Does anybody else have this dilemma?

[sarahlovesmiike]

I've finally figured out my male rescue. The thing is that he wants his food live. My problem isn't that I don't want to feed live, it's how nervous I feel while supervising his feedings. I know the rats are well fed because I breed them myself but jeez I just feel like one of those little buggers is bound to hurt my baby. I don't get this feeling with my female because she has an amazing feeding response. She takes a rat within the first few seconds. Zeus on the other hand will only take it if he's inside his hide before I put it in, he then goes and hides his head in his water dish and strikes from above after 30 minutes or so.


Boy it just goes to show that you really need to do research before buying a pet. My boyfriend bought them from some weirdo out in the woods who neglected them pretty badly. He tends to buy pets and then get bored of them. I'm the total opposite. After loads and loads of research I finally got all the husbandry correct, but then after joining this forum I realized how stressful BPs are. I wouldn't give them up for the world, but JEEZ Zeus makes me crazy.

[hoax]

Don't stress about feeding live. It is what is best for your snake. I feed live only, every now and then the rats will get their mouth on them but not really be able to bite down.

I breed/feed ASF's, they are supposed to be bitier (not really a word) then normal rats and I rarely have issues with biting.

How long have you had your babies?

Mike

[sarahlovesmiike]

We got them in August of last year. They were both really sick and it was crappy, but they're healthy and happy now. It's a good feeling.

[musicalKeyes]

I feed live and one of my guys has an issue with getting bit. He strikes horribly, so after he does I usually have to hold the mouse by the scruff of the neck or use feeding tongs to keep its mouth away from him. He's gotten bit bad once, but usually it doesn't break the skin and just bends a few scales if they do get bit. They're meant to be able to kill their food, so most are pretty proficient at it. Just don't leave the prey in there unattended, that can be disastrous. Good luck

[alexOATH]

Haha your Zeus sounds like my Zeus, lame feeding response. But mine is just lazy.

I feed live too, to all three of the snakies. And to insure that the mouse/rat can't bite my snakes I take tongs and hold the mouse/rat by the head/neck so they can't get their teefers near the snakes.

[Elise.m]

I have a live feeder that will only strike his prey if it moves. He's got the best feeding response out of my collection, but if that rat decides it's tired... Micron will wait until it wakes up and starts moving. It's annoying, and he's been bitten once before too. I didn't even notice it til it was all healed up.

Gl and hope it goes well!

[cboocks]

I have the same problem. Honey takes her sweet time eating. We're in the process of switching to from feeding her mice to rats and I freak out when we try feeding her. I am so nervous about her getting bit I almost give myself a panic attack.

[sarahlovesmiike]

I think the reason I'm so nervous is because when we got them Louise had a nasty rat bite on the tip of her nose. It caused a mouth rot and her previous owner never got her any vet care. SO it was extremely infected and I had no clue because I had never owned a BP or done any research. The vet bills were ridiculous and the whole ordeal was just so stressful.

I obviously know that she wasn't supervising. She even told me over the phone that she put large rats in the tank, that both snakes were housed in, overnight. It's pretty clear that you don't do that, especially when the snakes have respiratory infections and clearly aren't going to eat.

[BOWSER11788]

check my thread out, if you want to see what feeders can do, SUPERVISE, then it can be alright

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

Give him a smaller rat and supervise. I have a couple that take live. I just sit on the floor in front of the rack and wait with very long feeding tongs in hand. If the rat starts to mouth the snake before it has struck I poke it back with the end of the tongs. Once the snake has struck I immediately grab the coil and roll the snake over a bit so I can see the rats head. If it tries to bite a grab the rats jaws between my thumb and finger and hold it until it stops moving.

This can be a bit disturbing for someone who breeds rats and has favorites that I dont feed off. I just learn to seperate myself from the feeder rats and understand that its simply the natural food chain.