Terrible mother.

I just got done feeding my bp two live mice (not at once) and one of the mice bit her hard enough to rip a small bit of scales off. I can see a sliver of flesh, so I put Neosporin on the wound. I feel absolutely terrible for her getting bit hard enough to do as much damage. But will the Neosporin be enough? Or should I take her in to the vet?
I feel so terrible for letting her get hurt like this. How can I prevent it? Is there a way to keep the mouse from biting that doesn't involve hitting it on the head?

The only way to prevent something like this is to feed f/t or pre-killed.

The Neosporin you put one the wound was the kind without pain relief, right? The pain relief stuff is toxic to reptiles I believe.

When feeding live, you need to be prepared to use tongs or a chop stick, to put in the rodents mouth to prevent it from biting.

You BP should be fine.

x2 on switching to f/t or prekilled. Thats all you can do to prevent rodent bites.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kinra

The Neosporin you put one the wound was the kind without pain relief, right? The pain relief stuff is toxic to reptiles I believe.

---

Yeah, you want ot make sure that any topical ointments used have no pain relievers or numbing agents. Check the neosporin and if it does have the pain reliever in it make sure you clean her up good and replace with just plain old neosporin.

When feeding live there is always the chance for injury. If you continue to feed live just be vigilant and on hand to try and prevent any mishaps. When I feed live I have my feeder tongs on standby just in case.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kinra

The only way to prevent something like this is to feed f/t or pre-killed.

The Neosporin you put one the wound was the kind without pain relief, right? The pain relief stuff is toxic to reptiles I believe.

---

I read about the pre-killing. I just break the mouse's neck, correct? I've fed my bp live ever since I got her, so will she even take pre-killed?

And my Neosporin bottle says it's the original, I don't see anything on it that says it's pain-relieving.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by llovelace

When feeding live, you need to be prepared to use tongs or a chop stick, to put in the rodents mouth to prevent it from biting.

You BP should be fine.

---

How can I get the tongs/chopsticks to the mouse in time? (Wow, I feel like such a newbie.)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ShamelessAardvark

I read about the pre-killing. I just break the mouse's neck, correct? I've fed my bp live ever since I got her, so will she even take pre-killed?

And my Neosporin bottle says it's the original, I don't see anything on it that says it's pain-relieving.

---

I just feed f/t so I don't really know how to go about pre-killing prey. It never hurts to try feeding pre-killed or f/t. When I got my first BP the petstore told me she only ate live mice so that's what I fed for a while, but then I tried a f/t rat and she took it no problem. You just never know what they are going to do.

If the Neosporin doesn't say pain-relieving then it should be fine. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kinra

I just feed f/t so I don't really know how to go about pre-killing prey. It never hurts to try feeding pre-killed or f/t. When I got my first BP the petstore told me she only ate live mice so that's what I fed for a while, but then I tried a f/t rat and she took it no problem. You just never know what they are going to do.

If the Neosporin doesn't say pain-relieving then it should be fine. :)

---

I'll try pre-killing then. I'll buy a small mouse, I'm sure it'd be a bit easier to kill. c:

Thanks so much for the advice, I'm starting to feel a bit better about this.

quickly, I've had to turn over snakes after a bad strike, to be able to stick the chopstick in. I can say that I've never had a rodent draw blood.....knock on wood.
Mine have a tendency to strike at the rear end of the rodent.

I was in the same situation as Kinra - Breeder fed live only and when I offered F/T Rat the first feeding they ate no problem. Only have one on live now that will not switch over. Feeding F/T can be more time consuming, Proper Thawing, Heating, Zombie Dancing etc, but can be much more convenient for most keepers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by el8ch

I was in the same situation as Kinra - Breeder fed live only and when I offered F/T Rat the first feeding they ate no problem. Only have one on live now that will not switch over. Feeding F/T can be more time consuming, Proper Thawing, Heating, Zombie Dancing etc, but can be much more convenient for most keepers.

---

I've always wondered, how do you properly thaw a frozen mouse? If I remember correctly, I read that a lot of people soak them in warm water. How are you sure it's thawed completely?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ShamelessAardvark

I've always wondered, how do you properly thaw a frozen mouse? If I remember correctly, I read that a lot of people soak them in warm water. How are you sure it's thawed completely?

---

On feed day, I take them out of freezer in the morning, and let them thaw for a few hours, then hit with blow dryer for some, or just toss in tub for others.

There are ways to prevent biting when feeding live, you just have to be super vigilant.

I feed all live, but the moment they strike (if it's a poor wrap) I will hold the rat's head firmly between my thumb and index finger until it's stunned enough to stop biting. I'll also put scrap cardboard in their mouth and keep their heads angled away from the snake's body. It's a little more involved, but thawing and heating F/T is too time consuming for me.

To kill a mouse- just take it by the base of the tail and swing into a hard surface. It should kill it INSTANTLY. You'll know by it urinating.

To Thaw- either leave it out all day, OR for faster thawing, I use hot water. I make sure that my mice are all the way thawed by giving them a nice little mouse massage. If I feel any cold spots, then they are not thaw. I dry the mice off afterwards with a towel and touch up with the blow dryer.

Or what I used to do because I was always scared to look at the mouse while killing. I used to have a canvas snake bag handy. Put 1 mouse in and whack against a shelf or hard surface. Take mousey out feed to snake. Now I just flick them. Yucky buggers. I did feel like a mousey murderer. I got over that quickly.


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Homegrownscales

Or what I used to do because I was always scared to look at the mouse while killing. I used to have a canvas snake bag handy. Put 1 mouse in and whack against a shelf or hard surface. Take mousey out feed to snake. Now I just flick them. Yucky buggers. I did feel like a mousey murderer. I got over that quickly.


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

---

How well does the flicking work? I've had tons of petstore workers tell me just to flick them but.. Rodents terrify me. Evil little buggers, they'll kill you when you're not looking.
But back to the flicking, does it kill them, or just immobilize them?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ShamelessAardvark

But back to the flicking, does it kill them, or just immobilize them?

---

Never done the flicking to anything but a pinky, but in the end... dead or immobilized, it's not going to bite back!

I've had a terrible time trying to kill mice myself. I guess I'm not forceful enough, even when I hold them by the tail and whack them against something. They always wake up! :rolleyes:

anytime i feed live i wear a glove for 2 reasons one i can hold the tail of the rat if im not sure the snake will strike well (have a spider that really wobbles when foods around and wont look at f/t) and 2 if i let the snake hunt if a bad strike happens i just grab the top jaw of the rat and wait i know of a guy that uses chainmail glove :rofl::rofl: when dealing with rodents but leather seems to be good just remain vigilent if a live rodent is in your snakes enclosure

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AliCat37

To kill a mouse- just take it by the base of the tail and swing into a hard surface. It should kill it INSTANTLY. You'll know by it urinating.

---

Or you could just hold its head against a table with a pen (I use a paint can opener) and yank its tail. It will break its neck and you will not have to bash its brains out. Kinda brutal I think to mash it to pieces when there are much cleaner methods.

I had an old pre-kill board. I'm doing f/t now, but if I bred rats for feeders I'd make myself another because it killed so quickly and cleanly.

It had pairs of 20 penny nails driven into it with gaps between the individual nails in the pair at increasing intervals--from about 1/4" up to the width of a large rat's neck, each pair spaced about a foot from it's neighbor. I placed the rodent's neck between the tightest pair of nails where it would go with a close fit. (hint--cut the heads off the nails and file them smooth after you've pounded them in--makes for easier and quicker setting) When the rat's head was immobilized in the improvised stock, I took the tail and pulled it so that the body was at a right angle to the direction the head was pointing and gave it enough of a tug that I would feel a "give." (another hint--you don't have to give it your all, just a smooth firm pull because only monitors and tegus like decapitated rats) That broke the rat's neck quickly and conveniently then all that was left to do was to lift the rat off of the board and present it to the intended diner.

Takes only a few seconds to kill a rat once you've done it a few times. I used a piece of scrap 2x6 for the board. Hold the rat's tail in your dominant hand and pin the board to a secure surface with the other hand. Once you get the hang of it you can dispatch rats quickly and efficiently and to my mind it's a lot more humane that the multiple "thunks" it sometimes takes with the swing-the-rat-by-the-tail technique.

Or you could just build a co2 chamber from any of the stickies.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Redneck_Crow

I had an old pre-kill board. I'm doing f/t now, but if I bred rats for feeders I'd make myself another because it killed so quickly and cleanly.

It had pairs of 20 penny nails driven into it with gaps between the individual nails in the pair at increasing intervals--from about 1/4" up to the width of a large rat's neck, each pair spaced about a foot from it's neighbor. I placed the rodent's neck between the tightest pair of nails where it would go with a close fit. (hint--cut the heads off the nails and file them smooth after you've pounded them in--makes for easier and quicker setting) When the rat's head was immobilized in the improvised stock, I took the tail and pulled it so that the body was at a right angle to the direction the head was pointing and gave it enough of a tug that I would feel a "give." (another hint--you don't have to give it your all, just a smooth firm pull because only monitors and tegus like decapitated rats) That broke the rat's neck quickly and conveniently then all that was left to do was to lift the rat off of the board and present it to the intended diner.

Takes only a few seconds to kill a rat once you've done it a few times. I used a piece of scrap 2x6 for the board. Hold the rat's tail in your dominant hand and pin the board to a secure surface with the other hand. Once you get the hang of it you can dispatch rats quickly and efficiently and to my mind it's a lot more humane that the multiple "thunks" it sometimes takes with the swing-the-rat-by-the-tail technique.

---

Very good:gj:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dr del

Or you could just build a co2 chamber from any of the stickies.

---

I think that's the best way. It's easy to make, easy to use, and you can kill a bunch at a time and freeze them for later.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ShamelessAardvark

How well does the flicking work? I've had tons of petstore workers tell me just to flick them but.. Rodents terrify me. Evil little buggers, they'll kill you when you're not looking.
But back to the flicking, does it kill them, or just immobilize them?

---

For young animals it's pretty instant. Older mice if you do it hard enough and in The correct spot they kick for a min and then it's game over.

Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

We currently are feeding live to Hera and Eden and the main thing that I do is I gauge the rat's behavior. I pick them up by the tail with my feeding tongs (so I don't get bit, rodent bites hurt!) and if they are very eager to attack the tongs then I do a quick prekill.

The way I do it is a fast hard smack against a wall, that kills them instantly but they still kick a bit so if I get them in front of the snake fast they take it anyways. If the rat is more or less calm then I place them in the tank with the snake but I ALWAYS have the rodent in the tongs. That way I can control the rat a bit and if they get too close to bite the snake I already have the tongs in my hand.