I feel horrible. Has anything similar to this happened to anyone?

Alright so I'll start at the beginning but make it short. I have my first BP that ive had for 2 months. Hes 3 months old and was eating regularly up until 3 weeks ago. In a last ditch effort to get him to eat I went to the store and bought two little white hopper mice, alive. I got them home and I decided I really couldnt go through with killing them if I really dont have to. So I decided to try one last time to get my bp to eat frozen thawed again tonight. Well while my f/t was thawing, I opened up the hamster cage I had these cute little mice in to let him sniff around and hopefully get hungry. Well both of them went to hide in the little wooden cheese box and before I knew it my snake had one constricting with the other mouses tail in his mouth. I was in shock and didnt know what to do. The mouse that had his tail in his mouth was freaking out about to bite my bp and I had no choice but to strangle it. It was horrible, he watched me kill him. Neither of those mice had to die, and I had to physically kill one of them.

Long story short, I feel horrible. Anyone else go through anything similar.?

P.S. Now that hes eaten live will he ever eat f/t again?

If he's young, he'll go back and forth pretty easily.

I can greatly sympathize with you. I found out a week ago why people tell you not to try cervical dislocation on rats bigger than weaned. I didn't think it would be that hard if I used a sturdy screwdriver to do it. I was greatly mistaken.

I had no idea how thick and heavy the spine on a larger rat is, and after three unsuccessful attempts to dislocate the neck of the now pitifully squealing rat, I did the only other thing I could think of and whacked it's head with the screwdriver handle as hard as I could. That did the trick, but I could still hear it's terrified and pained squeals in my head for the next several days, it was quite upsetting to say the least.

Gale

Btw, I know this is the food chain and I know I sound like a little girl but I also believe that no animals should suffer before they die. I would wish that on anything.

Gale, I appreciate the response. I know that it isnt a big deal to some, but I grew up with animals and cant stand to see them suffer.

Ball pythons that eat FT can be given live, and they will switch back with no problem. It is incontestable that the majority of ball pythons prefer live over frozen/thawed, if given the choice. Fortunately, they prefer eating over not eating, when all else is well, lol.

You will get used to it. I used to feel the same way many years ago. But if the mice don't die my snake will and he is higher on the food chain.

I just could never do the live feeding thing. I can't stand to watch something die a slow painful death :(

F/T all the way, i'll never go live.
Of course that's just me. I don't have anything against anyone that feeds live.

i too dont like to see an animal suffer but for some reason my snakes wont eat f/t so i have to feed live and in some ways i feel that the way snakes kill is a little better than the ways other animals kill

for example
snake constrict till cant breathe or blood stops reaching vital organs
painful? yes but not as bad as my next example

Lions attack the neck first looking for the large artery in the neck of most animals but does this instantly kill them? not always alot of times the animal is still alive as the lions tear it apart

sorry for the visuals but im just tryin to say that if i was to be eaten by an animal i would prefer to be constricted not torn apart while still alive

Yes I completely agree, I see it pointless to make something harmless suffer. The worst part is it was an accident and I was being stupid about it. I shouldnt have let the snake in there cage. The worst part was watching this little mouse that ive been bonding with for 5 days stare at me while I killed him.

I also had my 15 year old dog put to sleep in June, so having to watch these little guys die too hit a little to close to home. I really shouldnt be but I am really upset about it.

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Originally Posted by Karbon

I just could never do the live feeding thing. I can't stand to watch something die a slow painful death :(

F/T all the way, i'll never go live.
Of course that's just me. I don't have anything against anyone that feeds live.

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I had an experience like that. I bought a rat pup from a small pet store as a feeder, because that's the only size my baby BP can take for now.
They put the little guy in a paper bag, so I could hear and feel him moving around in it. Poor thing couldn't even see yet.
So I ended up feeling bad, and took him out in the car. He was so cute. I snuggled with him for forever, and then remembered I had just paid what little money I had for it as food, and my mom is TERRIFIED of rodents (NONE IN THE HOUSE EXCEPT FROZEN ONES! are allowed).
I eventually gave him to my fiance, who...gave the rat to my ball python. :( It was so sad. I went upstairs and covered my ears, crying.
I'm now trying to switch all my snakes to F/T (all but two are). :( I can't do that again.
I'm sorry about what happened. I understand. :( :(
When you're not in the scenario, you think, "It's part of nature." but then you see the mouse or rat and you think, "But does ti have to be this one???"
Again, sorry, and I understand.
Shellie

I don't want to scare you away from snakes but if it makes you feel this horrible you might want to think about the long run being a snake owner. It is a hurdle that has to be gotten over. If it doesn't I couldn't imagine feeling this way everytime you ahve to feed. The killing process usually takes less than a minute if the snake properly coils the mouse. Don't think I am trying to tell you to get rid of the snake please. I am just simply trying to point out that is you feel this way now there is no reason for you to go through this everytime you feed.

But the worst thing to do is to just put the mouse or rat in the freezer and let it die that way.

I love rats but have several times had to save my snakes from bites.
That is several out of several thousand feedings, it happens but thankfully not too often.

If I ever really had to kill a mouse, I would have to do it with CO2. The only way I could do it, painless and they just go to sleep.

I have only had to feed my BP twice so far because I have not owned him for that long. His previous owner used to feed him three live mice every two weeks. I did some reasearch and desided to change it to a med rat at the same schedual, but I didnt want oliver to be the next snake with a picture up here of him with some terrible wound from a rat bite. The place I went to only sold live rats, so I drove home sobbing the whole way (I used to own rats as pets) with the little guy in my passanger seat trying to get out of the little box he was in. My mum used to work at a petstore and she said that you just slam it against a wall hard and it instently kills them. So I get home and put Oliver in his feeding box and slam the box that the poor rat is in against a wall (Still, i am sobbing). Nothing in the box moves so I dump the rat with my snake. Oliver stikes the thing before it even stops bouncing but it was still alive! So, I had to go through the whole "Im killing this tiney thing" and then I had to listen to it squeel as Oliver killed it. I was sobbing for most of the day.

The last time I fed him my bf and I tried to find all the parts to make a CO2 chamber, but couldn't find a connecting piece (from the can to a hose) before my bf had to go to his night class. We ended up bringing the rat home and I stayed in the living room while he put it in a bag and smashed it (successfully) against a wall.

I'm really hoping that we can figure out the CO2 thing before next wed. :/
I know how your feeling and I'm really sorry that you had to go through that.

I'm sorry about that :( I can sympathize, sort of. I'm supposed to start working with mice at my work soon (I don't know HOW soon, it always seems to be up in the air) but I really, really, really am not looking forward to having to kill them :( I'm not squeamish about them, I just don't want to see them die. So far I've been feeding my BP f/t, and I'm okay with that, but I guess... I just don't want to be the one killing them. I know it's a really silly thing, because either way, someone killed them, but still. I can't help feeling bad. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I totally feel your pain! I tried a few weeks ago to get my big, mice-only female ball python to eat a live weaned rat. No dice! And then practically nobody else wanted the poor thing, either--I must have show that little rat to four or five snakes before somebody would eat him. By then he was pretty freaked out, so he shrieked when my het pied finally grabbed him. At which point my husband looked up from the TV and said "What are you DOING to that poor rat?"

Ugh! So we're back to strictly f/t, and the mouse-only female can have her stupid frozen mice.

Perhaps I'm confused, or its 2am and i've been on a weird sleep schedule lately but...

I feel like a lot of you set yourselves up for this. Newer owners especially.

Ball pythons are pythons. They are perfectly capable of catching, killing and eating their own food. I think we forget that a lot of the time because they are our beloved pets and we want to do everything right by them.

I myself can't really see the necessity to feed P/K, therefor I would never offer that as a food option for my animals. I feel i am not qualified to humanly euthanize a rodent of any size, so i don't do it. (If i had access to a C02 chamber it would be different).

Offering live prey to a snake is perfectly acceptable. Offering frozen/thawed prey is perfectly acceptable. Not all animals will eat live. Not all animals will eat F/T.

I've fed live to some of my animals. It bothers me to hear their squeals of terror if my snake starts eating them without properly constricting them. Its horrible. Because of this, I either establish my animals on F/T or find them different homes.

hopefully this went somewhere, I don't mean to bash anyone's choice of food for their animals, i just find feeding live so much safer than P/K or needing to euthanize rats because they
-dont want their animal harmed
-dont want to have a live rodent in their home
-mom doesn't want to see live rodents
-etc

If you absolutely NEED an animal to eat F/T, get one established on F/T. There are many great breeders who will take the time to make sure a specific animal will take F/T for a buyer. Look for these breeders, they care about their animals and their customers. If you find the right animal for you, you won't have to worry about it having to cervically dislocate rodents or smash them in the head with a brick or against a wall or.. etc.

something something darkside..something something complete
(cinderbird signing off for the evening, SO TIRED)

I think alot of snake owners have been through something similar. I've had more than enough rat/mouse experiences to last me 2 lifetimes. I can't stand it when my scalekids constrict a rat/mouse and it's able to look right at me. I always talk to it and say I'm sorry, but eventually I look away. I can't imagine how I would feel if something just stood there as I died, and I know they're just rats but I still turn away. I'm a huge believer in treat people/animals the way you want to be treated.

You will get used to it. If the prey isn't fed to your snake, it will be fed to someone elses and 90% of the time will suffer the same death.

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Originally Posted by ahunt037

my snakes wont eat f/t so i have to feed live

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How long have you tried? I got a six year old live mouse/asf only eater to eat a frozen/thawed mouse by waiting about a month after his yearly fast ended. Seven months without food and they're pretty willing. Working on f/t rats now. It's just a matter of waiting in most cases.

Killing these animals sucks. I don't think the risk to the snake is worth it. The snake can take care of itself. And if it decides not to, you're supervising the feeding for a reason, right?

Of course the animal has to die, but who wants to do it themselves when the snake is perfectly capable? I just...wouldn't.

I feed live to all my snakes its what they naturally do they strike, they constrict, they eat... simple as that if you can't deal with nature then get a pet rock won't have to worry about feeding it.

Sorry to be a jerk but that's how I feel.

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Mice and rats are by far harmless. They can carry diseases which are very harmfull to humans and sometimes cause electrical fires by chewing on cords in your home. You really should not feel bad because they are cute or small or w/e the case. As it's been said before, either your snake eats or it will die. It's part of the hobby.

I don't really feel horrible for feeding my snake rats and mice. I had fed live, p/k, and f/t. Do I like hearing the animal squeal or watching it struggle as it dies, no I do not. I have come to terms with feeding my ball python rats and mice. This is what he eats to survive and I will continue to feed him. I love my snake and will do whatever it takes for him to be healthy and prosper under my care.

THANK YOU SMOFFLER. I agree with you.