Never Felt This Way Until Now..thoughts?

[zackw419]

Just recently, I've been starting to feel wrong for feeding live. As my snakes get older the prey gets bigger and feeding rats isn't the same feeling as feeding mice. I like rats alot and I enjoy keeping them before they are fed off (sounds sick). So when I do feed them off it just hasn't felt right lately. Especially when they scream..I've thought about how it must feel to be caught off guard and constricted to death. I can't even watch it happen, just happens to slow.

Anyway, im thinking about switching all my snakes to f/t. In the wild atleast the prey has somewhat of a chance to put up a fight..idk im just kind of thinking out loud here. Just makes me feel sad for some reason...


What do you guys think?

[h00blah]

a popular response i see when people talk about feeding live or f/t is:
use what works for u =]

i hav 2 BPs that feed on f/t, 1 that takes both, and 1 that only takes live

i LOVE mice (not a big fan of rats..) and i enjoy the short amount of time i have with them, but when they poop on me, i just feed em off.

i prefer feeding f/t, not bc im sentimental towards the mice (even tho i am), but bc its always available for me.. f/t WORKS for me, but since i have to buy live for my stubborn one, i buy live. and the closest place is like 20 mins away

GL switching over to f/t =]

[TheBigBadWolf]

I feel the same way when I see people feeding live chicks to their snakes, seeing as I kept chickens and I currently keep a pigeon. Especially when they are still chirping while the snake is swallowing it.

Steph

[ballpythonluvr]

I am going to be trying to feed my BP a small f/t today for the first time. I understand what you are saying about hating the sound of the rat making noise when the snake stirkes and coils around it. I do not enjoy this either. I really hope your snake converts to f/t for you. I will feed my snake live rats though if for some reason he is just to stubborn to accept f/t.

[monk90222]

I fed live for many years. I recently switched to f/t for convience only.
You have to understand that rats/mice are what snakes eat. As long as you give them the respect they deserve for giving the ultimate sacrifice for the well being of your snake, all is ok. Treat them well before hand.

[DM1975]

I feed mainly frozen thawed but my babies get live rat fuzzies and rat pups. I used to feed mainly live but after having a couple rats scratch up and bite a few of my snakes, anything larger than a rat pup is fed f/t. I have not had a problem switching any of my snakes over yet. I give them an extra feeding cycle so they are hungry and they usually take it without a problem.

I try not to feed mice to my snakes, but sometimes I have to substitute a hopper or two for rat pups. The rats seem to help the snakes grow faster and for a while I had some snakes that were on hoppers and some on rat pups. The ones feeding the rat pups seemed to have a better muscle mass than the ones on mice.

I really have no problem with the snakes killing the rats, I just want my snakes to be safer. It may be natural for them to feed on live, but it is nothing I want to chance any more.

[JLC]

If you talk to 20 different people about a subject like this, you'll get 20 different answers. Everyone feels differently about rodents...everyone has a different perspective on what the word "cruel" means...everyone has different reasons for why they use the feeding method they do....and many other variables as well.

If you HAVE to feed live for some reason, then you'll have to figure out how to emotionally distance yourself from the prey item. And that's different for different folks as well.

If you can switch to f/t...then go for it! I did and I hope I don't ever have to go back to live feeding. I don't have a problem with anyone else feeding live...but I much prefer f/t. There's nothing wrong with switching to f/t for whatever reason....be it financial or emotional.

[Raptor]

I feed what the snake will eat. If the snake will only eat live, then I'll feed live, but I'll stand there until it kills the prey item and is starting to swollow it down. I also always check over my snake for injuries. I would of course, love to get my girl onto p/k in the future, but since mice are kind of on the pricey side, I've decided to wait until I have a good population so I can risk her being picky. Seeing how excited she gets at feeding time though, tells me I won't have an issue, but I'm not realy to have a dead, uneaten $1.25 mouse ;D

I have no issue with feeding live and watching them die. Admittedly, the first time I watched my girl constict her mouse, I fell a twinge of guilt. Still, I keep in mind that these mice are bred solely for one reason: food for my snake. Keeping that in mind, it's no different than walking out into my goat herd and pointing out goats that will go in the freezer, or pointing out goats to take to auction knowing they might end up in the freezer.

More than likely, I'll have a harder time feeding my breeders (they have names) than the nameless mice that reside in the 'kill tank'.

[Allysen]

I definitely prefer to feed f/t, but if the snake refuses, I'd rather feed live than have the snake starve, obviously.

But that doesn't mean that I don't keep trying every now and again! I'm down to somewhere between 2 and 4 ball pythons that seem to really need live, and that's hassle enough for me. I can't imagine having to get live food for my whole gang, and we definitely aren't set up to be breeding our own food!

Rats are just a bit more charming than mice for most people. I never understood it until I got my little supposed-to-be-food-but-was-too-cute eyeless rat, Blind Mag. Now I feel just a little bit worse every time I have to go get a live rat for Hazel, Clarice, Princess Lady or Wadjet. We also have four new additions that I'm not sure about, feeding wise. We'll see if the number jumps.

I've had a few snakes get badly damaged by live rats right in front of me! I had tongs and gloves and everything, all prepared just in case, but they still got scratched and bitten, and generally beaten up. They won in the end, and the wounds healed quickly, but nobody wants to see their pet get hurt and not be able to do anything about it. The two in particular who got injured, though, had no problem switching over to frozen/thawed the next time, though.

It just boils down to your own feelings on the subject, and what your snakes will and will not accept. And remember, sometimes it takes a few tries, and tinkering with your technique to talk them into it. Other times, they snap it up right off the bat. Definitely warm the prey up, though, I totally rock my hairdryer on feeding days. I have one snake that I've been trying to get onto f/t for almost two years now. The day she finally takes it, I'm busting out the champagne and having a freaking party.

[h00blah]

in my case, as far as hassle goes,
i prefer to just put a live mouse in the tub and watch to make sure its killed, and that my snake begins to swallow it.

with f/t, u hafta wait for warm water, then put a mouse in a baggie, let it sit for 10 mins or w/e, take it out, i dry mine with a hairdryer so they're not soaking, then offer, and wait til snake swallows..

just takes longer. although with responsible and knowledgable live feeding, even a .00000000000000000000001% risk of a scratch or bite, i dont like. it may not do any harm at all, but i like my snakes scales the way they are ^-^. i hate taking the chance