First Time Feeding Live

[BluuWolf]

About a month ago I got a little Cinnamon Champagne girl, it was at a convention and when I got her the breeder did tell me he had just recently switched her over to f/t so she may take it but I may end up having to try live.

I understood but was optimistic and tried f/t for the past few weeks trying all the tricks in the book but it was a no go so today I finally broke and went out to get a live mouse from a nearby reptile store. I thought it was going to be really hard, especially once I saw the little one but honestly it wasn’t so bad!

The drive home was a little ruff but once it was in there I was more worried for Fox getting hurt then the mouse and when she finally went for it all I felt was relief and it was over so fast! I was scared it was going to make a noise or scream or something but it all seemed to be over before it even knew what was happening. I will still end up trying to switch her over to f/t eventually for convenience and safety but I’m glad to know that it won’t be so bad sense I’ll be feeding her live for at least a few more weeks to bulk her up a bit and that I know I can do it if necessary in the future.

I just thought I would share this experience because this was the one part of this hobby that I was always nervous about and I thought maybe hearing about my experience will help someone else going through a similar problem might read this and it give them comfort a bit lol


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[SiXandSeven8ths]

The mice don't make as much noise as the rats do.

[Babygecko]

I.M.O : I have to feed live...none of my snakes will accept f/t. I rescue all my snakes off craigslist before their owners let them go in the everglades..so alot of them feed live for the thrill or instincts of it. I prefer frozen and ive tried EVERYTHING (BUT forcefeeding lol) . my Adult Ball pythons eat large rats or 2 medium rats in one sitting. The screams are terrible with rats. Not gonna lie. I often find myself jumping till this day. As for feeding live in general it has its risks..sometimes ones we cant control such as rat bites. I have had a couple close calls with mice and rats when it comes to biting the snake. I always have my snake stick right there so when i see the rat going to bite the snake i interfere and block the rats teeth path with the metal on the stick. Or you can use gloves. Make sure to wiggle the rat a little even if u think its dead so your snake gives it an extra minute of squeezing. I try to feed my snakes a little bit smaller then what they are supposed to have but offer more frequintly so i know the rat has less chances of injuring my snake severly. There are also methods of immobilizing the rat/mouth which i dont approve of. Just keep trying. And best of luck. Try warming the f/t under the heat light for 30 min with the heat lamp 12inches away.

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[Zincubus]

I know it's the norm to feed live in the states and that's all well and good but it does seem strange to see so many saying that 'theIrs' will ONLY eat live .

It is kinda odd that the snakes in the UK are more than happy to devour thawed frozen mice and rats ..... some of the strikes and lunges scare the life out of me .. .. never once have I even considered feeding live in over ten years - currently have 20 snakes - including 5 Royals.

It's all very puzzling


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[Babygecko]

Does seem strange. Some breeders and hobbiest find it more beneficial to the snake nutrients wise.

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[Sunnieskys]

In the UK do all breeders use F/T? In the US a lot of breeders prefer live.

i won't buy buy from a breeder that feeds live. Nothing against the breeders on this. I myself cannot feed live. I just can't do it. I had to with Odyn in the beginning to get him started and I was a bawling, blubbering mess.

[Godzilla78]

I had some troubles feeding frozen thawed, until i started offering them properly. I let the frozen rats slowly air-thaw in the warm snake room for a couple of hours. The room is around 78 degrees, so they thaw out nicely. The snakes catch the heavy scent of the rats and go into feed mode!
I no longer thaw in water as the snakes seem to prefer air-dried-thawed rats, possibly the give off more scent this way.
Then when they are FULLY thawed, I heat the rats up to 100+ with a hairdryer. I have much better results doing this, and I suspect the large majority of keepers that think their snakes wont eat thawed, arent doing it right. As i had this problem myself in the past.


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[BluuWolf]

I had some troubles feeding frozen thawed, until i started offering them properly. I let the frozen rats slowly air-thaw in the warm snake room for a couple of hours. The room is around 78 degrees, so they thaw out nicely. The snakes catch the heavy scent of the rats and go into feed mode!
I no longer thaw in water as the snakes seem to prefer air-dried-thawed rats, possibly the give off more scent this way.
Then when they are FULLY thawed, I heat the rats up to 100+ with a hairdryer. I have much better results doing this, and I suspect the large majority of keepers that think their snakes wont eat thawed, arent doing it right. As i had this problem myself in the past.


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I do mine the same way, and all my other snakes eat f/t just fine, even Azura who had previously only eaten live when she came to me lol. Almost every feeding I would spend forever trying every trick in the book, I even tried feeding in a separate tub once to see if that would help lol but she was just not interested at all and she’s just a baby so I wanted to get some weight on her.

I for sure want to get her switched as soon as possible because I do get the dangers, at one point I actually almost took the mouse out because I went right up to her face at one point and I felt like it was getting a little to bold.


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[Crowfingers]

I'm glad your snake ate and it wasn't a super painful process for you. Learning to feed anything to something else IS hard, and not to be taken lightly.

I started working with wildlife when I was a teenager, and when prepping a predator for release there is no other option. One of may first tasks was to incubate and raise quail chicks, and care for a large mouse and rat colony, and occasionally rabbits for prey for hawks / foxes / coyotes etc. . . it was REALLY hard to watch something you hatched / watched grow from a pinky be fed to something - and for a while I felt bad, but then seeing the predator finally make it into the wild knowing that it can in fact hunt is also a rewarding feeling.

It's been years now since I've felt guilty, but I've been very desensitized to it, it is nature and nature is not the kindest thing. However, I don't feed live to my snake. The risk of injury, the unpredictable fasts, feeding/housing the rodent is just too much of a pain when he's content to eat frozen. It is something that we each have to decide on for ourselves. As long as neither the snake or the rodent is suffering needlessly then feeding live is fine and part of having an animal that eats prey, but for people that can't do it for whatever reason, they shouldn't be thought less of either.

And I myself love rats. I would "save" at least one a year from the colony, hand raise it and keep it for a pet. At one point I have 5 female rats as pets. I know that too this day, if I were feeding live and my snake went on a hunger strike...i'd have a pet rat (especially if it were a friendly one)

[Godzilla78]

I’m not against live, I just prefer the convenience of frozen, and I get a great deal on buying in bulk. If I bred my own rats, I would feed live. Just supervision is needed.


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