How do YOU feed your BP?

i only feed f/t or fresh killed in separate tubs with no tongs just throw them in

I feed both my Spider and my normal live. My little spider, Parker, is only eating medium size mice. My normal, Sugar, is eating small / young rats. I watch over as they kill and eat, ready with tongs to prevent them getting bitten by the mouse/rat. Feeding takes place in a separate tub.

Mine ate live last night!!!! :banana::banana:

2 weeks ago to the hour, she had eaten a medium rat (pretty large for her) at the previous keeper's place. She was slow to eat it, but at least she did! That's the shortest period of time between feedings in her whole 6 years of life!

I have her conditions 91-94 warm side, 81-82 cool side, ambient 81-82, humidity 60-70%.

I was told this snake just won't eat, and not to bother trying more than every 2 months. I call bs. :irkd::rolleyes:

Anyway, I have a question...should I try the next time with a freshly killed rat? I'd like to get her on F/T. There's a local rat breeder that will give me a heck of a discount on quantity (ends up being $1 per small rat instead of $3 per).

Also, what's the best way to kill the rats to freeze them? I read one that worked ok last time -- "sack and whack". Just wondered if there's a different quick way. And, is there a way to stun a live rat so it wouldn't squirm in tongs? Thanks.:)

I feed frozen mice and rats.

I defrost in luke warm water right next to the tubs. I have to keep topping the water up every so often with hot water to keep it luke warm. It takes about 30 mins for a small mouse and about an hour for a small fat rat.

I then warm the water with the rat in up to fairly hot bath temperature for about a minute.

I then dry it of with paper towels and hold it by the tail and offer it a few inches away from the snake.

Jim

The snake pushes a button in his enclosure. Then a large ball bearing rolls along a track and falls onto a lever. The lever pulls back a string on a tiny bow and arrow. The ball bearing rolls off of the lever releasing the arrow which flies across the room an pushes a button that opens the door on the tunnel that runs from the mouse cage to the snake cage. Then the snake waits for dinner to arrive.

I feet f/t, so naturally I use tongs (not quite confident enough for hand-feeding ;) ). Imo, feeding outside of the enclosure is a waste of time. There are ways to deal with cage aggression, and feeding in a separate area is not one of them.

I feed f/t if at all possible. I have two shy feeders that I have to just leave the rat in right before I go to bed, one that hits the f/t as soon as its placed in the tub and one thats recently switched to f/t that takes a little convincing.
My snakes are not going to be any less snakey because they dont get to 'hunt' in a small enclosed space, there is -no- chance of injury or infection due to a bite or scratch regardless of how low most people consider it to be with live, and Im sorry, but the rat does suffer, anyone whos been choked out understands thats not a comfortable sensation by any means :P.

If I have to feed live to get them to switch I will, I wont knock on people who do feed live thats their decision, but in my opinion the -wild- argument is completely invalid, ever aspect of the wild has been removed with controlled captivity. Most snakes wont even eat once a week in the wild, and definitely not within a smallish tub or tank.