P/K questions.

[RWillinnable]

Well I tried the F/T today and it was a big strike out.

I started the day by taking Shahrazad on his frst car ride. Well not his first, since I did drive him home from the EBV, but you know what I mean. I took him down to my local pet store because the reptile lady there who has been kind of my mentor in snake keeping thus far wanted to meet him. He did great in the car. Just looked around and sniffed the air. In the pet store he immediately warmed up to my friend and she made me feel really good by saying that he looks to be in great shape and is as tame as a snake can be.

She noticed how much I love my little guy and she again asked me if I would consider F/T and I told her that my main concern is him eating. And she told me of some horror stories of rodent bites she has seen and I told her that we would try F/T. I did everything the way she said to and I put in the mouse and Shahrazad showed no interest whatsover. He did crawl over it and then curled up next to it, but no feeding interest.

I called my snake lady friend back and gave her an update, she suggested that I use P/K. Unfortunately, The People's Republic of San Francisco has ordained that no animal may enter a pet store alive and then be killed in the pet store. So that means that they can not kill the rodent for me, but I am going to have learn to kill a rodent. She described it to me and it didn't sound to bad with the pulling the tail and separating the spinal column from the brain, but still, I have never killed anything other than an insect. I work around food and have cleaned everything from swordfish (disgusting fish full of worms) to full tenderloins, but I have never killed anything. I will be able to do it, but I am not looking forward to it.

Does anyone do their own killing here? Some advice and moral support would be nice.

Rachel

[ddbjdealer]

The most humane way.. but maybe not the most sense for only one or two mice at a time, is a CO2 chamber. There are some DIY CO2 chambers on the web that use a wide mouth bottle, a sealable lid, and an air hose system to direct the CO2 into the bottle. It basically just puts them to sleep and they die from lack of O2 in a matter of minutes.

The easiest way, although not at all humane, is to "wack" 'em on the edge of a table/block/counter top, etc.. by swinging them from the tail. Not at all the easiest thing for the faint of heart/squeemish.. and kinda cruel to the mouse, but I've heard of all kinds of people doing it this way. There are also those that just smack 'em up against something while in a paper bag. That way you don't have to watch it at least... but also seems rather in-humane.

Hope you have some luck in feeding P/K, and ultimately F/T. If not, feed what the snake will eat. If it'll eat live, then supervised feedings should be just fine.

Hope this helps,

[frankykeno]

Rachel, with our 5 female balls and the 1 male boa we've fed everything from live to f/t to p/k, depending on what each particular snake will readily and consistently eat. It is hard to get used to p/k but if you just make up your mind to do it then get it over with quickly for the good of the prey item (so it never knows what hit it), you'll manage I think.

However, live feeding can be quite safe and acceptable. Many people feed live and have never had a "horror story" and are feeding snakes that are worth thousands of dollars in this manner.

Do what is best for your snake, what you feel confident in doing and what in the end produces the result you are going for....a happy, well fed snake that will take it's prey in whatever form on a consistent basis with a good feeding response. I feel that's all any of us can do really and should not have to justify the feeding manner we use if we do it correctly.

Best of luck with your lovely snake.


~~Jo~~

[RWillinnable]

Thanks Ken and Jo. If my little man doesn't do the P/K then I will just feed him mice for the rest of his life most likely. I'll feed him a couple at a time when he gets bigger, but I just don't trust rats anymore.

Feeding. Definately not my favorite part of owning a snake.

Rachel