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

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jeffnme

What exactly is your point?

:confused:

---

My point is... you say that if you do everything right the snake will not get bit (at least in your post)
I said that even if you do everything right, a snake can still get bitten.
Get it now?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BallPythonsRule

My point is... you say that if you do everything right the snake will not get bit (at least in your post)

---

Noooo....this is what I said...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jeffnme

I firmly believe that if 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:

---

See..that is MY observations based on MY experiences which is MY belief.

:gj:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BallPythonsRule

Get it now?

---

I am detecting a lil hostility...correct me if I am wrong.

:hmm:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jeffnme

I am detecting a lil hostility...correct me if I am wrong.

:hmm:

---

Nope, no hostility at all.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MelissaFlipski

We tried humane traps for our pantry mice, but discovered that they just came running back in the house. We only went to inhumane methods once I couldn't stand the 3 a.m. gnawing that kept me awake. It's too bad we can't give "wild" mice to our BP. Then two problems would be solved.

---

Someone may have already said this... I haven't finished all 12 pages of this thread yet!

But, you can avoid the problem of the same mice coming back in by releasing them a few miles from your house.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Brimstone111888

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

---

Cats are made to kill and eat mice and birds.
I still feed mine commercial cat food. It is a pet, not a wild animal living in the wild.
I do not feed live mice to my cat, even though she is perfectly equipped to quickly kill them, and it's natural for her. To do so would be considered incredibly barbaric. Something to think about.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by chz

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.

---

Not to say this didn't happen... however the odds of this happening are slim. As Jo stated, there is no reason for a healthy rat to attack a snake within such a short period of time. Unless the snake made an unsuccessful strike and made the prey aware of it's intentions, or the prey is incredibly malnourished (and isn't suitable food for a snake anyways), there is no reason for a prey to go up and start knawwing on a snake after only a few seconds... 999/1000'ths of the horror stories come from snake owners who left their snake with a live prey, unattended, for an extended period of time.

Then... accounting for the lucky scratch or bite the prey MAY get in... Snakes happen to have their own form of body armor, called scales, that after 2-3 sheds, repairs most of these "damages". However the chances of this happening is also very slim, as snakes have evolved into very skilled and efficient hunters. There are many keepers, who have feed off THOUSANDS of mice, who have never had an incident. There are likely just as many problems with people who do not de-frost their prey enough while feeding F/T. Or they stick 'em in a micorwave to quicken the process and end up cooking the prey, and lessining it's nutritional value... or "re-freezing" them after an successful feed only to provide a home for bacteria that will make their homes in the belly of a snake at a later point. Not to say any of these are too common, but then again, neither are bites/scratches in properly monitered live feedings. Which brings it all down to choice. What works for you, and what works for your snake. As long as your responsible and take care in preperation of feeding, either process should be virtually problem free.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

Cats are made to kill and eat mice and birds.
I still feed mine commercial cat food. It is a pet, not a wild animal living in the wild.
I do not feed live mice to my cat, even though she is perfectly equipped to quickly kill them, and it's natural for her. To do so would be considered incredibly barbaric. Something to think about.

---

Depends on who you ask... there are quite a few people who feed german shepards live bunnies... not that I support the practice, which I personnaly don't, seeing as I have yet to find a german shepard that will not eat commercially available dog food, but it IS done.

good post Ben.

:gj:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

Cats are made to kill and eat mice and birds.
I still feed mine commercial cat food. It is a pet, not a wild animal living in the wild.
I do not feed live mice to my cat, even though she is perfectly equipped to quickly kill them, and it's natural for her. To do so would be considered incredibly barbaric. Something to think about.

---

This would be the thinking that lead some brilliant tool over at T-Rex to promote "snake sausages" as a viable feeding alternative for pet snakes.

Snakes are not cats nor dogs, snakes are not domesticated, fully tamed "pets", they have not been in contact with human beings in a pet role for the eons of times both cats and dogs have. Cats though are still very much the hunter. Many cats to this day fill roles in barns all over the world as rodent control, my own pet cat did a mouse patrol quite regularily...nothing at all "barbaric" about it (she was of course fully vacinated, wormed and so forth).

Using the cat or dog model isn't going to work...they simply are not the same as snakes. Also there is a lot of evidence out there that the way we feed cats and dogs in our homes has lead to an incredible decline in their general health, fitness levels, temperment, etc. - making them even less of a " good role model" of how to feed a snake.

Oh, I was wondering... I think there was a post about this somewhere..
Is it natural for hamsters to eat mice and crickets??? Like in the wild..