feeding live to corns

[recycling goddess]

okay, so i choose to feed live. i prefer to have my snakes eat like they would in nature... i figure there's no one doing f/t in the wild after all.

unfortunately there are so many people who feel this is wrong... "the snake could get injured" - i know that with balls... the only injury a snake is going to get is because it's not being fed/watched/cared for correctly (remove the mouse if not eaten etc)

so is it really bad for me to feed live to my corns?

[cassandra]

I think the same applies (live is fine as long as the snake and rodent are monitored) to all snakes...I plan on feeding live to my corn (if and when I ever get one).

[SatanicIntention]

I feed live to my Rosy, my two corns and my ratsnake. It is very interesting to watch the Ratsnake have at a mouse(he's on f/t weaned rats because that is what I had on hand), because he doesn't coil around it, he just bites and lays on it! Very neat! The Rosy and the Corns just coil and constrict for about 5 minutes straight(well Rowan constricts the poor thing for about 10 minutes JUST TO BE SURE it's dead....dork).

[frankykeno]

We feed either live or f/t to Emi the milksnake. It is odd to watch her eat as she does not coil and constrict. Like Becky said, she will sort of pounce on the prey and lay on it or if it's f/t she'll just check it out carefully then snarf it down. I don't know if it's normal for these snakes but she tends to eat butt first a lot of time. I've heard they will sometimes "slam" prey, something about grabbing it and smacking it against the ground though I've never seen Emi do this behaviour.

[JLC]

I feed my gopher snake live as well...and have never seen him eat because if he even thinks someone is watching him, he won't go anywhere near the mouse. I drop the mousie in and then cover the tank with a big towel so he knows no one is watching. LOL I usually feed him two fuzzies instead of a single, older mouse...since I can't watch to make sure nothing goes wrong.

[recycling goddess]

my corns weren't doing very well (coiling and killing) their pinkies but now that i have them on hoppers, they are constricting really well. it's like they know instinctively that this size mouse needs to be killed so they don't get harmed.

thanks for everyone's input... i really appreciate it!

[Colin Vestrand]

i feed f/t to my hoggy because it's kind of sad to watch him kill mice... the couple times i gave him live, he'd just grip it real hard with those rear fangs and bash it against the glass for a few minutes. the pythons on the other hand have NO problem

[recycling goddess]

ew ya that would be sad to watch

[frankykeno]

my corns weren't doing very well (coiling and killing) their pinkies but now that i have them on hoppers, they are constricting really well. it's like they know instinctively that this size mouse needs to be killed so they don't get harmed.

thanks for everyone's input... i really appreciate it!

Funny but I also notice a big difference in how Emi dealt with her pinkie mice compared to the fuzzy mice she's now on. She used to be a very slow eater...sometimes up to 15 minutes of nosing about before finally eating her pinkie. First time we put a fuzzy mouse in there (f/t) she nearly freaked LOL. It was hilarious to watch her rear up and almost look totally surprised at this new and fascinating prey item. She literally threw herself on top of the fuzzy mouse and was just vibrating with what I can only guess was excitement (I know it wasn't but I've no clue what to call that in a snake LOL). She's only been on fuzzies for about 3 feeds now but she's definitely more interested in them than she ever was in the pinks.

[recycling goddess]

vibrating with what I can only guess was excitement (I know it wasn't but I've no clue what to call that in a snake LOL)

no comment... hahahahahahahaha