Honest opinions on feeding.

[Eric Alan]

I wasn't bad mouthing live feeding...

No - you were simply taking the same approach that Michael Bay would take if he were making the Discovery Channel mockumentary on feeding live prey to snakes. What a great educational message you provided.

I was just saying that a good single blow to the dome is quick and about as painless as you can make it. Personally that's the way I'd prefer to go if I was a rodent.

Then we agree to disagree. I'll bet on the evolved predator over a hobbiest with questionable experience in dispatching rodents humanely every time.

[MarkS]

You only have to google and google images to see thousands of snakes bitten by rats ...terrible injuries occur .
It's not as though these occurrences are rare ,.

Yes they are rare. The reason people like to take pictures of stuff like this is BECAUSE of their rarity. I've fed several thousand live rats to snakes throughout the years and I can think of ONE instance where the snake got bit, you couldn't even tell after a few days. I HAVE seen several badly bitten snakes coming through the reptile rescue that I volunteer with, but that's because of people doing it WRONG. There are a few common sense things to remember when feeding live. If you feed live food you should always supervise the feeding. NEVER simply throw a rat into the cage and walk away. If the snake is hungry, you can tell pretty quickly. If it's not hungry then remove the rat and try again some other time. The larger the rat, the more likely it is to bite so feed appropriately sized prey (no matter how big it is, an adult ball python never has to eat an adult rat)

Also for rat breeders, remember that aggression in rats in inherited. If you have an aggressive rat in your breeding racks, euthanize it and feed it off AND any babies that it has produced. I no longer breed my own rats but I did for many many years. By the time I stopped breeding I could take any rat in my rack and stick my fingers right in it's mouth without worrying about getting bit.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

And you think you can get to the rat with a pair of tongs BEFORE the rat can sink his teeth into your BP's eye or whatever part it lunges for ??

I'm find myself bemused when I read the comments directed at anyone who dare suggest giving a snake who's had a bad shed a short soak because you may be putting it through unnecessary stress BUT it seems everyone's quite happy to drop a fine tuned proven killing machine intent on fighting for it's life with razor sharp claws and teeth into a sealed area with nowhere to hide with our precious Royals . These beautiful Royals / BPs aren't exactly kitted out for warfare are they ??

You only have to google and google images to see thousands of snakes bitten by rats ...terrible injuries occur .
It's not as though these occurrences are rare , they're pretty coTalking about 'thinking' movies . .. I gave up pretty early on Lincoln even though DDL is one of my fave actors . . my brain was hurting after about 15 minutes but maybe I was in the wrong frame of mind or maybe just too tired ..
I'm going to give it another try one day as I feel as though I'm missing out ...

What's your experience on feeding live preys to a BP be caused based on this post it is limited or at best uneducated best on your description of live feeding this "killing monster prey"

The right feeder will more often than not fall asleep in the cage of course stressing the prey with stunning or dangling is definitely not how you go about it either.

Those internet pictures all have a back story the one of a careless owner, leaving an oversized rodent rodent with a snake or one unattended for days in the cage and that does not represent responsible live feeding.

I'm for one about educating people about their options and giving then the tool to be able to chose what works for them rather than scaring them with the story of the big boogyman and how dangerous live is......f/t can be dangerous too if not done responsibly.

Now my experience 250 live prey a month over the last 9 years (that's only 27000 preys which is nothing compare to large breeders) out of that never had a single issue. This of course only represent my BP collection it does not include any hatchlings or the other species I have or currently work with.




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[TheSnakeEye]

Whoever "scolded" you for feeding live is a fool who knows nothing about anything. While feeding live may have it's cons. So does feeding F/T. I have ALWAYS fed live and with exception of one time (100% my fault) I have NEVER had an issue, not even a scratch on any snake. Apart from my own collection, I use to work for someone who kept and bred well over 200 snakes. So that meant that every week, sometimes twice a week, 200 something snakes would be fed and again NEVER had an issue there. It is your duty to supervise the feedings to make sure it all goes smoothly, the negative part of feeding live start to happen when the owner is neglectful of the animal.

So in other words, don't worry about the haters. Feed what you feel works for you and do it correctly. Enjoy!

[Zincubus]

Yes they are rare. The reason people like to take pictures of stuff like this is BECAUSE of their rareness. I've fed several thousand live rats to snakes throughout the years and I can think of ONE instance where the snake got bit, you couldn't even tell after a few days. I HAVE seen several baddly bitten snakes coming through the reptile rescue that I volunteer with, but that's because of people doing it WRONG. There are few common sense things to remember when feeding live. If you feed live food you should always supervise the feeding. NEVER simply throw a rat into the cage and walk away. If the snake is hungry, you can tell pretty quickly. If it's not hungry then remove the rat and try again some other time. The larger the rat, the more likely it is to bite so feed appropriately sized prey (no matter how big it is, an adult ball python never has to eat an adult rat)

Also for rat breeders, remember that aggression in rats in inherited. If you have an aggressive rat in your breeding racks, euthanize it and feed it off AND any babies that it has produced. I no longer breed my own rats but I did for many many years. By the time I stopped breeding I could take any rat in my rack and stick my fingers right in it's mouth without worrying about getting bit.

You're suggesting that you've bred rats so tame age trustworthy that they've not going to fight for their lives !!??

[MarkS]

You're suggesting that you've bred rats so tame age trustworthy that they've not going to fight for their lives !!??

Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. They would run and they would hide if scared. They would even squirm like crazy when restrained but they would NOT fight or bite.

[TheSnakeEye]

You're suggesting that you've bred rats so tame age trustworthy that they've not going to fight for their lives !!??

There is no fighting for their life. Once the snake coils, the rat hardly has any room to move. And in case you didn't know, the more the rat squirms the harder the snake squeezes, thus giving the rat even less room to move. If you are going to nitpick RARE occurrences that have happened, mostly from people who are careless, then we can just as easily bring up RARE negative experiences when feeding F/T. Hell we can even tie in negative things that have happened from feeding dogs kibble and start a whole debate there.

For the record, the only time I have ever seen an "aggressive" feeder, is when it was severely malnourished and more-so, dehydrated. A proper kept and fed feeder, even if not tamed, will be calm.

[Zincubus]

Yes. Yes I can. I can and I do quite frequently.



This is very dramatic. Rats as proven killing machines? Forgive me if I scoff, but rodents and lagomorphs are pure prey species. They have evolved to run away and not be found, not to kill anything that dares catch them (which btw is practically every carnivorous/omnivorous species on the planet), and their claws and teeth are certainly not razor sharp. That being said, snakes are the worlds truest carnivores, and they have been that way for as long as they have existed. They ARE kitted out to kill their prey, much more so than a rat is kitted out to fight it. A proper prey item also has no idea it's in any danger when you drop it in with a snake. Heck, my own feeders always wander right up to sniff my snakes and have no idea what it is up until it's too late. It isn't some crazy deathmatch, it's a simple and controlled process.

Also I will point of that the majority of owners don't see a problem with soaking after a bad shed. Some do, but to each their own I guess.



I've seen the pictures and heard the stories and I can tell you with certainty that most of those owners do not practice safe feeding techniques. If you drop in a rat, shut the tub or tank up and walk off, you are asking for trouble. If you drop a rat that is known to be aggressive you're asking for trouble. Like I said before, it is a simple and controlled process that should not cause any harm to your snake, nor excessive pain to the rat.

I'd argue that you can't compare a trapped and cornered rat with one in the wild where they can attempt to runaway .

[MarkS]

I'd argue that you can't compare a trapped and cornered rat with one in the wild where they can attempt to runaway .

And YOU'RE assuming that all 'trapped and cornered' rats react the same way. They don't.

[Eric Alan]

I'd argue that you can't compare a trapped and cornered rat with one in the wild where they can attempt to runaway .

And YOU'RE assuming that all 'trapped and cornered' rats react the same way. They don't.

...and that the rats feel "trapped and cornered" at all.