I need some moral support here people

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The more time you spend with an animal the more attached you will be. The less time you spend with something the easier it is to let go.

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I'm not the type to get attatched to something thats purpose is to be eaten.;)

i feel ya after about 10 seconds its unconcious.
it will squeal a bit though.
it may suck but its in the best
intrest of your snake

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Originally Posted by sneakerpro

Hey, thanks man. I appreciate the all the WONDERFUL SUPPORT from you :D

I couldn't resist.

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You're welcome. That's the support you need.

You have a snake, snakes eat rats. If you feel sorry enough for the rat you don't want to feed it to your snake. Get rid of it. Or do what y'all are doing and have someone else feed it.

I still want to know if your snake ate, because that's what's really important here.

I was a little squeamish about live feeding the first few times, you might feel a little bit of that.

My daughter was really mad the first time I fed a pinkie to my corn. She told me I was a bad person. That wasn't fun. I don't feed when she's around because she's sensitive about it.

But, yeah, like a lot of people have said, prey/predator relationships are part of nature, and the act of constriction is pretty quick and relatively painless. But be prepared for an occasional shreik from a live mouse. Sorry, it just happens.:(

To me feeding a snake a live rodent is a lot more honest than the kibble you feed your dog.
After all, animals died to provide your dog with kibble. Just because it's diquised from it's original critter, doesn't make it any less a piece of a dead animal(I know, there's tons of filler, but there still is animal parts in kibble, unless you have some of the rare properly formulated vegan kibble).
The mice/rats are really cool animals. Rats are social and smart and personable. They also happen to be a prey item. Cows can be really neat animals too, but you still eat those.
I think you need to take a step back from the "animal" and see it as food in a furry package.

I think the lesson here is dont buy snakes from Petco folks. The majority are CH snakes that may have never eaten and may be loaded with parasites and trouble not to mention the lack of peoper husbandry.

Go to a breeder and odds are you will get an established, feeding, healthy ball python. The petstores usually tell you what you want to hear to make a sale.

My first BP (store bought) was supposed to be CB, well she had ticks, mites, dehydrated and internal parasites.

Well, I'm a frozen thawed feeder, and all my snakes eat it just fine. I'm having trouble with my big bp right now, who is off feed, but as he was eating f/t before that it's not that he won't, it's just that for whatever reason is his snakey brain he doesn't want to eat right now. Personally I feel that it is a lot safer for the snake, but that is just my opinion. I know a lot of people on here feed live and have no problems, and more power to them. I just don't want to risk any sort of injury to the snake.

I really don't agree that they have a better feeding response with live either, if anyone want to come see my snakes hit their f/t prey feel free. The only way their feeding responses could get any better is I guess if they tore the mouse to shreds in a frenzy before eating.

Anyway the point I'm making is this, don't totally give up on f/t. You may have to feed him live a time or two to get him eating but with a bit of work I have faith that he could be switched to f/t. Did you ever post what your temps and humidity are? That could be the problem. There are also many methods of offering f/t to a snake, have you tried all of them?

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Jenny, what Becky told you is backed up by scientific studies (which I do have links for if you want them). Constrictors like your snake do not kill by slow strangulation of their prey. That would put the snake at a much higher risk of injury from it's prey and Mother Nature isn't that dumb. Death is quick and clean. Likely one of the cleanest and quickest kills of any predator on earth. I feed multiple snakes each week, from the smallest BP up to mature female ones. I raise my own rats and by some standards, totally spoil my breeder rats by naming and retiring my adults rats.

If it were an inhumane, drawn out kill where the prey suffered unduly, I would not do it dear.

The simple fact of life is rodents are born, designed perfectly by nature to be the live food for these snakes. Humans may want to feed f/t for various reasons and many snakes will adjust to that, but it's not guaranteed. Sadly pet stores don't bother to mention that to folks like you. You are faced with a decision now to try live feeding in order to get this snake a meal or to be so upset by live feeding that your snake goes hungry. It's not a fun decision for you but one that may well be necessary if this snake continues to refuse to eat in the manner you wish it to.

Before you try a live feed, please read threads here about the proper way to do this. It is not just a matter of tossing in any rodent to any snake. Like all things, it's a process and if done correctly minimizes risk to the snake and promotes a fast, efficient and humane end for the rodent.

Lastly dear, "saving" feeder rodents is never going to work. They are bred to be fed off, they aren't bred for pets any more than a beef cow is going to be a pet dog. More are just produced and quite honestly don't often live in a particularily nice manner at big rodent breeders or overcrowded pet store feeder bins.

Don't be sad, sorry or embarrassed that you do care about the rodents. I think that respect for the prey that sustains our snakes is just another way of being a responsible keeper who makes the right decisions by thinking about how it all works out for the snake and for it's prey animal.

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You are very sweet, thank you for your kind words.

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Originally Posted by cutemouse

Honestly, I am not trying to be harsh when I say this so please don't get upset, but if you eat meat you have probably contributed to immense suffering of animals. Much worse than any little feeder mouse will endure. Of course, free-range animals don't go through the horrible things that factory farms put their animals through, but they still have to die. I don't mean to get off on a soap box, really, but this is a valid point. A box of chicken fingers has a bloody history behind it.

As far as the mouse, as was stated earlier in this thread: the death is quick. Ever seen a croc take a meal? That's not quick. Nature has made constricting snakes ridiculously efficient at killing their prey. My ball was a sloppy eater the first few times, but last night she struck the mouse in about 10 seconds and it passed away in the next 10. She has become very precise and the mice don't suffer, they just pass out.

I'd love to get her on F/T for the sheer convenience of it (driving to the pet store is getting OLD). She won't take them though. I tried last night for almost 20 minutes as I have for the last month. I've tried everything and yes I do mean everything that's not an exaggeration. I have developed carpel tunnel syndrome from wiggling rodents in front of my snake!

I understand your compassion for the mice, as I am an animal lover as well. My boyfriend tries to keep me from watching that animal cops show because it always makes me so angry :mad: But there is a vast difference between a hawk taking a field rat to her young and a person not giving a dog water for days. Nature created a food chain for all creatures, and rodents are pretty much at the bottom. Do not feel bad for things that are natural, but instead turn that compassion towards real cruelty and help take out some of these jerks who neglect and abuse their pets.

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I completely agree...there are much worse fatalities everyday.

p.s. I can't watch the animal cop shows either :)

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

OP, I'll be honest with you, I don't like to watch my snakes eat live. I'm a sucker for all animals, and I do go in against my feelings to watch them eat. Luckily, many of my snakes will take FT, but I that also does not me stop whatsoever from feeding them live.

I actually have a harder time gassing rats then watching snakes eat live. I don't know why that is, but it's true.

Somewhere, my fascination for snakes, the way they move, the way they watch us and watching them eat gets me over that initial gut wrenching when the rat get's wrapped. I simply love snakes and I enjoy seeing them live and thrive and watch them in their natural element. It's almost entrancing watching them eat, such a process, but I do not get any sort of pleasure from the intial kill.

It's just a part of life for me, and I imagine over the years I won't even bat an eye when feeding live. :)

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Thats a new take on it that hasn't really been touched on in this thread so far and I can appreciate what you are saying. As I have said, slyder is not "mine" so it really isn't up to me to say F/T or live but I do know that until he came into our lives I had no interest in snakes. Now look at me....I joined a snake forum! I love just sitting and watching him for hours on end, even the slightest movement calls for an announcement to my boyfriend! I am glad that there are people out there that can empathize with how I feel and I hope that with time I will learn to be as comfortable as you are.