Ive learned about feeding snakes from this!!!!

:shock: Oh boy....a friend of mine in Alabama lost her big female Boa Constrictor to infected RAT bites !!! her female BCI was taking down a large adult rat and sustained several bites to her neck and head area and the bites became infected :cry: This has REALLY woken me up to the hazards of feeding live rodents to our precious snakes. I must admit that I kind of took it lightly there for awhile but hearing about the passing of this beautiful snake really shook me up. I can see that a rodent can really deliver some dreadful bites in the process of it being constricted !!!

I am really going to be making a 100% effort from here on out to get ALL three of my Ball Pythons ( Trinity, Cypher and Apok ) feeding on thawed pre-killed from here on out.They are going to HAVE to adjust to the change as I could not bear to lose one of my snakes to something that I can see is totally preventable. I HAVE managed to get Apok to take pre-killed mice so he is on his way to becoming a good feeder - he is a hungy guy most of the time so that helps...Trinity and Cypher are a little more picky and choosy but I am going to let them get a bit hungry ( Cypher is fasting anyhow....) and then thaw out and warm up to body temp a nice small rat...perhaps I will try dipping it in chicken broth as well...I have heard that helps....

Well, just a story I thought I would share with you all to scare the daylights out of you if you are feeding live...it sure scared me to the bone to hear my friends description of the bites, and how her snake succumbed even WITH vet treatment...sheesh....

EyeLashViper

Sorry to hear about your friends lost. I know it must be dishearting when one loses a loved pet especially in that manner. I hope that everything goes well for you, Trinity, and Cypher. It will take alot of patience on your end, but in the end it is well worth it. Good luck.

I'm sorry to hear that about your friend's boa, but if it saves another animal's life, then maybe it's worth it. I'm very glad to hear that you are determined to feed pre-killed. I'm a believer in feeding p/k or f/t anyway, but that was absolutely cemented when I saw this picture from the ProExotics FAQ on the subject (NOT for the faint of heart or those already convinced).

i would love to switch over its just sage just had a little fast and i don't want to try anything new until she/he is eating good for awhile.

Sheesh Marla, they say a picture says a thousand words and that picture sure as hell does. That photo is an excellent teaching aid when helping newbies to understand the importance of switching to F/T. Ive been bitten by hamsters and I know rodents deliver some of the nastiest bites.

Im not sure if this will help you out eyelashviper, but I noticed that if I take a F/T and thaw it out quickly by putting it in a ziplock bag and putting the bag in hot water (dont cook it though) bout 30 min or so when you open that bag, whew is it funky! It doesnt smell half as much when I thaw the prey item out to room temp first and than warm it up a bit. They might like the funk, so give em the funk. :D

Sorry, Paul. It's definitely a harsh pic, but it does get the point across effectively. :(

Wow truely sorry to hear bout that Eyelash, hopefully everyone will be more careful, I dont know if the BP community knows this or not but Izabelle is to a victim of rat rage but luckly got her in time. this was almost 2 1/2 yrs ago she had lil chunks from the lower portion taken out. But I nursed her back to health by applying hydrocortizone everyday for a very long time....all this well with her now.

yeah that picture definitly broke my heart too...I feel really guilty because I've been feeding my baby ball live and kicking hoppers for the last few weeks. However I've literally watched the feeding from 2 feet away in the snakes feed box, so nothing has gone wrong at all...the mice never saw it coming. My roommate would absolutely NOT be cool with keeping frozen mice in the fridge, so getting live prey from the pet shop (luckily is 2 mins from my place) is my only option. I will start stunning the mice from now on, hopefully it won't be a problem. I never want to see my snake get hurt like that on account of my own ignorance. I'd never forgive myself.

How do you stun the mice?? do you knock them against a wall or what?? I have been feeding Samson live mice since ive had him (a month) that is what the petco i got him from fed him also, he is a very good eater i know that before i start feeding him rats im going to go to f/t or prekilled because of the danger. After seeing that pic i definatly want to switch off of live feeding, even with the small mice.

The herp store showed me how to do it, you basically take them by the tail and flick them overhand so to speak onto a countertop, its pretty instant and you are left with a mouse thats just kinda twitching, no totally limp. The girl there said that its just a reflex action and that the mouse isn't actually suffering. She said you do have to give it some muscle, or else, in your sympathy, will not give the mouse a quick death. I can't stop picturing the photo of that ball python above, thats so sad.

The easiest way to stun them is supposedly to put them in a bag and whack them against a wall or table good and hard so that it's sudden for them instead of just causing pain. Hold on to the bag carefully, too, because I read a funny story about accidentally letting go of the bag and having two rats crawling around that wouldn't have been such a funny story if the person involved hadn't caught them quickly.

elevatethis, you might want to see if your roommate would deal with it okay if you had them in a solid-colored sealed plastic container. If your roomie never has to see them, it might not be such a big deal.

can you do this with gerbils and rabitts and other animals if you want to treat your snake to a fancy feast every once in a while??? I have to go back to work right now, thanks for the advice

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bigslimrich

can you do this with gerbils and rabitts and other animals if you want to treat your snake to a fancy feast every once in a while??? I have to go back to work right now, thanks for the advice

---

Being the finicky eaters that they seem to be...I personally wouldn't ever feed my bp anything but the mice or rat it was established on. If you offer a gerbil or rabbit (pinky size?) it might decide it likes those better and refuse the more common rodents. I don't think snakes need "treats" like a dog or cat might.

Disclaimer: This coming from someone who does not yet own a bp...but I'm having the same types of feeding challenges with my gopher, too.

I agree with Judy, except that I think it's a good idea to progress from mice to rats if you can so that you can feed just one prey item per meal, of appropriate size. Also, if I had one go off feed for long enough, I probably would try gerbils, but not as a "treat."

ok, i see, its best to keep feeding them what they already know and like. I can see trying to feed a gerbil or something if it was fasting, but i won't unless he goes a while without eating. So far he has not refused a meal, when i put him in the feeding box he already knows he is about to find some food!! He will kill the mouse within the first minute most of the time, I just want to keep him healthy, happy, and eating good, i think he will go to f/t or prekilled pretty easy. (I hope)

It sounds like you have a good eater on your hands and shouldn't have too much trouble switching him over. You might want to try p/k first and then f/t, as some snakes apparently make the transition easier that way. Also, if you have a BP that's at least 1 yr old and it goes off feed in the winter and isn't losing a lot of weight, I wouldn't sweat that too much as it's more than likely just a normal winter fast not calling for anything drastic.

Hi Guys-
I have a really simple way to kill mice and small to med. rats without beating the crap out of them. Hold them by their tail and set them on a flat serface, very quickly put your first finger and thumb between the back of their head and shoulders apply pressure to hold them in place and give a quick yank to the tail. Basicly you just severed their spinal cord. You have to be quick because as soon as you hold their heads down they freak out. It takes some prctice but it's really quick once you get the hang of it, and it's a lot more humane than beating them to death, and a lot less messy.
Hope this helps .
Hockeymom

Have you ever had difficulty with that method? I've seen a lot of posts elsewhere where people ended up skinning the rat's/mouse's tail or pulling off the tail doing that instead od severing the spinal cord as they were trying to do. That seems even crueler than having your head bashed quickly, to be skinned alive or have an appendage pulled right off!

If you hold the tail close to the body and hold on to more than just the tip you shouldn't skin them. i kind if hold the base of the tail and and run the rest of the tail thru my fingers. Size is an issue, you can't use this method with a large or jumbo rat.

Since I'm only feeding bp's, I won't need to use it on a large or jumbo rat anyway. I've been considering switching my bp's to rats because they're getting close to that size now, but have been concerned about killing them humanely because out Petco only carries f/t mice, not rats. It'll probably be a while still, but I may try your method.

It will take a little practice, but I have found it to be a great method.
Good luck

Thanks for the tips.

Hope it helps

:shock: I think I will stick to trying to get my BPs on pre-killed frozen mice and rats as I am not too confident about my technique in killing rodents. You gotta be careful because the little %$#@ will not hesitate to whip around and bite you !!! I got bit pretty good by a mouse once and it bled a lot !!! I would hate to get really chomped by some frantic rat !!! just my two cents.... :? :wink:

EyeLashViper

Yeah you gotta be quick or they will freak out and getcha good.

Hockeymom

everytime i feed one of my snake live i get a little adrenalin in me. im always worried they are gonna grab it wrong and get bit. and it sounds liek thats just what happened to the boa...
makes me wonder how often this stuff happenes in the wild...