimstone111888

Snakes are made to kill and eat live prey. There really is no need to stun it.

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I understand that.. but after your snake is bitten you might want to pre-kill next time or feed f/t. I don't always have access to f/t so I pre kill. Of course not pinkies/fuzzies but larger mice and rats.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

The ONLY time a rodent is going to come up and "GNAW on your snake at some point" is if you leave it in with your snake, unattended overnight with no access to food or water. A rodent doesn't go into an enclosure and go "oh, a snake, it hasn't eaten me, I think I'll go gnaw on it for the hell of it".

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Robin, that's besides the point. I was simply trying to make a point that the threat IS there, but whether or not it happens is another story.

I feed my snake both live and F/T. I agree it is highly up to the keeper to monitor the rodent to prevent bites, BUT you don't have to leave it unattended for it to happen. My girlfriends boa didn't strike one time, and the rat basically bum rushed her and started to bite at her. Luckily I was there to pull him out. But the fact is I was there..

This can't happen with F/T, therefore they're safer.

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Originally Posted by chz

Well it's not very hard to realize that a F/T doesn't produce nearly as much threat to a snake as a live mouse/rat. Cmon people.. I thought we were intellegent adults.

As for MeMe's comment on the size of the rodent, it doesn't really matter. If your snake isn't hungry, the rodent (regardless of size) is going to come up and knaw on your snake at some point. That alone is enough proof to say that F/T is safer.

The debate should be whether or not it is humane. And in my opinion the debate on that is completely subjective, because everyone stands on different moral grounds.

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Really.....really...

You see that is where 'responsible' feeding and 'pet ownership' comes into play...

If...by some SLIGHT chance I put a prey item in and the bp does NOT strike within the first couple minutes...as I SIT and WATCH....I pull it out.

I have never had a mouse/rat KNAW on any....of my snakes.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

The ONLY time a rodent is going to come up and "GNAW on your snake at some point" is if you leave it in with your snake, unattended overnight with no access to food or water. A rodent doesn't go into an enclosure and go "oh, a snake, it hasn't eaten me, I think I'll go gnaw on it for the hell of it".

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In a way I disagree,
sometimes when you do watch your snake and do everything right the snake might grab it in a wrong way causing the rat/mice to bite.

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Originally Posted by chz

Robin, that's besides the point. I was simply trying to make a point that the THREAT is there, regardless of whether or not it happens is another story.

I feed my snake both live and F/T. I agree it is up to the keeper whether the snake gets bitten or not, but it DOES happen. It can't happen with F/T, therefore they're safer.

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How is that beside the point? You made the claim. F/T that is not properly thawed is not safer for your snake, it can actually rot in the stomach of your snake and kill it.

Feed what works for YOU - but arguements that one is safer than the other is just silly. I see no evidence of any inherent danger to feeding live when done correctly. I've fed over 2000 (probably closer to 3000 now) live prey with no incidence. I've said this before - even IF I had one injury in that number, the risk is less than .0005%. Your odds of being in a car accident are higher than that - does that prevent you from getting in a car because staying home would be safer?

Where's this inherent danger if myself and countless others who feed live responsibly don't have evidence of it in their experiences?

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Originally Posted by jeffnme

Really.....really...

You see that is where 'responsible' feeding and 'pet ownership' comes into play...

If...by some SLIGHT chance I put a prey item in and the bp does NOT strike within the first couple minutes...as I SIT and WATCH....I pull it out.

I have never had a mouse/rat KNAW on any....of my snakes.

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Watching a rodent doesn't always help. It has happened to me and countless others under direct supervision. Once you see it happen though, you kind of know what to watch for. If my snake hasn't coiled around it's prey when it is right next to it, I do all I can to get the prey out of the way.

Like I said earlier, my girlfriends boa was biten badly by a rat under my direct supervision, simply because he wasn't hungry at the time. It took all of 5 seconds for the rat to walk over and knaw on her.

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Originally Posted by chz

Watching a rodent doesn't always help. It has happened to me and countless others under direct supervision. Once you see it happen though, you kind of know what to watch for. If my snake hasn't coiled around it's prey when it is right next to it, I do all I can to get the prey out of the way.

Like I said earlier, my girlfriends boa was biten badly by a rat under my direct supervision, simply because he wasn't hungry at the time. It took all of 5 seconds for the rat to walk over and knaw on her.

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:gj:

I firmly believe that you are feeding an appropriate sized meal and watching the prey when you place it in the enclosure...you won't have a bite.

:rockon:

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Originally Posted by jeffnme

:gj:

I firmly believe that you are feeding an appropriate sized meal and watching the prey when you place it in the enclosure...you won't have a bite.

:rockon:

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Once again I disagree...
Even if you do those things there is still a chance your snake will get bitten.. That doesn't mean I'm against live feeding, I think it's natural but theres always a chance it might happen, I bet even in the wild it does..

Paulina, many things occur in the wild that have no bearing on this discussion or on the captive care of snakes, it's a moot point.

As to live feeding and the possibility of a bite, I've seen this discussion touch on proper live feeding procedures and so forth - one thing it has not touched on is the prey itself (this is one of the places that understanding prey does pay off).

Rats raised humanely in conditions where they are not overcrowded and overstressed, have been fed appropriately, have access to water continuously are not inherently a dangerous prey animal. Since they have no exposure to a predator prior to their introduction into the snake's tub most rats do not react in a defensive/aggressive prey manner. I've watched countless rats that were born into my colony wander over to sniff at a snake, not even realizing this is in fact a predator. They've been so long in captivity, so long without any predator experience that most captive colony rats have no real clue what that snake is and what "danger" it presents.

If you've got an aggressive biting rat as one poster mentioned, I'd put money on it that it came out of a pet store feeder bin or was itself in a poor/hungry/stressed/dehydrated condition prior to being fed off. This is not what a live prey animal should be and understanding that is just another way to ensure a safe and trouble free live feeding experience.

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Originally Posted by BallPythonsRule

Once again I disagree...
Even if you do those things there is still a chance your snake will get bitten.. That doesn't mean I'm against live feeding, I think it's natural but theres always a chance it might happen, I bet even in the wild it does..

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What exactly is your point?

:confused: