Do you ever feel bad feeding live?

[Crazy4Herps]

Curious as to how most people kill their mice. I'm a scientist and do a lot of mouse work. Gas is commonly used to kill them but personally i prefer cevical dislocation (neck break). IMO it is very quick and painless and easy to do if you know how.

From what I gather, full decapitation is the most humane way to kill a mouse... but that is obviously not practical for killing feeders.

[sammihendrix]

I could NEVER do YouTube - Reticulated Python striking a (LIVE FEEDER) rabbit.

I think I would do live just to get the experience because it is the way of life and every snake should experience it at least once, you know? To live like a real snake not in captivity for once. Eventually I would switch to frozen.

[Jeremy78]

If you feel bad feeding your snake...you shouldn't own it. Give the snake to someone who will feed it and go buy a goldfish.

Is there an emoticon with a little smily stirring a big pot?

[theartofsolitude]

its interesting that roughly only 16% (ratio of 4:25) of people feed f/t food on their snake.. and i'm one of the 4. :|

[5snakes]

I once asked someoneHow am I gonna feed my Burmese when he gets bigger? The answer I got was..How much do you love your snake? And that what it comes down to. I just have to make sure there is absolutely NO bonding time with the prey before the feed.

[5snakes]

I have never fed any of my snakes F/T. They are held captive... Its bad enough they cant be wild, don`t take away the hunt for them, too. I`m just sayin`

[theartofsolitude]

would feeding the snake f/t make them less 'aggressive' to attack humans?

[j_h_smith]

would feeding the snake f/t make them less 'aggressive' to attack humans?

Wow, there's so much wrong in such few words.

Jim Smith

[dr del]

Hi,

would feeding the snake f/t make them less 'aggressive' to attack humans?

Well generalisations suck (in general ).

But generally.......

Ball pythons are not aggressive snakes and know the difference between you and a meal.

People talk about "cage aggression" if you feed in your snakes home enclosure but, with BP's at least, it is so incredibly rare that the chances of it being an issue are tiny.

As to what you are feeding it really doesn't make a difference either.

I feed all my snakes F/T and regularly see feeding responses you wouldn't believe.

Now, all that being said...

We try and establish a routine when feeding the snakes so they know food is coming. This increases the chance of them eating regularly but also means you have to know the rules just as much as the snake does.

I try and feed on a regular schedule (5 days for hatchlings and 7 for adults ) once the snakes get used to this then they do know when food is likely to be offered.

If you have any work to do in your snakes enclosure on feeding day make sure to do it before you put the food out to pre-scent the area. Once you have the smell of food in the air the only interaction you should be having with your snake is offering it the food to eat.

It really is best to offer F/T from tongs - I only started doing this lately and it has really helped keep my heart rate down and avoid SFE's ( Stupid Feeding Errors ).

Always remember - 99 times out of 100 if you get bitten by the snake it is your fault not the snakes. we're supposed to be the responsible, smart side of the interaction.

If I stick my hand in the tubs on feeding day the snakes will be a lot more responsive - but they calm down once they realise this isn't food arriving.

If I stick my hand into the tub on feeding day while the scent of warm rodent is wafting all over the place theres a fair chance I will get bitten - and it serves me right.

In fact once the smell is in the air I have to watch how I open the tubs and stand well back to avoid low flying snakes.

The tongs are reeeeealy handy at that point.

Also remember snakes stay in "feeding mode" for a bit after they have finished eating so respect that and let them settle back down. This is my main problem with feeding outside of their normal enclosure - you end up handling the snake a lot more during feedings than my normal way and all that means is there is more opportunity for things to go wrong.

Oh and remember to leave the snake alone for 48 hours after the feeding to digest its dinner in peace.

If you take the time to plan ahead and pay attention you should never have to worry about being "attacked" by your snake in mistake for a meal.

Now if you pee it off of course and get bitten then that's all on you.


dr del

[theartofsolitude]

Well generalisations suck (in general ).......

dr del

thank you so much for the explanation, and i'm doing exactly what you told me