Honest opinions on feeding.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

It's fine , I'm not angry or anything .. I understand that live feeding is accepted as the norm in the USA .. We're just programmed differently over here .

Maybe it's time for reprogramming, questioning what you are being told through demonizing and try for yourself to make an INFORMED opinion.

By the way I am French and the view in France about live feeding is the same as the one in the UK, the difference is I questioned it which is part of the learning process in general.

[MarkS]

I am interested in hearing your opinions on this subject when it comes to feeding the larger snakes. Surely one would think the risk would go up quite a bit when the prey in question is an adult bunny? I would think it would make things quite a bit riskier for the keeper too.

I only keep a couple of burms that I've had for about 10 years so haven't gone through as many feeders as I have with the balls. I've fed rats both live and frozen/thawed. It didn't seem to make any difference, when feeding rats they hit their food so fast and hard that the rat didn't even have a chance to blink. I generally just feed frozen/thawed because it's easier for me. I've tried rabbits but the burms didn't even recognize them as food. I've never tried a live rabbit but can't see that they'd do anything but ignore it. The last time I tried feeding a rabbit to one of my burms I actually used a needle strung with dental floss to sew a dead rat onto the head of a dead rabbit (yup, it was pretty gross). The burm grabbed the rat and started swallowing it, when the rabbit got up to the burms mouth it stopped swallowing and sat there for like about 5 minutes. Then the burm put a coil around the rabbit and started pulling hard. I could hear the pop as the dental floss pulled through the head of the rabbit. Then the burm finished swallowing the rat and just left the rabbit laying there. It was the weirdest thing I think I've ever seen a snake do. Since then I just feed 2-3 jumbo rats a piece and don't even bother with rabbits.

[tbowman]

I only keep a couple of burms that I've had for about 10 years so haven't gone through as many feeders as I have with the balls. I've fed rats both live and frozen/thawed. It didn't seem to make any difference, when feeding rats they hit their food so fast and hard that the rat didn't even have a chance to blink. I generally just feed frozen/thawed because it's easier for me. I've tried rabbits but the burms didn't even recognize them as food. I've never tried a live rabbit but can't see that they'd do anything but ignore it. The last time I tried feeding a rabbit to one of my burms I actually used a needle strung with dental floss to sew a dead rat onto the head of a dead rabbit (yup, it was pretty gross). The burm grabbed the rat and started swallowing it, when the rabbit got up to the burms mouth it stopped swallowing and sat there for like about 5 minutes. Then the burm put a coil around the rabbit and started pulling hard. I could hear the pop as the dental floss pulled through the head of the rabbit. Then the burm finished swallowing the rat and just left the rabbit laying there. It was the weirdest thing I think I've ever seen a snake do. Since then I just feed 2-3 jumbo rats a piece and don't even bother with rabbits.

Yeah that had to be gross. Strange mine took to F/T rabbits right away.

[200xth]

sew a dead rat onto the head of a dead rabbit

Please tell me you have a picture of that.

[MarkS]

Please tell me you have a picture of that.

LOL, ahhh no...

[Alexiel03]

I believe that part of Zinc's deal whether he will admit it or not is that he wants to be detached from the kill, the death at hand.

When you feed F/T, your mind tells you that you are feeding "food". It's not live, so it's not bad, as if it is not even an animal. But SOMEONE had to kill that rat!

I don't enjoy feeding live. My snake is 12 yrs old. Thus set in her ways. She refuses F/K. She is not going to change.

I hate observing the kill. The look on the rats face. It WAS so cute crawling around just seconds ago.

im the same way when i had to feed my snakes live food, i hated doing it but it had to be done with my picky eaters, i always had my bf do it though because he didnt feel as bad as i did lol he watched and made sure my snakes werent harmed either. i like f/t better because i didnt have to kill the rat myself so i dont feel as bad.