Swallowing rat while rat is alive..

[Bogertophis]

Maybe, or maybe they feed live in secret, and just don't say anything about it because... well, it's illegal. Lol

Well, I've raised enough snakes (rosy boas, BPs & various colubrids) to vouch for the instincts that snakes have for their survival that only respond to live food.

They LEARN to take f/t, most of them, sooner or later, but they are born or hatch wanting only what they are supposed to find in nature. When you wiggle a dead
pinky with tongs, well, you can fool some of the snakes some of the time...but not all of the snakes, all of the time. I only wish it was that easy...& while I prefer
humane treatment of all animals, I put the needs of my snakes first. They cannot help wanting what they want.

Also, for any of you that find it totally abhorrent to feed a live pinky or live fuzzy to a snake a few times to get them started, I have to ask: have any of you ever
raised mice (& rats & hamsters) for any length of time? Because I've been doing so literally for decades, and you should know that when rodents don't feel like
being parents* they kill their babies in a far more gruesome way than does a snake that swallows them whole...especially mice. *This happens without any issues of
overcrowding or food shortages etc. It's not as if they make clean kills either- I find babies still alive after being chewed up. So please, no big guilt trips for a few live
pinkies or fuzzies being fed to start a snake. It's just nature's plan.