It seemed so wrong, but felt so right...

[flynn]

...I had to crush the rats’ feet...I had to take my hemostats and crush his face to get him to calm down.

Maybe its just me. I hope not. But thats pretty horrific. How did that feel for you? Because if it were me I would be pretty upset at myself for doing something like this. The mouse didnt calm down. He had his face crushed.

Even tho they are feeders they still deserve your respect; they are keeping your snake alive after all.

Maybe I'm just a big softy.

edit: I just wanted to add that in the past when I have had to feed live I just use a small peice of cardboard from the back of a note pad to seperate any kicking feet / teeth from the snake. Just have to hold it there for 30 seconds or so lol

[SGExotics]

Maybe its just me. I hope not. But thats pretty horrific. How did that feel for you? Because if it were me I would be pretty upset at myself for doing something like this. The mouse didnt calm down. He had his face crushed.

Even tho they are feeders they still deserve your respect; they are keeping your snake alive after all.

Maybe I'm just a big softy.

Yea i think thats what it is...

[flynn]

Yea i think thats what it is...

Maybe Ill have to start crushing some faces to toughen up

[SGExotics]

Maybe Ill have to start crushing some faces to toughen up

It worked for me!! LOL

[Bruceweb]

Is there a reason to feed live if your snakes take defrost..crushing heads & feet seem cruel & unnecessary..Other than just to satisfy your own personal pleasure..what is the point! what makes it worse you are on here boasting & gloating on your behaviour..pathetic if you ask me..their is a world of difference in feeding live prey naturally..cruelty is a different matter

[Chocolate Muffin's]

I guess I am curious, why was it so important to you to make this switch? Most people make the switch the opposite way...

I personally don't like a few things about F/T food, but these are kinda my own personal hang ups:

1.) I hate having to thaw the food to feed them. If it is not warm enough they don't take it and I don’t like the smell, the mess and the inability to reuse frozen, un eaten foods.

2.) I also don't like having to keep frozen rodents in my freezer, and resent having to purchase a separate freezer just for rodents.

3.) I don’t like having to try and simulate a live animal’s movement in order to stimulate a feeding response. I feel like I somehow cheating them by going through great lengths to create a natural world for them.

4.) My preference would be to purchase F/K food, but it’s not an option.

5.) It took me a long time to come around to the idea of live food because I didn’t want to ‘kill’ anything. Today I discovered that I don’t have to, the snakes do all of the killing, and my role is to protect them in the process.

6.) I don’t have any blood soaked baggies to toss and I feel like my animals are happier. It went so fast today, If I’d had blinked I would have missed it. Much faster than the whole thaw, heat, dangle routine….

I feel so free now, its hard to explain.

[aaramire]

Well it seems to me that alot of the problems you had with f/t are because you had crappy quality rats. I NEVER have smelly or messy f/t prey, and I never have bloody anything to throw away. Try getting some decent rats and you may find it makes a huge difference. Also, I am not sure why you had to buy a seperate freezer if you are only feeding two snakes... I feed two retics and a small boa and I keep the rats in one small shelf on my freezer.... no more space is needed. Personally I think feeding live is gross, the rats smell and poo and pee everywhere on the snake, and its a pain to lug them around when I can just go to the freezer and get some rats out and thaw em and be done. Not to mention the price, I don't know where you buy your rats but I have paid upwards of 7 dollars for ONE live rat.... sometimes as much as 10 or 15 dollars. Now, I pay 20 dollars for a bag of 20 small f/t rats.... sounds like a good deal to me... Maybe I am missing something here?

[Chocolate Muffin's]

Maybe its just me. I hope not. But thats pretty horrific. How did that feel for you? Because if it were me I would be pretty upset at myself for doing something like this. The mouse didnt calm down. He had his face crushed.

Even tho they are feeders they still deserve your respect; they are keeping your snake alive after all.

Maybe I'm just a big softy.

edit: I just wanted to add that in the past when I have had to feed live I just use a small peice of cardboard from the back of a note pad to seperate any kicking feet / teeth from the snake. Just have to hold it there for 30 seconds or so lol

Hi Flynn,
I have never worked with live feeders before so I was in a sense of panic when it appeared that my snakes were going to be injured. I think I may have described it a bit more dramatically than it was, but my full intention was to protect my snake. I think that learning ways to stop them from harming my animals without harming them is a good thing and I would love to hear about more ways to do this. As I said, it was my first time and I am imperfect in my knowledge of these matters. I think all animals deserve our respect, but my priority at that moment was protecting the animals that I love so dearly. The rodent was already suppressed by the snake at that time, so it’s likely that if I had done nothing, it would have been consumed without incident. – I think being compassionate is a very good thing.

[Bruceweb]

I personally don't like a few things about F/T food, but these are kinda my own personal hang ups:

1.) I hate having to thaw the food to feed them. If it is not warm enough they don't take it and I don’t like the smell, the mess and the inability to reuse frozen, un eaten foods.

2.) I also don't like having to keep frozen rodents in my freezer, and resent having to purchase a separate freezer just for rodents.

3.) I don’t like having to try and simulate a live animal’s movement in order to stimulate a feeding response. I feel like I somehow cheating them by going through great lengths to create a natural world for them.

4.) My preference would be to purchase F/K food, but it’s not an option.

5.) It took me a long time to come around to the idea of live food because I didn’t want to ‘kill’ anything. Today I discovered that I don’t have to, the snakes do all of the killing, and my role is to protect them in the process.

6.) I don’t have any blood soaked baggies to toss and I feel like my animals are happier. It went so fast today, If I’d had blinked I would have missed it. Much faster than the whole thaw, heat, dangle routine….

I feel so free now, its hard to explain.

Its not hard to explain, all your reasons are weak & self centred..how can you say you dont want to kill anything, the snakes do it!..You just feel that you need to intervene crushing heads & feet..if you want to go down the Natural route..leave them be to do what comes naturally, your interference is not required..A few minor scratches or nips will do no harm

[Chocolate Muffin's]

Is there a reason to feed live if your snakes take defrost..crushing heads & feet seem cruel & unnecessary..Other than just to satisfy your own personal pleasure..what is the point! what makes it worse you are on here boasting & gloating on your behaviour..pathetic if you ask me..their is a world of difference in feeding live prey naturally..cruelty is a different matter

I don't believe that I was cruel, and it’s unfortunate that you have interpreted my description as ‘boasting.’ I’m not certain where you came to the understanding that I sought pleasure in harming these rodents and I am concerned that you are upset about something other than the subject at hand. For the record, I did not gain any pleasure out of subduing these rodents and I won’t be made to believe that I should feel guilty for my actions in regards to them - Rest assured, I don’t. I am open to learning better ways to restrain a rodent from harming my animals, but my snakes will always be my first priority. I believe in respect for all animals and life in general, but if another human being posed a threat to my family, I would not feel a bit guilty in my resolve of those matters either. I hope you can reflect on your statements and we can agree to disagree.

Please respect me the same as I am trying to respect you.