Poll: How do you feed? Live, F/T, Stunned

i know this type of thread always comes up but i just wanted to get a percentage of how most poeple feed.. Some prefer live.. F/T.. or just stunned before an eating.. i personally use live feeding and have never had a problem with it.. some people use F/T mice or rats because they've had a problem with their BP's getting injured from a bite but i know this only happens in very rare cases

i have tried feeding my BP frozen but just wont take it but as soon as i drop a live one in there its quick rat never hurt the snake

I feed f/t
I have fed live to snakes that refused f/t because all in all I want the snake to be healthy. I have been able to successfully switch all 12 of my snakes over to f/t and they take them with no problem.
I think f/t takes a little more patience and creativity to get the picky eaters to take for you.

I have had a snake take a couple bites from rats (I've only fed 2 snakes live because they were not accepting f/t, and only one was ever injured), so this is also part of my reasoning for feeding f/t, that and its cheaper and I don't have to deal with breeding and taking care of tons of rats/mice, I have too many snakes to go buy live animals once a week for everyone.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...e/DSC06939.jpg

If I did have a rat/mouse colony then I would feed stunned, unless the snake would only take fully live rodents.

Thats just what I would do though, not saying its the right way!

I feed live, and in over 3000 live prey being fed off have never had an injury. But I also do not feed larger than small/small rats to even my biggest girls.

I am completely opposed to stunning prey, as I find it cruel and un-necessary. Ball pythons are perfectly designed to quickly dispatch their prey without any assistance from us. It's up to us to make sure that we aren't feeding larger than what they need, to minimize the risk.

As I said, I've never had an injury, not even a scratch in 3000 live prey feedings. Even if I'd had just ONE instance, that still makes the risk only .0003% risk of injury just based on my sampling.

I've always fed all of my herps with F/T....Never had the need or inclination to feed live (Thank God!).

I generally prefer live because it gives the snakes more exercise and stimulation. But for my house snakes, I'll probably switch over to F/T just because its cheaper and I'm getting so many (3 more on the way).

f/t all the way. All of my reasons for that are in another thread "How Frequently Do You Feed Your BPs?". There are pros and cons to each side of the coin. I find fresh f/t to be the safest course of action and just as nutritious. But, do have the live feeders talk to you as well and get their views. I would recommend f/t.

F/T for me. Not knocking anyone who feeds live though. You do what you have to for your snake to be honest!

I like F/T because it doesnt put the snake in danger of being hurt and I can store the mice in the freezer and not have to go to the store every day I need to feed the mice. I only have two snakes. If I had a big collection I would more than likely setup a mouse breeder rack or something.

Both my snakes love F/T. Both of them pretty much instantly strike and start to swallow the F/T's every time. Never had an eating problem with either of them.

I'm surprised these threads don't get locked.

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Originally Posted by firebellied

I've always fed all of my herps with F/T....Never had the need or inclination to feed live (Thank God!).

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You're not allowed to feed live anyway right?

I feed all my royals and boas F/T and I make sure the rats are r-e-a-l-l-y thawed out thoroughly- very smooshy- before I give them to the snakes. When I do the zombie dance, it must seem like they are live because the snakes slam them and constrict. Seems good to me....!

i like feeding live cuz it gives the animal some sense of still being wild. if you take away from them getting to somewhat "hunt" then they gotta get bored haha. none of my snakes have ever been injured (knock on wood)

I feed f/t just because I only have one snake and it's so much easier. I imagine that if I get to where I have a lot more snakes, I'll start breeding mice too, and will then probably feed live.

Mainly live (1 snake eat both live and F/T).

How do I feed? Pre-scent the room - open enclosure - drop feeder - close tub - moving on to next snake.

Note: None of my BP has ever sustained an injury.

Live all the way. Never had a problem.

I feed live prey my snakes are just picky they dont want dead so i take my tongs and take the rat by the scruff the skin behind the shoulders and hold the head about 6-4 inches away from the snake and they have no problem taking them down, just like adam says to do check out his feeding lessons on youtube.com

- Present the room 30-60min, open tubs , get rat on tongs feed snake that easy, only had one snake get bit and that was when i first got them and i was STUPID =!!!!:colbert:

We feed live and FT. I love both methods equally and have had no injuries from either method besides superficial scratches. (They show up on the albino, but too small to see on any other animals.)

I feed FT to my bloods. With their awesome feeding responses, (I have video of that girl trying to take our heads off) I feel it safer to feed her FT.

The balls get live weaners! Weaners dont have the teeth hardness or strength to inflict any punctures or damage to me or my snakes. I feel it is a great size to feed, and anything bigger is frozen for other animals.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

I am completely opposed to stunning prey, as I find it cruel and un-necessary. Ball pythons are perfectly designed to quickly dispatch their prey without any assistance from us. It's up to us to make sure that we aren't feeding larger than what they need, to minimize the risk.

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I'm glad to see that at 32 responses, only one person is abusing their rodents. There's no reason to cause unnecessary suffering.

looks like most people feed live

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Originally Posted by Skoalbasher

I'm surprised these threads don't get locked.

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Why?

I feed live I only have 1 or 2 that will take F/T. Thats the main reason, Im not sure how much better if any it is to feed live or F/T. I know some dont feed live because its easier. They dont have to breed the rats or mice. They are worried about the snake getting bit by the rat or mouse. If done right just as safe. The rats don't stay in the tub for more than 5 minutes

i feed live. if done correctly, complications are very few and far between. From doing a bit of research I have come to a theory that over 90% of all rodent bites are from people trying to feed live the same way one would feed F/T, by dangling a rodent by the tail right in the snakes face, and the rodent trying to grab onto ANYTHING latches onto the first thing it can get it's mouth on.... which ends up being the snake. Just drop the rodent in, and unless you have a mutant attack mouse/rat, or the snake struck and missed revealing itself as a threat, the mouse/rat should be gasping for air the moment the snake hits it... leaving almost no room for a problem.

as far as stunning goes... shame on y'all who do it... it's unnecessary and you only give ammo to those who already view feeding live as cruel.

Live :D

I feed my smaller one live adult mice and I will feed my new, big one killed rats.

looks like its pretty much evened out.. so i guess both ways are fine its just up 2 the keeper how they want to do it

live. although it makes me feel bad feeding the ones that look like little bears.

I feed live and FT. I've had one snake that sustained an injury from feeding on a live rat, but it was a minor injury that healed in very little time. I would love to switch completely over to FT however because it is safer, and cheaper.

I do prescent my room, and I use hemostat's to feed all my snakes. This way I can somewhat ensure where they are going to hit the prey. Since I feed live(mostly) I keep a close eye on them as they are killing the prey because I want to make doubly sure that the rat isn't gnawing on my snake. I've actually gone to the extent of killing the rat while the snake is coiled on it because I was afraid it was going to bite the snake.

-Matt

I do f/t except for my new ball who eats live. I hope to switch him to f/t in a few weeks though - it's cheaper and easier for me. But both methods are fine when done correctly.

Mine is on F/T. I tried live and he REFUSED! I thought hey i'll see if he wants f/t and sure enough he did.

And to answer the obvious question, he was fed live before i got him!

~Hollie~:snake:

I feed live rats to all my snakes cause...

that's just how I do.

:cool:

I give mine live because he only will eat live

i wonder who stuns them before feeding? cruel.. lol..:D

i feed F/T. its so much easier and cheaper. since mine are babies, i paid $20 for enough mice to feed them for 5mo, thats not bad if you ask me :) i throw their mice on top of the baby brooder to thaw out, it makes them nice and warm :) my boas have always been fed F/T though, not sure how they would react to a live mouse being thrown in there. me being a worry-wart, i dont think i could do live, too scared of those mean little rodents hurting my snakes, its just not worth it to me. who knows, a live rat might never hurt my snakes, or it might happen more than once to any one snake, you never know.....

another thing....i HATE how the rodents smell, yuck!! they constantly pee and poop, i do NOT wanna smell that all the time :( i know all pee and poop smells, but these guys seem like the potty times never end....LOL

i feed live only; never tried anything else. one of my snakes has been bitten once before, but it wasn't serious. Later that day i couldn't even tell where the bite was. i figure that, in the wild, BPs must have to deal with live prey and possibly getting bitten their whole lives. I'm not saying that I don't mind my snake getting bit, because I do. What i AM saying is that these guys were built to deal with live prey and getting bitten. Just my opinion. :)

There was no "pre-killed" option. ;)

I do not advocate stunning because I feel that it carries unnecessary dangers to the snake, not to mention the higher possibility of causing prolonged suffering to the prey.

Stunned prey is not always guaranteed to be unconscious. Some ‘stunned’ prey will come-to when the snake approaches or takes it. While a calm and unsuspecting morsel may have been taken by surprise, allowing the snake to strike and manage an optimal hold, a previously stunned animal comes-to on the defensive, if not complete offensive. This presents the snake with a challenge it was not built for. Snakes are predators that were made for fast and stealthy surprise attacks; they were not created for rough-and-tumble brawls.

When I fed live (since Salzedo refused F/T) I always made sure to keep the prey as calm as possible. I fed it, gave it water, and kept it in a secure container prior to introducing it to the feeding tub. The first (and last, I vow) time Salzedo was injured by a live mouse it was due to the element of surprise being stripped and the animal going on the offensive. I introduced the mouse to the feeding tub, but Salzedo was so excited the he struck while it was still being lowered. It fell and he struck again, but it jumped out of the way. When he finally got it, it was fighting like a son of a gun and in an awkward position. When the dust settled, he had sustained a bite to the eye. $320 in vet bills later, I have no problem pre-killing his food. He takes it from tongues without issue! (I will be going F/T but he is being stubborn. I consider the pre-killing a transitory step.)

That is my personal experience and reasoning. I understand that there are many people who continue to successfully feed live, and there are breeders who’ve fed thousands of live prey items to snakes without problems. That is well and good, yet I would hasten to mention that it just takes once.

I hope this helps provide another viewpoint for you to consider.

When I first started I fed frozen thawed, but it started to be a pain and if the snake didn't want it then it was in the trash.

Now I only feed live and IMO, the snakes get a work out.

this may sound kind of exagerated but I find that a snake desurves a moment of power, some of you may not agree with me or see it the same way as I do but hey! If I was a snake, I would feel great to be able to show that im the boss, anyways I prefer live :P ... besides, my snakes ignore frozen

I fed F/T for two weeks but my snakes feeding response wasnt taht great, so i switched to live and it is alot better now.

I feed F/T using the thawing and prescenting methods I learned on this forum. Alice has never refused a meal. He actually has an awesome feeding response. I don't even have to do the zombie dance anymore. He literally comes halfway out of his feeding tub, strikes and coils all in one smooth motion (just like in 8 Ball's Feeding Lessons). He has no idea his prey isn't alive.

I was driving to various pet stores in town to find the brand I like best until I discovered I only live 20 minutes from Big Cheese!

Anyway, this works for me and I really don't think Alice is missing anything.

BTW, off topic, but how do I get my "pet count" at the bottom of my post like y'all? :confused:

And....are there any other posters out there in the DFW/Arlington area? I don't know anyone who likes/keeps snakes. :(

Robbin :)

[ :hijackd: ]

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Originally Posted by RobbinRN

BTW, off topic, but how do I get my "pet count" at the bottom of my post like y'all? :confused:

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Hi Robbin,

If you look at the top of the page you will see a button marked "UserCP" if you click that it takes you to your user control panel and the topmost box on the left has "edit signature" - clicking on that will let you enter your pet list or even a picutre. :gj:

:whisper: We do have a few rules about them though;

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Originally Posted by Site terms and conditions

5. Signatures must be limited in scope. No more than the equivalent of 10 lines of standard text in a 1024x768 resolution. (A size 1 font will allow for more lines of text.) Banner graphics must be limited to a maximum of 450 pixels wide by 100 pixels high and 150 kilobytes in size. Members sporting extraordinarily flashy graphics in their signatures may be asked to remove/change them. Signatures including both graphics and text must still not exceed the equivalent of 10 lines of text.

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[/ :hijackd: ]


dr del

Thanks!

Sorry for hijacking :oops:

Hi,

You didn't :)

I, on the other hand, so totaly did. :twisted: :banana: :banana:



dr del

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Originally Posted by Skoalbasher

You're not allowed to feed live anyway right?

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Uh, What are you talking about?

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Originally Posted by Skoalbasher

I'm surprised these threads don't get locked.

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Once again.. why? No one's fighting here.

I disagree with stunning as well, and think that maybe the people who said that they stun meant that they PK.

I do a bit of everything depending on availability and convenience.
Frozen/PK - Female Corn & RTB
Live - Male Corn & Ball Python (all they will accept)
Live/Frozen - KSB (currently eating live just because it's readily available with my ASF litters and he refuses occasionally.. I haven't tried frozen yet, but he did eat frozen at the breeder so I'm not too worried).

I used to disagree with live until I found this site. Now I agree with all of the methods (except stunning and improperly pk animals). :]

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Originally Posted by blackcrystal22

I disagree with stunning as well, and think that maybe the people who said that they stun meant that they PK.

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I voted for stun, but after reading all the comments, i think PK would be a more appropriate response for me.

I don't try to "stun" the rat, i leave it in the brown paper bag that it comes in (they come double bagged), and i walk outside and slam it against a wall or pillar, stairs, anything....then i walk 15 feet or so and pick up the rat that usually breaks through the bags and goes flying.

when i hit them hard enough to break the bag, they're always completely gone....dead still. If i don't get a good hit and the bag doesn't break, there's been a couple times where their legs are still twitching slightly, but they're obviously not going to "come back" and put up a fight against anything.

Just wanted to clear that up!

Thanks

I feed live. I think F/T is good if you have a small colection..like one or two snakes to feed. You can keep some on hand in the freezer, rather than keeping them in a cage with bedding, food and water.
To me F/K would be better than F/T if you are worried about injury to your snake. You can always freeze it later if they don't eat.

I tell the ones I pick out to feed off, that they have won the lottery and they are going to "the island".;)

Live. My Ki's life is very boring otherwise. slither, bask, hiss at light, take a nap in his hidebox, play with me, and OH whats this a nice plump mouse?! * munch munch* and that is why i feed live

P/K by slamming the bag against the wall or whatever is handy seems exceptionally cruel!

New to the site but thought I'd throw my .02 in the mix.

Maybe I am just a little sick, but I feed live for the nature of it all. My daughter has a baby corn that feeds on F/T and when it is feeding time for her, I feel a little jipped. Plop the mushy thawed pinky into the cage, snake wanders over and starts gobbling the meal right up. Don't get me wrong, very strong appitite on the little girl, but that is not the way it was indended to be.

I like to see my BP as she notices the smell of the live prey, begins her mini-hunt for survival. Then when she gets close to the unsuspecting morsel, the moment when she is about to make her move, the still of it all. Then the strike, the squeeze, the efficiency that she dispatches the rodent. Nature is a beautiful thing. Again, maybe I am just a little sick. LOL.

Chuck.

Where's the All The Above Option? Cause I fit into that :)

:mouse2:Live:mouse2: