F/T, Live or Prekilled

Have to agree with you there Adam LOL. HP I'm not picking on you hon but the fact that the live vs f/t or p/k topic is a hot button one and there's enough information out there from experienced owners currently feeding all methods. This is what someone like the person who started this thread is really looking for.

Having said that, we feed pre-killed and we feed live. We have a WC rescue who would it seems rather slowly starve herself to death than touch a dead mouse, rat, gerbil or whatever else her previous owners have tried with no success. She is eating successfully for us...first with a gerbil, now with rats....live ones.

We are not fully experienced. We are standing on our heads to get this snake to eat if that's what it takes. We sit in the dark with a t-shirt over a flashlight to supervise her live feeds as she will not kill, constrict or consume if any light or movement is present. We are fully aware should that rat turn on her we will only be able to do so much but for us this is a calculated, well thought out decision. We may be still nervous of feeding live but we are fully aware of the attendant risks AND benefits for this particular snake.

Please HP don't make blanket statements about such things. In a way it offends me when we struggle so much with this beautiful female to see statements like you post. Take this time to learn. It's time well spent.


~~Joanna~~

Sorry then for my rude post. What I meant to say is the if it takes f/t then stick wit it. -that is all and it is my opinion.

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Originally Posted by HelicopterPilot

The thing is that becuase I have no snakes doesn't mean no knowledge, and yes I know there a difference between theory and experience, and you can correct me if I am wrong. Otherwise I would appreciate it if the fact I have no snakes wasn't held against me .

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When people ask questions here we are looking for experienced (not or)knowledgable people, many times because we are worried about our BP's. Often because we feel something is wrong. If you tell me to do something and it's wrong it may be too late for someone else to correct it. I may harm my snake because of your bad advise, that you give right away & I am too desperate to wait for more then 1 opinion, and then what happens? My or someone elses snake suffers, or worse dies. This is not a game, we aren't keeping points. This is a living creature that many of us love that we are trying to provide and care for in the best possible way. Please DO NOT interfere with that.

Thank you

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Originally Posted by HelicopterPilot

You in theory should get a better reaction. As for how long.

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Wrong. I get a better feeding response in the following order
f/t, p/k, live.

However, I can tell you once I've started feeding in the room (and I almost always feed f/t), I get some great responses from the last two or three snakes. They've been smelling food for a few minutes before I even get to them.

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Originally Posted by Schlyne

Wrong. I get a better feeding response in the following order
f/t, p/k, live.

However, I can tell you once I've started feeding in the room (and I almost always feed f/t), I get some great responses from the last two or three snakes. They've been smelling food for a few minutes before I even get to them.

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AMEN sistah - the last few fed are always rarin' and ready.

Since the population boom in Retropolis City we haven't had to put an order in for f/t in quite some time. I do still feed pk however.

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Originally Posted by HelicopterPilot

You in theory should get a better reaction.

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Actually, whatever your ball python is conditioned to eat should draw an incredibly strong feeding response over other types of feeding methods. For example, a healthy ball python that has been consistently fed F/T should always react more strongly towards a F/T prey item than a live.

Ball pythons usually don't like change when it comes to food and their real good at "going for what they know". ;)

-adam