snake got bit

my ball got it by the rat she was eating can this cause problems

Yes. It can cause a whole host of problems. Infections can occur which would be the most common thing. First of all you shouldn't be feeding your ball or any of your snakes live prey. You should be feeding f/t. There is absolutely no advantage to feeding live, only disadvantages. You should probably take your ball to the vet as soon as possible.

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Originally Posted by redstormlax12

Yes. It can cause a whole host of problems. Infections can occur which would be the most common thing. First of all you shouldn't be feeding your ball or any of your snakes live prey. You should be feeding f/t. There is absolutely no advantage to feeding live, only disadvantages. You should probably take your ball to the vet as soon as possible.

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I have to disagree with you here. Yes, bites can happen when you feed live prey. I have a snake that is very picky latley and I am going to have to try and feed live. This snake does not accept f/t prey. There are many people on here who feed live prey without any problems. To the OP, can you post a picture of the wound that your snake has? You may be able to just treat the wound with neopsorin without the pain reliever in it. There is no need to come down so harshly on someone that feeds live.

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Originally Posted by redstormlax12

Yes. It can cause a whole host of problems. Infections can occur which would be the most common thing. First of all you shouldn't be feeding your ball or any of your snakes live prey. You should be feeding f/t. There is absolutely no advantage to feeding live, only disadvantages. You should probably take your ball to the vet as soon as possible.

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I feed live.

Well feeding live is a last resort. And even supervised live is dangerous. Supervising is basically useless since once your snake is bitten theres not undoing it. But check out this thread on another forum.

http://www.redtailboa.net/forums/fee...t=feeding+live

it did not bring blood she is about 9 years old and has always eaten live

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Originally Posted by longbeard

it did not bring blood she is about 9 years old and has always eaten live

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She should be fine. I wouldn't worry about it if there is not a noticable amount of blood.

i dont know how you can say that feeding live is a last resort. i chose to feed mine live prey cause thats what they want. and i honestly am way to impatient to let frozen meals thaw out for my snakes to eat and then dangle it for them to eat... every time i throw a live prey item in the cage my snakes eat, if they dont after 10 minutes then the prey is removed. no harm no foul. everyone makes their own decision on what to feed their animals, but just cause you do it your way does not mean it is the ONLY way. to each their own

I feed live, too. Several of mine won't take f/t. I've had a couple of rat bites, but nothing bad happened. Usually nothing does. You might want to try cleaning the bite and putting some triple antibiotic ointment, chlorohex, or povidone/iodine on it just to kill any bacteria.

why not use tongs/foreceps or kill the prey 1st and do the zombie rat dance?

Those pics made me want to cry. people really underestimate what rats can do. Feed F/T or pre killed is the way to go.

try not to sweat it. your snake should be fine. what i did when i had it happen to me was i cleaned the wound with chlorohexidine ( i think thats how it's spelled ) and then put a little polysporin on it. cleared up the swelling in three days.

Jeez... Why is it that as soon as someone posts about their snake getting bit by prey, someone will (without fail) jump on and immediately tell the poster how horrible it is to feed live and how NO snakes should EVER be fed live prey? I understand that you're 17 years old and have probably had your snake all of 6 months, so you must be the most expert snake keeper ever to post on this forum, right?

I feed live and always have. Why? Because that's what I choose to do. If my snake were in the wild, I don't think she'd starve herself due to the lack of a dead but warm rat being tossed to it every week. These animals have been eating rodents live for thousands of years in the wild, so I trust that they've figured out how to take down a live rat before it has a chance to eat them alive.

These pictures and horror stories you hear are because of a snake keeper being irresponsible and throwing a hungry rat in with a snake, then leaving it unsupervised and not checking back on it for days on end. If you toss the rat in and watch and wait, there's nothing wrong with feeding live. Just don't walk away and get distracted and forget about it...

That being said, I have had my snake get bit once. The way she struck the rat, the rat's head was in a position that it could bite my snake's neck when she was coiling. I waited 24 hours, then took her out, put a dab of neosporin on it (make sure it's the kind withOUT pain reliever) and put her back in. Take her out every few days and reapply until the next shed cycle. The wound should heal up and fade over the next couple sheds.

Thanks to the OP and those who replied on this thread. I have some young ball pythons that aren't yet willing to switch over to f/t. One of them has pitiful aim and tonight he was bit by a mouse. No blood, but the area has some swelling. I'll wipe it with some diluted Chlorhexidine and then put a dab of neosporin (original, no pain relief - thanks for that note), and repeat it in a couple days. Thanks again! :gj:

Okay...there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with feeding live. As long as you supervise live feedings (don't leave a rat in with a snake longer than 30 minutes) there is no risk of any life threatening situation.

A bite here and there does not matter. You can put some antibiotic cream on it if you want, but 99% (statistic made up to make a point) of the time, a bite that is left untreated will heal just fine on its own.

Ball pythons are killing machines. They are built to kill and they are built to withstand bites and scratches. Their skin is made of tough scales, not porcelain.

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Originally Posted by redstormlax12

Yes. It can cause a whole host of problems. Infections can occur which would be the most common thing. First of all you shouldn't be feeding your ball or any of your snakes live prey. You should be feeding f/t. There is absolutely no advantage to feeding live, only disadvantages. You should probably take your ball to the vet as soon as possible.

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Seriously? The pictures people always show when this comes up is because it happened a couple times with really irresponsible people. Snakes don't naturally eat dead rats some can be trained to but some can't. Ask a big breeder. Most prefer to feed F/T but it's not always possible. Don't hate on people who make different decisions than you do. It is safer to feed F/T but done responsibly feeding live is a good option and in cases where the snake won't eat F/T it is irresponsible not to feed live.

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Originally Posted by redstormlax12

Yes. It can cause a whole host of problems. Infections can occur which would be the most common thing. First of all you shouldn't be feeding your ball or any of your snakes live prey. You should be feeding f/t. There is absolutely no advantage to feeding live, only disadvantages. You should probably take your ball to the vet as soon as possible.

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How dare you try to tell this person WRONG advice.

You shouldn't tell a person that feeding live is WRONG. In the wild, these snakes dont have people following them around with a bag of frozen mice waiting for every 7 days to thaw one out.

First off, bites from mice/rats are barely anything to be worried about. Snakes fight with prey in the wild all the time and you dont see them dead from rodent bites laying all around do you?

Second off, there is NO ADVANTAGE of feeding your snake f/t mice. It's convenient only for owners who do not want to breed their own, or have to store live mice, or feel "upset" about feeding live. Thats the bottom line. Most people feed f/t because its more convenient for them, it's not in the best interest of the snake.

I am not saying f/t is worse than feeding live, or feeding live in better than feeding f/t nutritionally, but its truely sad that some people think they have to take away these animals instinct to kill its food to eat. It's not something you have to do, and honestly you shouldn't feed f/t if you have the time to feed live.

Talking to many owners, it comes down to a large number of the people saying that feeding live gives your snake a stronger feeding response than feeding f/t. Like I said before, most people who use f/t are just doing it for their own convenience, or because its cheaper in bulk, ect ect.

Now nutritionally, feeding f/t and live is probably the same. I am not quite sure, but I don't think feeding f/t takes away any nutrients, but that may be possible.

To sum up my small rant, YOU CHOOSE what you have to do. I would prefer feeding live because I don't want my snake to loose its animalistic traits and turn into a robot that feeds on thawed out rodents that are served on a silver platter to it.

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I am not saying f/t is worse than feeding live, or feeding live in better than feeding f/t nutritionally, but its truely sad that some people think they have to take away these animals instinct to kill its food to eat. It's not something you have to do, and honestly you shouldn't feed f/t if you have the time to feed live.

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So it takes longer to drop a rat in the cage then prepare a f/t? You know they actually have to be thawed, right? And then after thawing for over an hour they have to be re-heated.

I promise you, they don't lose the instinct if you feed with hemostat or tongs. Watch some of the BHB videos of them feeding their large pythons f/t rabbits.

I CHOOSE to feed f/t, but NOT because it's easier or by any means quicker. I do it because people I respect in the snake world tell me to feed f/t.

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Originally Posted by redstormlax12

Yes. It can cause a whole host of problems. Infections can occur which would be the most common thing. First of all you shouldn't be feeding your ball or any of your snakes live prey. You should be feeding f/t. There is absolutely no advantage to feeding live, only disadvantages. You should probably take your ball to the vet as soon as possible.

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Really? I've been feeding live exclusively to my entire collection since I've been keeping ball pythons. I've only chosen to feed my albino f/t, because small nicks and scratches show up so much on them, and I (as well as others) believe that the lack of melanin seems to make their skin/scales feel a bit thinner and more susceptible to scratches that you wouldn't see on non-albino's.

I've stated this many times before, I've easily fed off over 13K live prey to my collection, and in that time, I can count on ONE hand the number of times I've had true bites to any of my collection. And even then, a bite left an incidental scratch. But for the sake of argument, let's double that incidence rate to 10 in over 13K feedings.

That makes my risk of a bite with my personal small set of data, a .076923% chance of a bite that causes a wound.

I do choose to feed my colubrids f/t, because it's just easier for me to get f/t in appropriate sized prey than it is to get it weekly in live (the baby colubrids are still on mice pinkies and fuzzies and I don't breed mice).

But the pythons are all doing quite nicely on live prey weekly. All are scar free as well.

Bottom line, each keeper needs to make a personal decision to feed what works best for THEM and their animals, but it's un-necessary, and irresponsible to demonize those that feed live and do so responsibly. And for what it's worth - I do not stun my prey items either. I simply make sure that they are well fed and well hydrated, and I remove them if they have not been consumed within a 1/2 an hour (usually sitting in a corner of the enclosure blissfully grooming themselves). .

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Originally Posted by jfreels

So it takes longer to drop a rat in the cage then prepare a f/t? You know they actually have to be thawed, right? And then after thawing for over an hour they have to be re-heated.

I promise you, they don't lose the instinct if you feed with hemostat or tongs. Watch some of the BHB videos of them feeding their large pythons f/t rabbits.

I CHOOSE to feed f/t, but NOT because it's easier or by any means quicker. I do it because people I respect in the snake world tell me to feed f/t.

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I am pretty sure you can just leave a mouse out to thaw out. You don't have to supervise it as it thaws right?

And the reason I said that is because its way easier to keep a bag of frozen mice in your freezer than to breed your own mice and feed live or go to the store once a week to buy a live mouse.

So yeah, feeding live takes more time. WAY more time. Having a bag of frozen in your freezer is easy and just convenient for owners. Theres no reason why feeding frozen would be better for your snake.

OMG I am so so so tired of ppl that preach F/T.....there are pros and cons to live and F/T. There are about 832 ( Im exaggerating of course) threads on here and all very passionate....but the quite frankly I have never seen the ones that feed live push it on ppl like the some of the ppl that feed F/T. Good grief it is a personal flippin choice.

yes with live you take a risk of your snake getting bit. However you can minimalize this with pre-killing right before. Or heavily stunning it...(which some ppl think is more dangerous) or supervising and making sure the prey is dead before you walk away.

however there have been deaths with F/T as well....for instance....the nails on F/T stay much harder than those of live. Also I have never done the research but it could...(I say could) loose nutrients being due to the freezing and how long has it been frozen...do you REALLY know.
On the other hand...freezing could kill any bacteria....

I mean I could go on and on with things like this. But again the bottom line is personal choice.

I choose live...I personally like going to the reptile store for feeders every week...it is a fun trip for me. I also do not like to thaw out the mice...for me it is kind of nasty. Just my thing....plus I only have 5 but that will triple by the end of the year I am sure. I cannot even imagine having to thaw that many out. Also I believe that it is much more natural for my snakes and I believe they like it better....again a personal thing with me.

This whole OMG never never feed live look at the horrific pictures....drives me totally bananas and quite frankly starts to really annoy me to a point where it clearly makes me a little testy.



Now to the OP.....if there was no blood your snake is probably fine. Just keep up with the cleaning. I personally use bactine as I heard from a friend that is very close to one of the leading reptile vets out here in AZ that it is better than neosporin. Again.....personal choice. That is one of the great things about America....we have the ability (in most cases) to make our own choices. ;)

Am I the only one thats grossed out by the idea of frozen mice sitting in a bag next to my ground beef for dinner that night? Nobody seems to make that argument. I have no problems handling feeding or working with mice, but that doesnt mean I like the idea of rubbing a frozen one against MY dinner... Just thought I'd throw that in there, cause nobody seems to mention or even care about it.

Maybe I'm just weird... wouldn't be the first time. :P

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Originally Posted by David802

Am I the only one thats grossed out by the idea of frozen mice sitting in a bag next to my ground beef for dinner that night? Nobody seems to make that argument. I have no problems handling feeding or working with mice, but that doesnt mean I like the idea of rubbing a frozen one against MY dinner... Just thought I'd throw that in there, cause nobody seems to mention or even care about it.

Maybe I'm just weird... wouldn't be the first time. :P

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Its not like we put the rats in the same container as the meat we use for food. :confused:

I double bag mine and put it on a side shelf in the freezer.


There is no right or wrong answer to the f/t vs. live conversation. One is not better then the other. If your snake only eats live, feed it live, if your snake only eats f/t, feed it f/t. If your snake will eat anything, then it is your choice.

Getting the snake to eat is first priority, your feelings and wants come after.

I don't like feeding live. I don't like taking care of animals that are going to be food, especially if I get a refusal (which I rarely do with live). I prefer f/t because it is easier for me and all my snakes will eat f/t with no problems. If I had a snake that would only eat live, I would get it live food.

BPElizabeth is right! These threads get so old with the whole argument about f/t vs. live feeding. I feed live mice to my snakes because that is all they will accept at this point. It is my responsibility as their keeper to supervise the feedings to ensure their safety. My snakes used to eat f/t but they decided that they no longer wanted this type of prey. In the end feed whatever works for your snakes and yourself.

Wow, strong opinions here. :cool:

Now if I could get all my snakes to eat FT I would

What are the pros of feeding live?

Cons for me are:
-cost, FT in bulk is less expensive.
-have to drive and get rodents (large amounts for some people).
-Rodents are messy and alot of live rodents in transport containers is gross, they cannibalize eachother at times, they smell.
-they poop and pee in the cages, chew up paper, splash in water bowls, if not eaten right away.
-what to do if your snakes dont eat them? now I have to either make a place for them and feed them or kill them. if you have lots of snakes this may not be a problem.
-and now the small chance of a rodent bite that is not even an issue with FT.

I personally dont see any advantage to live, I dont think its wrong and if you want to thats great but I have yet to see any advantage here.

Well most of the time people who have large amounts of snakes will feed live. Generally because they breed their own. Which is cheaper then buying mice

And people with smaller amount of snakes generally buy f.t

Not saying this is exact for everyone just generally you dont see breeders with 600 snakes have 600 ft mice ready each week :rolleyes:

I used to feed live for our guy but the trips to pet stores for 1 mouse + cost was way more then a bag of 50 frozen ones.

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Originally Posted by David802

Am I the only one thats grossed out by the idea of frozen mice sitting in a bag next to my ground beef for dinner that night? Nobody seems to make that argument. I have no problems handling feeding or working with mice, but that doesnt mean I like the idea of rubbing a frozen one against MY dinner... Just thought I'd throw that in there, cause nobody seems to mention or even care about it.

Maybe I'm just weird... wouldn't be the first time. :P

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Well, meat can keep in the freezer, and we do cook it. Germs cant follow it that well bud.:)

It is Easter...people...geeze:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Chocolate Muffin's

It is Easter...people...geeze:rolleyes:

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....so?

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Originally Posted by djansen

Wow, strong opinions here. :cool:

Now if I could get all my snakes to eat FT I would

What are the pros of feeding live?

Cons for me are:
-cost, FT in bulk is less expensive.
-have to drive and get rodents (large amounts for some people).
-Rodents are messy and alot of live rodents in transport containers is gross, they cannibalize eachother at times, they smell.
-they poop and pee in the cages, chew up paper, splash in water bowls, if not eaten right away.
-what to do if your snakes dont eat them? now I have to either make a place for them and feed them or kill them. if you have lots of snakes this may not be a problem.
-and now the small chance of a rodent bite that is not even an issue with FT.

I personally dont see any advantage to live, I dont think its wrong and if you want to thats great but I have yet to see any advantage here.

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I breed my own, much cheaper than driving into town to spend a butt load on live/frozen mice. I know how mine have been raised and know what quality of nutrition they have in them. My mice have no smell and don't splash in water bowls (yay for water bottles).

To the OP, do what fits your situation. A mouse once sit and gnawed on my snake while she was constricting it. There was no injury besides some scraped up scales. I do recommend Repti-wound healing aid, though. It helps with healing, prevents infection, etc. Comes in a little one ounce container with yellow liquid. Stuff is really oily, but it seems to help.

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Originally Posted by djansen

Wow, strong opinions here. :cool:

Now if I could get all my snakes to eat FT I would

What are the pros of feeding live?

Cons for me are:
-cost, FT in bulk is less expensive.
-have to drive and get rodents (large amounts for some people).
-Rodents are messy and alot of live rodents in transport containers is gross, they cannibalize eachother at times, they smell.
-they poop and pee in the cages, chew up paper, splash in water bowls, if not eaten right away.
-what to do if your snakes dont eat them? now I have to either make a place for them and feed them or kill them. if you have lots of snakes this may not be a problem.
-and now the small chance of a rodent bite that is not even an issue with FT.

I personally dont see any advantage to live, I dont think its wrong and if you want to thats great but I have yet to see any advantage here.

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And again I say that is your personal choice and opinion

I've got a con.....I've got a baby rat running loose! GAH!!!!!!!

Trying to get my cats to hunt it down right now. Sneaky little bugger, I don't know where he's gone!

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Originally Posted by BPelizabeth

And again I say that is your personal choice and opinion

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Ok... now whats your opinion on feeding live? I asked the question what are the pros of feeding live? I gave my cons and could not think of any pros.

Pros: some balls are picky and will only eat live. Why starve a ball when it will readily accept live? Hmmm. Seems pretty simple to me. If your snake doesn't eat, you can save it for another time, unlike f/t.

Con: you have to either raise rats :tears:, or buy them live from someone else. They could potentially harm your snake. They can get loose in your house, which has happened to me on multiple occasions.

BTW, Brian from BHB said on Reptile Radio that he feeds all of his thousands of ball pythons live prey each week, and also leaves they prey in over night. He said that he never has issues with the rodents hurting the snakes.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

I've got a con.....I've got a baby rat running loose! GAH!!!!!!!

Trying to get my cats to hunt it down right now. Sneaky little bugger, I don't know where he's gone!

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lol....Robin you are not helping....lol. How in the world did that happen?

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Originally Posted by f4n70m

Well most of the time people who have large amounts of snakes will feed live. Generally because they breed their own. Which is cheaper then buying mice

And people with smaller amount of snakes generally buy f.t

Not saying this is exact for everyone just generally you dont see breeders with 600 snakes have 600 ft mice ready each week :rolleyes:

I used to feed live for our guy but the trips to pet stores for 1 mouse + cost was way more then a bag of 50 frozen ones.

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This poster completely PROVED my point.

MOST people who feed f/t only do it because it is more convenient for themselves. It has nothing to do with what they feel is best for their snake.

Am I saying that f/t or live is better? No I am not. I am not preaching to only feed live here, but the bottom line is most people that feed f/t are people like this who dont want to drive to go pickup a live mouse.

Like I said, this is the point I was trying to make.... People do it for their own convenience and try to preach f/t like its the best thing just because its easier for them.

@f4n70m - Sorry I am not trying to attack you, but your post completely proved my point.

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Originally Posted by Wh00h0069

Pros: some balls are picky and will only eat live. Why starve a ball when it will readily accept live? Hmmm. Seems pretty simple to me. If your snake doesn't eat, you can save it for another time, unlike f/t.

Con: you have to either raise rats :tears:, or buy them live from someone else. They could potentially harm your snake. They can get loose in your house, which has happened to me on multiple occasions.

BTW, Brian from BHB said on Reptile Radio that he feeds all of his thousands of ball pythons live prey each week, and also leaves they prey in over night. He said that he never has issues with the rodents hurting the snakes.

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Ok, like I said if you had a choice. I know some balls only take live and there is no way around that. obviously if the snake will starve then live prey is the way to go (any prey, wraped in bacon if need be).
And I know of people that leave live prey in overnight and have seen first had a couple attacks from rodents that were pretty nasty on some nice morphs so just because he said he has had no issues does not mean it does not happen.

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Originally Posted by djansen

Ok, like I said if you had a choice. I know some balls only take live and there is no way around that. obviously if the snake will starve then live prey is the way to go (any prey, wraped in bacon if need be).
And I know of people that leave live prey in overnight and have seen first had a couple attacks from rodents that were pretty nasty on some nice morphs so just because he said he has had no issues does not mean it does not happen.

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I don't understand why someone would leave a live feeder in with their snake overnight :confused:

Thats very irresponsible if you ask me.

Ummm,, Well I have an ASF that escaped last night and was found in the hallway alive but half chewed up by the cat.. Does that count???

LOLOL!!

Pull up a chair folks! Grab some popcorn and join in the BPnet fun!

We know how to keep things interesting around here :gj:

I feed live and F/T. Depends on the snake & its feeding habits. Live is easier IMO. I have only had 2 snakes in a total of 16 years ever get bitten. Regular neosporin or bacitracin on the bite a couple times a day will speed up healing. These snake are very resilient. It will heal and there should not be a scar. Any mark will disappear within a coupel sheds if there is. No need to worry. Carry on carry on...

I've never had a f/t mouse bite my snake.

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Originally Posted by djansen

Ok... now whats your opinion on feeding live? I asked the question what are the pros of feeding live? I gave my cons and could not think of any pros.

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ugh...I feel like I have written this a thousand times....again this is my opinion

Pros-
1. it is easier for me...I do plan on getting many more BP's by the end of the year and eventually am planning to breed my own

2. I like going to the store to pick up feeders each week...it is fun for me to check out their new stuff....play with their tegu for a while...and talk to the owner about what she has seen around

3. I think thawing mice is gross....I really don't want 10-15 soggy mice laying around while I wait for them to get the right temp.

4. My 83 yr old Mom lives with us...and though she is hip to the snakes...she has opened the bag by accident grabbed one of the mice and freaked

5. I personally think that live has better nutrients due to not being frozen. And I do not really know when this rodent was frozen. I have to rely on the person I bought it from to tell me that and hope they are being honest.

6. There have been tragedies feeding FT as well as live. The nails of the FT do not have the give that live does...therefore it has been known at times to cause internal injuries.

7. It takes less time for me overall to do it this way and less messy. Get em...put em in the critter carrier...feed them off....clean out the carrier...done.

8. My personal opinion is it is much more natural for them.

That is all I can think of now.....but I am sure I will think of more. Again...I don't give a poo what anyone else does....I am not here to convince anyone. However with that being said...it gets really really old when some ppl that do feed F/T push it so much.

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Originally Posted by djansen

Ok, like I said if you had a choice. I know some balls only take live and there is no way around that. obviously if the snake will starve then live prey is the way to go (any prey, wraped in bacon if need be).
And I know of people that leave live prey in overnight and have seen first had a couple attacks from rodents that were pretty nasty on some nice morphs so just because he said he has had no issues does not mean it does not happen.

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I agree. I would much rather feed my ball pythons f/t, and do with the ones that will take them. I personally don't leave live rodents in overnight, but I do trust Brian when he says that he doesn't have any issues. Rodents can hurt snakes, but most do not if they are not hungry. I do not supervise live feedings, and have never had any serious issues with rodents hurting my snakes.

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Originally Posted by BPelizabeth

lol....Robin you are not helping....lol. How in the world did that happen?

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Opened the tub and one decided to take a suicide leap. I had him cornered for a bit, but he got away - and I don't know where he went.....:(

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Opened the tub and one decided to take a suicide leap. I had him cornered for a bit, but he got away - and I don't know where he went.....:(

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:O holy crap! :rofl: I am so sorry to laugh....I have never lost a mouse yet...dropped a few though...but always got them. I have lost a few crickets and freaked out. UGH....I hate those things...they freak me out. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

Ummm,, Well I have an ASF that escaped last night and was found in the hallway alive but half chewed up by the cat.. Does that count???

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Glad to hear you were able to find it. I always freak when they get loose in my house. Normally the dogs are able to pinpoint their location though.

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Originally Posted by BPelizabeth

6. There have been tragedies feeding FT as well as live. The nails of the FT do not have the give that live does...therefore it has been known at times to cause internal injuries.

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I am curious, what "tragedies"?

I'm pretty much agreeing with what BPElizabeth is saying. It's the owners choice on what they feed THEIR snake. I love going into the petstores around my area and seeing the reptiles and fish when I pick up my prey. And this whole arguement IS getting VERY old. I only have 2 snakes. One is very stubborn, and when I tried to give him a F/T mouse, he refused, even if I leave it in the enclosure over night he does not eat it, even though the breeder I got him from said he fed F/T. Where as my other snake will take anything I throw in there, except rats. I can throw in 1 live 1 F/T, both F/T, both live, or however many mice I'm offering her, she takes it all with out a problem. I care about about the issues about feeding live vs f/t, but not enough to cause a whole arguement about it. If my snake gets bit minorly or severely, I know what to do. I'm not losing sleep over it, and I'm not going to get ticked off about how others feed their snakes.

Probably a little off topic but... when your snakes refuse F/T where do you throw them? ...I flush them down the toilet... but... something tells me rats going into my water tank may not be the best idea I've ever had...

Um, basically I feed f/t because I can't stomach killing a live mouse/rat. It's like I won't kill a chicken but I'll chop one up from the supermarket for dinner.

I think most of the time people haven't exhausted their resources or isn't doing something exactly right for that insanely picky ball python that won't take f/t.

With live, there's still a chance, no matter how small, even if you do everything right, the stars are aligned, the moon is full, for something to go wrong, which is a risk I'm also not willing to take. Some people are willing, and that's fine, but that's not me.

Feeding f/t is not always easier, I got a picky girl that needs it to be have it at night (but before 9), prescented, brained, heated, and hidden then dangled before she'll take it. The preparation time is ridiculous. I'm sure she'll snap up live in a second, but it's my personal preference.

What I find slightly odd is that there are still people out there who don't know f/t is an OPTION. They feed live because they think there's no other choice. I've run into some snake owners at the petshop (and other places) asking me why I'm buying frozen feeders, and when I tell them they're really surprised that it can be done. I was one of those people who didn't know either until I started researching.

I do recommend f/t or p/k when people ask me about keeping them, but I also remind them that there are a few that will only take live. In the end it's their choice.

I have a question about F/T actually. Why can't you refreeze them? Or why do people advise against?

Because they can pop and the decomposition may not be terribly good for the snake. (decomposition is basically the breakdown of cell membranes and the digestion of it by bacteria... which breed quickly and cause illness... which is why we don't eat spoiled food either.)

I had an almost-pop once... but realized something was off when I picked it up and the dead rat POOPED and some guts came out with it. I defrosted another one and threw that one away...