Tried feeding a PK small rat...

[cubano07x]

...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!

[Nate]

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.

[cubano07x]

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.

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.

[jason221]

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

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

[Nate]

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

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

[jason221]

Just making sure.

[recycling goddess]

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.

[Nate]

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.

[recycling goddess]

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

[Nate]

will do thank you