Discussion: Removing parts of F/T prey??

I got scratched by a rat's nails over the weekend, and I wondered the same question.

I think you could clip the nails if you really wanted to, but I don't think it's really necessary.

I occasionally think about this, but for a different reason than the snakes getting scratched on the inside... sometimes, like this week, my ball python tries and fails to eat from the leg first and eventually has to back out, but then the rat's claws seem to catch on her teeth and she twists around with the rat dragging from her lower jaw until it finally unhooks and falls down. I know that it's very unlikely, but I always fret about this being the day that it doesn't get loose quickly and either twists her jaw, pulls out teeth, or causes her to panic.

I don't intend to trim claws because that scenario would be a fluke, but still.

I seriously lol’ed with the rat tail and noodle comparison.

I dont think u can ever compare a snake eating experience with a human unless u post a video of u swallowing a turkey whole.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

I clip beaks and sharp toenails/claws from fowl that I feed, as they have been known to scratch up the inside of a snake badly enough to get infected and eventually kill the animal.

Otherwise if I remove parts of a f/t feeder it's because I need that part for a specific purpose, such as feeding a tail to a snake that will take it as a "worm", or a hind leg from a jumbo mouse as an assist-fed meal for a non-feeding small snake.

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wow! I've never thought to use limbs as feed for smaller reptiles. Thats a great idea! How do you get them to eat it in the right orientation or does it not matter which end of the leg they start from? How can they recognize it as food since it doesn't have a face? How do you remove the leg?

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Originally Posted by Danger noodles

I seriously lol’ed with the rat tail and noodle comparison.

I dont think u can ever compare a snake eating experience with a human unless u post a video of u swallowing a turkey whole.

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Don't think I won't! Thanksgiving is a-comin! :D

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Originally Posted by bcr229

I clip beaks and sharp toenails/claws from fowl that I feed, as they have been known to scratch up the inside of a snake badly enough to get infected and eventually kill the animal...

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I can totally see doing this- some fowl have real weapons, & even the few times I've fed chicks, I worried some because of the overall head/body shape & how it "went down". I've just never seen the need for giving pedicures to any rodents, & I'd never remove the tails, no reason at all (unless you need a piece to feed a snake that's still too tiny to take whole pinkies).

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Originally Posted by Joykoins

...or the person who first implemented UTH, "Basking lights are the most natural replication of the sun. Heat doesn't just radiate from underground in their habitats".

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Actually, while heat from the sun starts from above, the ground (rocks, roads & everything else) absorbs & retains heat...that's how snakes survive underground in the winter- by instinctively going several feet below earth, it stays warmer & keeps them from freezing to death. So it's not at all unnatural
for heat to radiate from their underground habitats...they evolved to utilize this very thing.

Go to Africa or any desert and walk around barefoot and see if it’s hot. The sidewinder rattlesnake adapted to this crazy heat. No the heat doesn’t penetrate super deep but royal pythons dens are not that deep. Have u ever seen them dig them out of a den? It’s normally not but a few feet deep

Speaking as the idiot who used to get bitten by frozen rats all the time when I worked in a pet shop :oops: ....

Once they are thawed I have never had any real issues - if they are all contorted I usually straighten them out by hand before offering.


dr del

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Originally Posted by dr del

Speaking as the idiot who used to get bitten by frozen rats all the time when I worked in a pet shop :oops: ....

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:rofl: But seriously, I can see it when they're all stuck together & you have to separate them in a hurry...(trying to give you some cover here) :giggle: