snake got bit

[BPelizabeth]

OMG I am so so so tired of ppl that preach F/T.....there are pros and cons to live and F/T. There are about 832 ( Im exaggerating of course) threads on here and all very passionate....but the quite frankly I have never seen the ones that feed live push it on ppl like the some of the ppl that feed F/T. Good grief it is a personal flippin choice.

yes with live you take a risk of your snake getting bit. However you can minimalize this with pre-killing right before. Or heavily stunning it...(which some ppl think is more dangerous) or supervising and making sure the prey is dead before you walk away.

however there have been deaths with F/T as well....for instance....the nails on F/T stay much harder than those of live. Also I have never done the research but it could...(I say could) loose nutrients being due to the freezing and how long has it been frozen...do you REALLY know.
On the other hand...freezing could kill any bacteria....

I mean I could go on and on with things like this. But again the bottom line is personal choice.

I choose live...I personally like going to the reptile store for feeders every week...it is a fun trip for me. I also do not like to thaw out the mice...for me it is kind of nasty. Just my thing....plus I only have 5 but that will triple by the end of the year I am sure. I cannot even imagine having to thaw that many out. Also I believe that it is much more natural for my snakes and I believe they like it better....again a personal thing with me.

This whole OMG never never feed live look at the horrific pictures....drives me totally bananas and quite frankly starts to really annoy me to a point where it clearly makes me a little testy.



Now to the OP.....if there was no blood your snake is probably fine. Just keep up with the cleaning. I personally use bactine as I heard from a friend that is very close to one of the leading reptile vets out here in AZ that it is better than neosporin. Again.....personal choice. That is one of the great things about America....we have the ability (in most cases) to make our own choices.

[David802]

Am I the only one thats grossed out by the idea of frozen mice sitting in a bag next to my ground beef for dinner that night? Nobody seems to make that argument. I have no problems handling feeding or working with mice, but that doesnt mean I like the idea of rubbing a frozen one against MY dinner... Just thought I'd throw that in there, cause nobody seems to mention or even care about it.

Maybe I'm just weird... wouldn't be the first time.

[Kaorte]

Am I the only one thats grossed out by the idea of frozen mice sitting in a bag next to my ground beef for dinner that night? Nobody seems to make that argument. I have no problems handling feeding or working with mice, but that doesnt mean I like the idea of rubbing a frozen one against MY dinner... Just thought I'd throw that in there, cause nobody seems to mention or even care about it.

Maybe I'm just weird... wouldn't be the first time.

Its not like we put the rats in the same container as the meat we use for food.

I double bag mine and put it on a side shelf in the freezer.


There is no right or wrong answer to the f/t vs. live conversation. One is not better then the other. If your snake only eats live, feed it live, if your snake only eats f/t, feed it f/t. If your snake will eat anything, then it is your choice.

Getting the snake to eat is first priority, your feelings and wants come after.

I don't like feeding live. I don't like taking care of animals that are going to be food, especially if I get a refusal (which I rarely do with live). I prefer f/t because it is easier for me and all my snakes will eat f/t with no problems. If I had a snake that would only eat live, I would get it live food.

[ballpythonluvr]

BPElizabeth is right! These threads get so old with the whole argument about f/t vs. live feeding. I feed live mice to my snakes because that is all they will accept at this point. It is my responsibility as their keeper to supervise the feedings to ensure their safety. My snakes used to eat f/t but they decided that they no longer wanted this type of prey. In the end feed whatever works for your snakes and yourself.

[djansen]

Wow, strong opinions here.

Now if I could get all my snakes to eat FT I would

What are the pros of feeding live?

Cons for me are:
-cost, FT in bulk is less expensive.
-have to drive and get rodents (large amounts for some people).
-Rodents are messy and alot of live rodents in transport containers is gross, they cannibalize eachother at times, they smell.
-they poop and pee in the cages, chew up paper, splash in water bowls, if not eaten right away.
-what to do if your snakes dont eat them? now I have to either make a place for them and feed them or kill them. if you have lots of snakes this may not be a problem.
-and now the small chance of a rodent bite that is not even an issue with FT.

I personally dont see any advantage to live, I dont think its wrong and if you want to thats great but I have yet to see any advantage here.

[BuckeyeBalls]

Well most of the time people who have large amounts of snakes will feed live. Generally because they breed their own. Which is cheaper then buying mice

And people with smaller amount of snakes generally buy f.t

Not saying this is exact for everyone just generally you dont see breeders with 600 snakes have 600 ft mice ready each week

I used to feed live for our guy but the trips to pet stores for 1 mouse + cost was way more then a bag of 50 frozen ones.

[rockhardchick666]

Am I the only one thats grossed out by the idea of frozen mice sitting in a bag next to my ground beef for dinner that night? Nobody seems to make that argument. I have no problems handling feeding or working with mice, but that doesnt mean I like the idea of rubbing a frozen one against MY dinner... Just thought I'd throw that in there, cause nobody seems to mention or even care about it.

Maybe I'm just weird... wouldn't be the first time.

Well, meat can keep in the freezer, and we do cook it. Germs cant follow it that well bud.

[Chocolate Muffin's]

It is Easter...people...geeze

[Kaorte]

It is Easter...people...geeze

....so?

[Raptor]

Wow, strong opinions here.

Now if I could get all my snakes to eat FT I would

What are the pros of feeding live?

Cons for me are:
-cost, FT in bulk is less expensive.
-have to drive and get rodents (large amounts for some people).
-Rodents are messy and alot of live rodents in transport containers is gross, they cannibalize eachother at times, they smell.
-they poop and pee in the cages, chew up paper, splash in water bowls, if not eaten right away.
-what to do if your snakes dont eat them? now I have to either make a place for them and feed them or kill them. if you have lots of snakes this may not be a problem.
-and now the small chance of a rodent bite that is not even an issue with FT.

I personally dont see any advantage to live, I dont think its wrong and if you want to thats great but I have yet to see any advantage here.

I breed my own, much cheaper than driving into town to spend a butt load on live/frozen mice. I know how mine have been raised and know what quality of nutrition they have in them. My mice have no smell and don't splash in water bowls (yay for water bottles).

To the OP, do what fits your situation. A mouse once sit and gnawed on my snake while she was constricting it. There was no injury besides some scraped up scales. I do recommend Repti-wound healing aid, though. It helps with healing, prevents infection, etc. Comes in a little one ounce container with yellow liquid. Stuff is really oily, but it seems to help.