Feeding live rat question

I had no intention on leaving the rat in the cage. When I said "I should probably have it in a plastic container" I meant vs the cardboard one the rat came with.

And the snake went for it, except, I think he realized it was too big. I'm gonna see if I can swap the rat for a smaller one. Doubt they'll do it but I'll try

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Originally Posted by unhip_crayon

I had no intention on leaving the rat in the cage. When I said "I should probably have it in a plastic container" I meant vs the cardboard one the rat came with.

And the snake went for it, except, I think he realized it was too big. I'm gonna see if I can swap the rat for a smaller one. Doubt they'll do it but I'll try

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Thats good, just double checking to be safe:)

They would be pretty stupid to take it back as it could have mites/disease/ whatever but you never know :)

Feed what ever you want. Its your snake and if done right its fine.

Frozen thawed has more risks than feeding live. If not thawed properly the rodent can rot in the snake and kill it.

IMO live feedings are just as good as f/t when done right, So for the one saying its stupid/dumb and cruel, your in the WRONG hobby. As you will SOON end up with a snake that eats live and not a thing you can do will make it take f/t. And ill bet my anything once you get a live eater you wont get it off live. They imprint to easy on feedings and dont take to change well

If you like live feedings feed live, plain and simple.

I can understand the appeal of feeding a live rat at least once. I was excited to feed my ball for the first time, as well as my blood and whenever I think it's time to step up prey size I like to see a live feed... Of course, I was lucky enough to get a ball who eats whatever you put in front of him, and Bloods have a strong feeding response anyway. I may be new to this hobby, but Richs comment sounds right to me, there's nothing wrong with it if it's done right!

What I don't understand is why you only want to feed live once? I mean nothing against the live feeders because I agree if proper precautions are taken it's just as harmless as feeding f/t, but I can't even count the number of times I have seen threads regarding the stress and difficulty people have had trying to switch FROM live to f/t, and you have a snake that takes f/t with no issue and you want to feed it live ONCE? Sounds odd, and it sounds like you weren't prepared in the least. You probably should have looked into this stuff BEFORE you bought the poor rat that your snake doesn't even want right now.

Why oh why oh why would you rock the boat. You have no idea how lucky you are to have a ball python that eats F/T. Many of us have BP's that go on long fasts, turn their nose up at F/T or have some other weird feeding quirk. To me this is like saying I want to smoke one cigarette. Sure the chances that you will have a problem are slim, but why risk it at all? I have fed live and I have fed F/T. Let me tell you that the novelty doesn't last long. I am excited every time my snakes eat regardless.

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

Feed what ever you want. Its your snake and if done right

IMO live feedings are just as good as f/t when done right, So for the one saying its stupid/dumb and cruel, your in the WRONG hobby. As you will SOON end up with a snake that eats live and not a thing you can do will make it take f/t. And ill bet my anything once you get a live eater you wont get it off live. They imprint to easy on feedings and dont take to change well

If you like live feedings feed live, plain and simple.

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You misunderstood me. He wants to feed live once. This is stupid because the animal can imprint as you stated yourself. I honestly don't care about live or ft but live for "one time" is not smart...

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Originally Posted by LGray23

What I don't understand is why you only want to feed live once? I mean nothing against the live feeders because I agree if proper precautions are taken it's just as harmless as feeding f/t, but I can't even count the number of times I have seen threads regarding the stress and difficulty people have had trying to switch FROM live to f/t, and you have a snake that takes f/t with no issue and you want to feed it live ONCE? Sounds odd, and it sounds like you weren't prepared in the least. You probably should have looked into this stuff BEFORE you bought the poor rat that your snake doesn't even want right now.

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I'm a student, so frozen is more practical for me. Plus I plan on selling him in a few months.

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Originally Posted by unhip_crayon

I'm a student, so frozen is more practical for me. Plus I plan on selling him in a few months.

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What does that have to do with feeding live once?

well, store wont take the rat back...go figure. So I'm just gonna kill it and freeze it.

I'm probably just gonna forget about feeding it live. I'm a little worried that he wont go back to FT.