Quote Originally Posted by Slytherin_python View Post
I've read and heard horror stories about feeding live. How the mouse or rat has killed or seriously injured people's snakes. That's the reason why I'm almost afraid to feed live.
One of the most important rules of feeding live is - don't leave your snake unsupervised. Yes, a rodent can hurt, and even kill your snake, but not if you are watching and ready to remove it if there's a problem. I've had snakes bitten - because they wrapped the rodent wrong, and it was able to get a bite or two in before it died. They ate it anyway, and the bites healed up without any problem. I put the rodent in with my snake, close the tub so it can't get back out, but I keep an eye on the tub so that I can see what's going on - and if the snake is clearly not interested, the rodent comes right back out. If the snake is interested, I leave it in longer, but after ten to fifteen minutes, if there's not some very aggressive hunting going on, the rodent comes out until next feeding day. Where people run into problems with their snakes being attacked by a rodent, generally, is where they just toss it in, close up the cage, and leave it there assuming that either their snake will kill it, or it will hide and not be a problem. My smallest snake is still only about 160g, and he's taking large adult mice without any problem at all, so be sure that you are feeding large enough prey. He won't even look at a hopper mouse.