Quote Originally Posted by Daigga View Post
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 .