How do you feed live mice / rats?

[cchardwick]

Just wondering how you guys feed your snakes live rodents. Do you drop them in the cage / tub and let them run around or do you hold them by the tail above the snake and wait for the strike? I held a live mouse over one of my young ball pythons and he got too close and the mouse bit the snake on the nose. I also had one mouse that ran around in the tub, the snake tried to get him but missed, then the mouse got real smart and kept wanting to jump out of the tub, I think I'm going to have to try a fresh killed with that smart mouse. For the last round of mice I used live weanling mice, seemed a bit safer and a bit slower than an adult (a bit dumber). Just wondering what your technique is for live.

Almost none of my ball pythons will eat frozen thawed except my normal that I got for free LOL. For the last batch of six weanlings for my six ball pythons I dropped them in the tub and closed them up. Then I opened them up about a half hour later, only one was left, so I held him by the tail and waited for the strike. Worked that time but just wondering if my technique is right... Not sure I'd try it with an adult mouse that could potentially hurt the snake closed up without supervision. I really like feeding live because if they don't eat then I can put them back in the rodent cage for next time. With frozen thawed if they don't eat I end up throwing thawed mice in the trash, threw out six adult mice at a time a couple weeks back. Now if I do frozen thawed I only thaw out one or two mice at a time and move them to several snakes to minimize my losses. I have a big king snake that will eat my shoe if I put it in there, but she is only big enough for one or two adult mice max. And she is getting real fat since my ball pythons are so picky LOL.

[BeelzeBall.]

I don't now since i have found a source close by for frozen t, but before when i had to feed live i would just drop him in there, waited till mouse/rat was dead then i leave him alone. i would just made sure the animal wouldn't bite my bp.

luckly i have a mini pig and eats every meal so i haven't had to throw a feed out as of yet.

[Caspian]

Just drop them in. If you are holding them over the snake, both you and the snake are more likely to be bitten, because the mouse is frightened and stressed. They're much more calm with four feet on the floor. I put them in, close the tub enough that the mouse can't get back out, and just keep an eye on it. The worst bite I've encountered so far was just a very, very quick mouse... Miqula struck, and the mouse saw her coming. By the time the strike hit, she got it by the tail instead of the head as it was darting away - and very determinedly coiled it anyway! She got her mouse, but she got a few bites on her belly scaled in the process. Clean, and they healed fast.

[Slim]

When I feed live, I drop the rat in the tub then let the weapon of rat destruction do what it does best.

[PythonBabes]

I know this seems cruel or whatever, but somebody I knew breeds their own feeder rats. For some reason these rats were all very aggressive; one of her ball pythons were killed by one.

So before she fed the rats to the snakes, she would get a really big knife and sort of bash the teeth out of the rodent.

I wouldn't recommend this for anyone else though lol

[bks2100]

I know this seems cruel or whatever, but somebody I knew breeds their own feeder rats. For some reason these rats were all very aggressive; one of her ball pythons were killed by one.

So before she fed the rats to the snakes, she would get a really big knife and sort of bash the teeth out of the rodent.

I wouldn't recommend this for anyone else though lol

It doesn't seem cruel, it IS cruel. That's a living breathing being that is having it's teeth smashed out before being strangled to death.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

First if you buy your rodent instead of producing them you want to feed and re-hydrate them

Second leave the rodent in the room 30 min to an hour prior to feeding, this is called pre-scenting and will entice your snake(s) to eat

Third feed the appropriate size rodent by dropping it in the enclosure.

Fourth removed if un-eaten within 10 to 15 minutes.


In many cases the feeder will bare have the time to touch the enclosure's floor and for those that do they will typically go in a corner after exploring a little, whee they will fall asleep.

I know this seems cruel or whatever, but somebody I knew breeds their own feeder rats. For some reason these rats were all very aggressive; one of her ball pythons were killed by one.

So before she fed the rats to the snakes, she would get a really big knife and sort of bash the teeth out of the rodent.

That's someone that has no business feeding live and obviously is a failure at breeding feeders as well.

Feeders should be selectively bred and well taken care off, proper diet and hydration that is key in breeding feeders not only for snakes but for the breeder as well.

Additionally what you describe is plain and simple animal cruelty which is punishable by law.

[Fraido]

I know this seems cruel or whatever, but somebody I knew breeds their own feeder rats. For some reason these rats were all very aggressive; one of her ball pythons were killed by one.

So before she fed the rats to the snakes, she would get a really big knife and sort of bash the teeth out of the rodent.

I wouldn't recommend this for anyone else though lol

Whoever she is needs to have her own teeth mashed in.

In MY opinion. How cruel and unnecessary.
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[BeelzeBall.]

wouldn't killing the rat with c02 be much better than bashing the rats teeth in before feed? I mean damn, bashing the rats teeth? damn...

[JoshSloane]

I know this seems cruel or whatever, but somebody I knew breeds their own feeder rats. For some reason these rats were all very aggressive; one of her ball pythons were killed by one.

So before she fed the rats to the snakes, she would get a really big knife and sort of bash the teeth out of the rodent.

I wouldn't recommend this for anyone else though lol

This practice is absolutely NOT condoned at all by the reptile community. It is a highly cruel act and should not be practiced or tolerated. If we want to grow as a reptile community, and become accepted and respected by mainstream culture, this kind of behavior needs to stop. Feeding live is fine. But mutilating the feeder animal beforehand is not ok.