How to train your ball python..?

[DVirginiana]

As far as cruelty to the mouse seriously??!! its about to be food... Mice know almost instantly that they have been put in a tank with a snake so they are already a scared feeder and already a dangerous threat. Another thing you need to think about is a live mouse biting your snake.. Snakes are quite capable of killing any mouse but in the process they could be bitten. (this has happened to my snakes who wouldn't take anything but live that I didn't thump, this happened to my kingsnake last week)... I'm not discrediting the other user's opinions however i'm giving my opinion to help keep your snake safe until it starts taking F/T. (now watch all the hate replies after mine)

First off, using your logic it's perfectly morally okay to taze a cow that's about to be slaughtered for no reason just because it's going to be food... Which is of course a ridiculous statement. Yes, the mouse is about to suffer, but we owe it to the feeders we use to respect them enough not to make that suffering any longer or worse than it has to be. Additionally, a properly bred feeder's response to danger is to freeze, not attack. The freeze instinct has been selectively bred for, so no they do not go into 'fight mode' the second they are in a snake tank.

Secondly, there is a safety component to not 'thumping' or stunning the mice before feeding them. This automatically puts them into a defensive state of mind (after all you just attacked them, and you're not as good at immobilizing a mouse as your snake) and makes them more likely to bite. Additionally, they are not moving normally after being thumped so the snake has a harder time grabbing them properly, again making a bite more likely.

If you had a bite occur after doing this, that's why. If you had a bite that did any major damage (I'm not talking about a minor scratch) then it's because you were not properly supervising the feeding and were not ready with a utensil to put in the mouse's mouth to keep it from repeatedly biting long enough to do damage.

The advice you just gave is dangerous, cruel, and just plain incorrect. I'd suggest learning a little more about how to responsibly live-feed.