which do you prefere?

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Originally Posted by ReptileMan27

Myth lmao, its sad if you really believe that. So apparently according to you, if someone has a problem feeding live, its their fault. I never left my snake alone when feeding live, I was feeding my BP a mouse when it happened, if anything the prey was not big enough. I personally dont know why anyone would feed live, just to feed live,yea its cool but not at the risk of your snakes health. All the BPs I have and have had, all were being fed live because thats all they would eat:rolleyes:. Had no problems switching them over to F/T.

for those who still think its a myth, take a look at this
http://aquatic-terrors.com/forums/in...showtopic=3281

very sad but very true, know the person and she is anything but a irresponsible keeper.

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Jason, I don't feed live because it's "cool". There have been many discussions on feeding live responsibly here and this forum supports each keeper's right to choose to feed what works best for them.

Adam Wysocki has stated many times that he feeds his collection of over 200 snakes live and has fed live for over 20 years - no injuries.

If the risk was that great, I'm sure he would have experienced some by now. I also doubt he'd be feeding live to his high end morphs if he was concerned about a real risk of injuries.

If the risk was that great, I surely would have had even a puncture wound with the number of live feedings I have under my belt.

The live feeders don't tell people they should feed live, but do prickle a bit when they are accused of not caring or being poor keepers. F/T or pre-killed works best for you - live works best for me.

There are a few threads here that discuss live vs. pre-killed or f/t that you may find interesting:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ight=Live+feed

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ight=Live+feed

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Originally Posted by ReptileMan27

I never left my snake alone when feeding live, I was feeding my BP a mouse when it happened, if anything the prey was not big enough.

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Originally Posted by ReptileMan27

I use to feed live to my BPs, because I thought thats all they would eat but after nearly loosing one to feeding live

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How did you almost lose one to feeding a mouse live, and one that you say was not large enough? I'm curious?

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Originally Posted by rabernet

How did you almost lose one to feeding a mouse live, and one that you say was not large enough? I'm curious?

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I was feeding one of my BPs live like I always did when I was pretty new to the hobby and didnt know any better. Anyways, put the mouse in the cage like always and watched closely to make sure all went well, the BP striked and grabbed the mouse by the back, in a split second, the mouse turn around and latched onto the snakes neck, thankfully I was right their, in the few seconds the mouse has ahold of the snakes neck, it ripped it open and nearly killed him :(. After that, I decided their has to be a different and safer way, so tried pre-killed, took that right away. In my 12+ years of keeping snakes, I have helped hundreds of people that say their snake will only take live, well 98% of the time, I tell them to try pre-killed and the snake takes it no problems, heck their is no reason the snake shouldnt take it, same scent,warmth,and movement can easily be done if needed;). Sorry if I came across rude in the other post, feeding live is something I have a strong opinion about because I have experienced the dangers and seen others with similar and even worse.

Yea, people just have no energy left for this one. Now, the issue of whether or not to feed in a separate tub is another matter entirely! :D

Me personally, I feed live but in a separate tub. I've taken alot of help from the nice and helpful people on BP.net, but there are times when I choose to do something that's not aligned with the consensus here. I imagine that's true for all members. But, the group is very mature and even disagreements around here are mere skirmishes by internet standards!

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Originally Posted by ReptileMan27

I was feeding one of my BPs live like I always did when I was pretty new to the hobby and didnt know any better. Anyways, put the mouse in the cage like always and watched closely to make sure all went well, the BP striked and grabbed the mouse by the back, in a split second, the mouse turn around and latched onto the snakes neck, thankfully I was right their, in the few seconds the mouse has ahold of the snakes neck, it ripped it open and nearly killed him :(. After that, I decided their has to be a different and safer way, so tried pre-killed, took that right away. In my 12+ years of keeping snakes, I have helped hundreds of people that say their snake will only take live, well 98% of the time, I tell them to try pre-killed and the snake takes it no problems, heck their is no reason the snake shouldnt take it, same scent,warmth,and movement can easily be done if needed;). Sorry if I came across rude in the other post, feeding live is something I have a strong opinion about because I have experienced the dangers and seen others with similar and even worse.

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That's a sad story. I know everybody that hangs out here is a BP freak so it must have been tough to go through.

In the end I agree non-live prey is the absolute safest and I have to admit that morbid curiousity makes me feed live. Plus, the moral dilemma I experience everytime complements my complex personality. :psychotic

Based on the statistics, I think what you experienced could reasonably be called a freak accident. That's why I don't think its really irresponsible to feed live.

i voted for f/t. mine both eat live- can't seem to get them to switch over- then again, i haven't tried very hard for fear of stressing them too much. but, for me, f/t would be MUCH more convenient. i live 45 minutes away from the nearest pet store so it's kind of a pain to have to go every week. and i can't get extra for next week (like i did when they still ate mice) because i'm afraid the rats will grow too much in a week... maybe i should try a little harder to get them to switch!

Technically, rodents aren't actualy designed to be prey (addressing a much earlier post here). Every animal is designed to survive as efficiently as possible, and so snakes are designed to be able to kill and eat rodents. I see nothing inhumane about it personally.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Oh round we go again LOL....

Up front, there is no right or wrong way to feed your snake....live, frozen/thawed, pre-killed...mice or rats...as long as the snake eats it...eats it consistently and is growing and healthy and you are a happy snake owner....you got it goin on!

However, there is nothing inherently cruel or inhumane in feeding live. This is not a pet animal we are talking about here. This is a snake, that even if bred in captivity is barely a slither from the wild. In my mind, not a domesticated animal. We humans like to make everything antiseptic and apart from the natural processes of life. Snakes eat rodents...snake were designed to eat live rodents and rodents were designed to be prey...been going on for eons of time and will go on for eons of time....Mother Nature is no dumb broad :)

We raise our own rats....we feed live...by choice and through responsible, careful consideration of all factors...including the rats. As my posts and anyone will tell you I'm a fiend about the rats being properly managed for both their welfare and that of our snakes. I actually respect our rats and their contribution to the predator/prey dynamic that occurs every Thursday in our home. I would never allow a living creature to be treated inhumanely or without respect for it's place and function.

Please understand, I am not promoting live feed over another method but I do take exception with it being labelled inhumane and tend to hop on my lil ole soapbox so do forgive the small rant here LOL.

As to the original poll question, as long as the snake is a good eater we don't care what or how it eats and will copy the way it's been eating till it's settled in. Then if we wish to use another prey or method we'll attempt to transfer the snake over to our way at that time.

~~Jo~~

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Well said!

I personally feed F/T to all of my snakes in their tubs except the ones that absolutely will not take F/T or pre-killed (and trust me i've tried everything to get them to take F/T). The ones that eat live I feed in rubbermaid tubs and I watch the whole time to make sure nothing happens to my BP's or RTB's.

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Originally Posted by ReptileMan27

You can usually tell when a snake has been fed live, generally have scars from bad strikes.

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That is just flat out wrong. Not one of my 68 snakes has a scratch on it. They have all been fed live every meal of their life. EVERY large breeder that I know of feeds live. The only difference between a snake that is fed live and a snake thet is fed FT is that the snake eating live actually eats every week.