Tried feeding a PK small rat...

...to make a long story short, he didn't eat it! This was my very first time killing a rat like that (smacked the back of its head against the ground). I'll have to say it made me kinda sad? I know I should see it as food for the snake but it's so different watching the snake do the killing, then you doing it. It also doesn't help that this was my 1st time but still ya know?

Also, reason I PK'ed was cuz I've read about how rats can inflict some serious bite wounds when they're cornered or if the snake isn't too interested. Mine, wasn't that interested initially and when I put it in, it looked like he was going for it, which made the rat totally freak out. So, being all paranoid, I decided to PK it before it did any damage, better safe than sorry right?

Well, at least the rat was raised by me for like a week on healthy food and is frozen in my freezer. Even though I have yet to try FT on my snake, I'm sure he'll eat it a few months down the road....wait, they do last like 2 months frozen right?

Well thanks to listening to me rant a bit, just had to share it with all you other BP owners out there!

ah yeah i had similar feelings in this evenings feeding...one of my snakes grabbed the little baby rat by the rear and wasn't constricting in a way that would cut off the rats air and make for a quick death, and i felt really bad for the poor little guy, but words of wisdom from good ol' 8ball Adam got me through the night...it's part of life, part of nature, sometimes that's the way things happen...

I hate having to kill them on my own..i'd rather my snakes did it for me...either way, owning a snake requires that you have somewhat of a cold heart. you just gotta bite your tongue and move on.

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Originally Posted by nathanledet

I hate having to kill them on my own..i'd rather my snakes did it for me...either way, owning a snake requires that you have somewhat of a cold heart. you just gotta bite your tongue and move on.

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Oh yea, I totally agree...that's what I kept telling myself too. "I have a snake, I'm gonna have to do this more than just this one time, so get over it!" which is how I pretty much did it. Just a shocker the first time you do it...esp since I don't think I did it right on my first shot and the rat was kickin (convulsing?) after the first smack and I had to do it a second time in order to actually kill it.

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Originally Posted by nathanledet

owning a snake requires that you have somewhat of a cold heart.

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Feeding rodents to a snake does not require a cold heart, if that's what you're saying.

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Originally Posted by JasonGranger

Feeding rodents to a snake does not require a cold heart, if that's what you're saying.

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no, you're right i have to agree with that statement.

I'm just saying that it takes a bit of a cold heart to swing a rodent around to kill it. Some people can't do it..they can't find it in their heart to do it. Others can. "Cold hearted" is just a figure of speech, my way of saying some people can put it past themselves easier than others. I do it, but i really don't like to

Just making sure. ;)

i could never do that. if my snake wouldn't eat live i'd either buy f/t or i'm humanely put the prey item down using co2 and then feed it off.

:(

I've started to look for other alternatives, but i don't know where to get Dry ice around here, and I haven't really made an attempt to seek out people to refill co2 canisters. I don't know if Paintball is a big deal down here...but i certainly do feel that there other methods besides wacking that aren't so rough on me or the rat.

have you called some butchers? also look up dry ice in your yellow pages.

:gj: will do thank you :)

your welcome ;)

I may be quite wrong here but I've been led to believe that any WalMart that is a superstore (a full grocery store plus the usual other stuff) normally carries dry ice. Might be worth a quick phone call if you have one close to you to verify this.

Ohh dry ice...that's an excellent idea. I've never bought dry ice, so how would that work, in terms of transporting it and using it? Do they come in cubes like normal ice? If so, how many would actually kill the rat?

Also, I remember reading somewhere that if you kill them with CO2 ure supposed to wait a while for the CO2 to diffuse out of the rat so it doesn't harm the snake? I can't see how extra CO2 would be harmful for an organism to ingest since it's body can easily get rid of it but I may be wrong when it comes to reptiles.

Oh and back to my original question, how long can they stay frozen for before it goes bad?

Ice cream shops like Dairy Queen frequently sell dry ice too. I assume that buying frozen rats is not an option for you?

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Originally Posted by ErikH

Ice cream shops like Dairy Queen frequently sell dry ice too. I assume that buying frozen rats is not an option for you?

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Yea it is an option but the whole thing is that I don't wanna feed it FT, I know that's its safe and good but I really don't like the idea of it. I find it disgusting and would rather feed a freshly killed rat instead of something that has been dead for God knows how long.

Besides, I like buyig rats, feeding them for about a week or 2 on my own diet that I have here (fresh veggies, and other healthy foods), killing it and then feeding em. I was just looking for an alternative to smacking them against the ground.

People forget that BPs are a bit more armored and skilled then we give them credit for. If they were so easily damaged by prey then they would never have survived as a species. They have scales for a reason.
99.9% of the 'horror stories' are from neglegent owners would left the prey item in there for an extended length of time without food or any supervision.
A few of my larger girls who feed on live small rats have been bitten once or twice. A few times it drew blood, they paid it no mind and finished their meal. A shed later there is no scarring, no fear of the prey item and they are still fat and sassy.

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Originally Posted by cubano07x

Ohh dry ice...that's an excellent idea. I've never bought dry ice, so how would that work, in terms of transporting it and using it? Do they come in cubes like normal ice? If so, how many would actually kill the rat?

Also, I remember reading somewhere that if you kill them with CO2 ure supposed to wait a while for the CO2 to diffuse out of the rat so it doesn't harm the snake? I can't see how extra CO2 would be harmful for an organism to ingest since it's body can easily get rid of it but I may be wrong when it comes to reptiles.

Oh and back to my original question, how long can they stay frozen for before it goes bad?

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Look in the feeder section of this site and you'll find a whole thread on making a c02 chamber and using dry ice.

Here's the link

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=33850