:shock: Oh boy....a friend of mine in Alabama lost her big female Boa Constrictor to infected RAT bites !!! her female BCI was taking down a large adult rat and sustained several bites to her neck and head area and the bites became infected :cry: This has REALLY woken me up to the hazards of feeding live rodents to our precious snakes. I must admit that I kind of took it lightly there for awhile but hearing about the passing of this beautiful snake really shook me up. I can see that a rodent can really deliver some dreadful bites in the process of it being constricted !!!

I am really going to be making a 100% effort from here on out to get ALL three of my Ball Pythons ( Trinity, Cypher and Apok ) feeding on thawed pre-killed from here on out.They are going to HAVE to adjust to the change as I could not bear to lose one of my snakes to something that I can see is totally preventable. I HAVE managed to get Apok to take pre-killed mice so he is on his way to becoming a good feeder - he is a hungy guy most of the time so that helps...Trinity and Cypher are a little more picky and choosy but I am going to let them get a bit hungry ( Cypher is fasting anyhow....) and then thaw out and warm up to body temp a nice small rat...perhaps I will try dipping it in chicken broth as well...I have heard that helps....

Well, just a story I thought I would share with you all to scare the daylights out of you if you are feeding live...it sure scared me to the bone to hear my friends description of the bites, and how her snake succumbed even WITH vet treatment...sheesh....

EyeLashViper