Responsible live feeding

Everything said has been great advice. I'll third or fourth or fifth the recommendation of pre-scenting. I thaw my rodents in the sink and then have them in front of heat lamps in my herp room, the excellent feeders are cruising around because it's dusk, the good feeders start cruising within 5-10 minutes, and the picky eaters don't do much of anything usually! Same goes for having live mice/rats in the room before feeding.

Imagine being woken up by a ground-rumbling earthquake and then having food shoved in your face. Sure, you'll appreciate the food when you finally wake up... but imagine how nice it would be to wake up to the smell of breakfast coming up from downstairs! I like to personify my snakes :P

In terms of removing furniture, I try not to for the reasons given above... but I have a couple that need to their hide lifted off them or pull up the newspaper to let them know something is on the go. This only lasts a while, and soon they'll become good eaters... but if all else fails, try it!

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Originally Posted by nathanledet

ahh Neumann that's the beauty of this place. It has become noticably acceptable to "do what works for you" (as 8ball Adam puts it)

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Who is this 8ball Adam? Sounds like a medical condition that this gentleman should see a doctor for.

ive fed my bp live prey since the day i got him. i used to feed him in a different enclosure, but now were both comfortable with each other to where i can feed him in his reg. tank. i drop the mice in there, and of course, i watch them both till the minute the mouse is compeletly gone. bp's have instinct. they can handle teh rest. but do make sure the mouse is the correct size for food.

Thank you all for the advice. I was somewhat hesitant about asking. I've had snakes for only three years or so and a royal for just over two. He's a 2 year old Bob Clark male with a reduced pattern and, to be quite honest, my favorite snake so I really don't want him harmed.

He was started out on live mice by Bob but I switched him to f/t mice and later small f/t rats. He's been a somewhat finicky eater for the last year but eats most of the time. He's never skipped more than one meal in a row. Which he gets every two or three weeks. Not bad for a Ball. His health seems quite good and he's never had a bad shed. He poo'd and shed a couple weeks ago but skipped his last meal which was after those events. He's currently 940 grams on empty (he was 793 in Feb). Since about August he's been the most active I've ever seen him so I suspect he's out looking for love and my not want a meal.

So here's the rub, now, after three years, my wife has become fed up with our freezer full of rats (which are just about all gone). I've been using Rodent Pro and Gormet Rodent. I won't lie it's expensive to have rats shipped to me. Now I can get live feeders here, cheap by comparison, but I will have to either feed live or euthanize them myself. Neither which I am apposed to but, if I go live, I would like to do it the proper way.

So... that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Thanks again for the responses.

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Originally Posted by jglass38

Who is this 8ball Adam? Sounds like a medical condition that this gentleman should see a doctor for.

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The 8ball adam pretty much screams the need for a broad spectrum antibiotic. Unfortunately I got bit a long time ago and haven't been able to get rid of it.

Whenever I've fed live I've used a seperate tub with nothing in it but paper. Mostly because I don't want a live rodent wondering around peeing and poopoo'n in my snake tubs. It also gives no place to hide for the rodent.

As long as you feed live responsibly, then you should be fine. Other fine members here have listed a few important things to do. I feed live - and I only leave the prey in about 20-30 minutes - if they haven't eaten in that time - Oh well, see you next week!

Nothing bigger than a small rat, pre-scenting, creating routines (feed same day of the week, at the same time, doing the same thing each time - for instance, everyone gets fed in the exact same order each week for me).

Just ask any questions you may have - and aren't you glad you asked now? ;)

i feed monty my 8 month bp live all the time. he only plays with pre-killed and frozen and wont go after them. and tonite i went to feed him and before i could even let go of the mouse he snatched it right out of my hand it was nuts i could feel the power behind his strike but o man was it cool it was his first full grown mouse and he loved every bit of it after that i put his hide back into his cage and he wrapped around my arm to get out the cage to see me. but i put him back in cuz i dont want him to regurg. and i know you need to leave them for at least 2 days in the cage after eating.