Feeding (Sub)Adult Bloods Live Prey

Seeing that there are (surprising to me) quite a few ball python owners who feed live prey, I was curious if any sub-adult/adult blood owners feed live prey. I had an instance yesterday where I brought home a small "medium" rat for my ball python to see if I could entice him to eat (I had to throw/waste 2 f/t rats prior already these past 2 weeks), and seeing that after 15 minutes he had no interest, I took the rat out and popped it in my blood's enclosure. Before I could even finish locking up my ball's enclosue, all I heard was WHAP/THUD! I can't even really describe it...I had never heard anything so...aggressive sounding? I looked into my blood's enclosure and he had the rat safely coiled and the whole ingestion was complete within 10 minutes. That was the first live prey I had ever fed my blood...he usually gets f/t large rats and takes them without hesitation.

I realize rats, especially the larger sized ones, can be quite aggressive and a nasty bite can potentially injure a snake. I'm not interested in any way, shape, or form to make judgement, as I do believe live feedings can be done responsibly, but am just curious if there are sub-adult/adult blood owners out there who regularly feed live prey.

We fed Jade, our yearling, live for a while, but it's just too intense for her. We've since then switched her back to FT and she will just eat it off the ground. We've had some very near misses (our face, her mouth) when feeding live. She just got so worked up we decided that we don't want a full grown animal doing that, so we went back to FT.

I don't really care how we feed them, honestly, FT, live, PK. It doesnt make a difference to me. But if I could, I would love to just toss in a FT rat for everyone and call it good. But not all snakes will just eat a FT off the ground, they have to be enticed by the 'zombie dance' and when you get up in numbers, it takes a lot of time to dance for each snake.That's why we do live, plus a refusal can go back into the bin.

I have been feeding my juvie red blood live. She is about 1,300 grams, so not very big, but not a baby. She's been eating live mediums fine, but since bigger rats are going to be more dangerous, I decided to switch her. So far, she has had one f/t, so hopefully it will be a smooth transition.

I prefer feeding f/t as it is much easier for me and I enjoy it better as odd as it sounds.

Sometimes its a different feeding responds when it comes to live.

I dont see the need to feed live with bloods or sumatrans because they rarely refuse to feed....:oops:

Just my opinion.

I feed live, no problems so far.

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Originally Posted by slartibartfast

I feed live, no problems so far.

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Hi Jess! How old and what size is your blood? What size rats (I assume) are you feeding? By "no problems so far", I assume you have no issue with aggression, etc.? Any further details would be much appreciated. Thanks!!!

I start my babies off on live - After a handful of meals I try and switch them over to P/K or F/T...Once they are switched they never go back...
BT

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Originally Posted by BT41042

I start my babies off on live - After a handful of meals I try and switch them over to P/K or F/T...Once they are switched they never go back...
BT

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Hi BT, is the reason you switch to P/K or F/T due to feeding safety issues, convenience, or other reasons?

My Borneo was a no-miss kind of girl, so I fed her live medium or large rats. She was huge and always on target, and hit like a train. Once one coil was wrapped around, the rat disappeared. I didn't hesitate to feed her live. However, I have had large Boas that I would rather feed a p/k or f/t prey item if they had the habit of striking the rat in a way that the rat could do some possibly serious damage. I think it's important to know your snakes and do what works for each of them.

She is a little over a year old, and probably around 1,500g by now. I feed small rats every 7-14 days, depending on availability. She is the garbage disposal...sometimes she'll get an extra, sometimes she'll get skipped if my supplier is short.'

By "no problems so far", I meant no harm has come to her from the rat. She hits hard and fast. She has never been agressive...she's a smart girl, and she knows when feeding time is. :-)

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Originally Posted by Dvas_Romeo

Hi BT, is the reason you switch to P/K or F/T due to feeding safety issues, convenience, or other reasons?

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Once you start getting into large and jumbos - It's a safety issue...I've never had an issue with any of my Borneo's feeding response - My adults scare the crap out of me every time I feed them...LOL..And like I said I feed them F/T...I feed all my BP's live but don't feed anything over a medium rat...To much risk with large and jumbos...Just what works for me...:D
BT

I also feed all my Ball pythons live, but my 2 bloods and my boa get f/t. Iplan to switch my carpet to f/t eventually, but now Im just trying to get her to eat rats.

I remembered Kara or someone else stating that there is no need for anything bigger than small or med rats to their bloods.

Garbage disposal = bloods and sumatrans.:gj:

Small and mediums wouldn't get it for my adults...But I only feed my adults about once every 10 days...But if your not careful they will get fat...Fat bloods = Slugs...
BT

I will tell you what I do with everything in my collection and what I sell.

I offer F/T and if they will not take it I feed live. I keep doing this untill a few things happen.

the animal takes F/T

The animal is sold and the new owner knows it is on live

The animal is in my personal collection adn I have tried along time and it will not switch. Once you deal with thousands of snakes a year you learn there just are some that do not switch.

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Originally Posted by Gary Orner

you learn there just are some that do not switch.

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Very true.

Although I had a harder time switching(which didnt work) to f/t for my bp than my sumatran.