Quote Originally Posted by Kingofspades View Post
I've never understood why people doubt a snake's ability to eat.
Thousands of years of evolution have taught my snakes to kill live prey, and that is what they do.

As long as you don't leave a rat or mouse unsupervised for a long period of time, you're fine.

If give them their food and check in half an hour to see if they have eaten. If not, it's removed. 90% of the time they nail it in the first 30 seconds. I make sure the grip is good and the rat's not biting, and I leave them alone.
It's really a convenience thing for me. When I got my first BP I was told she only ate live mice and instead of trying to switch her I feed her live. She never had a problem killing the mouse but it was such a pain to go to the store every week and some days they only had smaller ones. I tried keeping 3 of them for a while, but I think mice stink. It is much easier to take rat out of my freezer, warm it up and offer it to her. My BPs get feed on a consitant 6 day schedule now instead of the variable 6-10 day schedule. So I know my BPs could eat live, but it's easier for me to feed f/t.