Frozen vs live Fed

[jager08]

Okay, im a pysch major so i like information and big on real stats to back it up. Currently we are working on aggression in my social pysch class and i would love to see how this will carry over into this!!!

In MY OPINION OR BASED ON INFORMATION THRU MY YEARS IN PYSCH, Aggression can either be a learned behavoir or a Nurtured behavior meaning that its based on the up brings of animals.

Okay PLEASE BE HONEST WITH THE POLL, non of this well i smelled like mice and that didnt counts, if they act aggressive we want the info here so as a community we can put together some great info!

this is our Community experiment!

The Question, Does Feeding Live Cause ball pythons or snakes to be more agressive with its owners

The experiment, based on rasing of animals in different methods we should be able to see a outcome.

The Control, animals that are fed both frozen and live, i know there are a few of you out there. Chime in and let me know what agression u see!

Group A Frozen fed im gonna also include the Fresh killed in this category as well

Group B Live Fed

Our working Definition of agression

1. Has your snake bit you... even if your hand smelled like mice.
2. Has your snake bit others
3. does your ball strike at you and misses
4. other aggressive tendencys... acts like hes- she is gonna strike

[PassionsPythons]

I don't think whether or not you feed live or f/t makes a difference in a snakes "aggression".

Ball Pythons are opportunistic feeders... So they will eat whenever they get the chance (most of the time).

So do you want to know whether the snake has a good feeding response or is aggressive? Because they are two totally different things.

I put "Live Fed, Aggressive" because when I feed my snakes they are very aggressive towards their food, rarely ever towards me though.

Also I notice more of an aggression issue with hatchlings versus adults. I've also noticed that people that have so many snakes that they can't give each snake individual attention tend to have more aggressive animals. I suppose they are like this because they don't get handled very often.

I personally don't feel that feeding either live or f/t depicts a snakes personality.

[Jay_Bunny]

Wait you said, "

Aggression can either be a learned behavoir or a Nurtured behavior meaning that its based on the up brings of animals.

. You just said the same thing twice. Perhaps you meant to say aggression is either a learned behavior or it is a natural behavior meaning it is a natural behavior they were born with.

Either way, I don't think aggression is that black and white. I believe with snakes, they are naturally aggressive, especially babies, but for the most part it isn't true aggression, just a feeding response. In a wild setting, aggression is not learned. They have to be "aggressive" from the start to catch their food and to defend themselves.

Now here is where I think it gets into a gray area. In captivity, snakes have no real need to be defensive. There are no predators and the only "aggression" that is necessary is a feeding response. I feed both live and frozen thawed and I see no difference in aggression in any of my snakes, no matter what they are fed. Though some snakes are aggressive for what seems like no reason. I have one girl who is fed strictly frozen thawed and she is the most aggressive snake I have. She has not bitten but I think given the chance, she would.

Also snakes who are mistreated have more reason to be defensive. A snake that is constantly provoked or teased (poking, teasing through the front of an enclosure, etc) will be more aggressive than a snake who is treated with respect and handled correctly.

[PassionsPythons]

Wait you said, ". You just said the same thing twice. Perhaps you meant to say aggression is either a learned behavior or it is a natural behavior meaning it is a natural behavior they were born with.

Either way, I don't think aggression is that black and white. I believe with snakes, they are naturally aggressive, especially babies, but for the most part it isn't true aggression, just a feeding response. In a wild setting, aggression is not learned. They have to be "aggressive" from the start to catch their food and to defend themselves.

Now here is where I think it gets into a gray area. In captivity, snakes have no real need to be defensive. There are no predators and the only "aggression" that is necessary is a feeding response. I feed both live and frozen thawed and I see no difference in aggression in any of my snakes, no matter what they are fed. Though some snakes are aggressive for what seems like no reason. I have one girl who is fed strictly frozen thawed and she is the most aggressive snake I have. She has not bitten but I think given the chance, she would.

Also snakes who are mistreated have more reason to be defensive. A snake that is constantly provoked or teased (poking, teasing through the front of an enclosure, etc) will be more aggressive than a snake who is treated with respect and handled correctly.

Well put.. I agree 100%.

I tried to say this and failed... You my friend, succeded.

I also have one snake out of 36 that is just a B*%&H! She is the same as you describe. Hasn't bitten anyone yet, but you sure wouldn't wanna give her the chance, because I'm sure she'd take it.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

First there are a few distinction between aggressive behavior which is a rare occurrence in BP and is often due to husbandry issues and aggressive feeding response.

I want my animal to have an aggressive feeding response, most keepers do.

I feed a variety of things live mainly, frozen when I have surplus, in both cases the majority of my animals feed aggressively on whatever is offered most of the time.

I do have a few animals that have a less feeding response and those have shown over the years to be the trouble ones.

Now

1. Has your snake bit you... even if your hand smelled like mice.
2. Has your snake bit others
3. does your ball strike at you and misses
4. other aggressive tendencys... acts like hes- she is gonna strike

Because you get bit does not mean your animal has aggressive tendencies.

Most common way people get tag is feeding mistake, noting to do with aggression.

If the animal strike aiming at the prey and has a bad aim and you do not use tongues you are bond to get tag, not the snake's fault but YOURS

If you feed FT and it is not warm enough and again you do not use tongues your snakes will aim for the warmest thing available, YOUR hand, again YOUR fault.

If you mess with a snake during feeding day chances are your will get tagged, if they are conditioned to be fed a certain day they might be in feeding mode hours before and after being fed again it's not aggression it's feeding mode.

Now do I get tagged or have I get tagged? Yes a few times in each instances with my snakes it was MY fault.

Now I also get tagged by snake that do not belong to me, someone can hold a snake and I can walk by and the snake will attempt to strike at me (I am a bite magnet ), apparently my body temp is slightly higher than other people which could explain this behavior.

But to come back to the original point, feeding live does not increase aggression just like feeding F/T does not decrease it.

[T&C Exotics]

I voted Frozen aggressive but keep in mind we are talking about a collection of many many many animals, close to 200 now, and that is the over all group. I do have many that feed live and are extremely calm and I also have everything in between but the vast majority, the ones that are not help consistently, are more aggressive. With that said the temperament of the animal is not based on the feeding but based on the handling of the animal. That is all.

[LeviBP]

Mine seem to be equally interested/aggressive in both live and frozen.

[notmyfault]

I don't think live or frozen feeders make a difference in aggression. From my understanding, ball python brains are primitive enough that they just act on instinct.

My theory is that some bps are just most instinctive than others which gives us the difference in personalities. Some balls are stronger with their defensive instincts causing them to be very timid, while others are stronger in their feeding response making them seem aggressive.

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