!LIVE FEEDING! Viewer Discretion ~ juvenile bp catching prey comp.

[anson]

i’m sorry to share if this isn’t something that is allowed. i did read the forums rules before posting, with the consideration in mind that it is a controversial area amongst the vast community of reptile pet owners and i wanted to make sure not to violate the rules. i noted that they forbade commenting/posting anything in ways that could be perceived as derogatory, sexual, hostile, and inappropriate on a personal level. i did not read anything forbidding nor discouraging anyone sharing their live feeding experiences. i was also considerate enough to clearly state in title that the content what i was posting and that it was not expected or intended for everyone to click on and watch with their condoning enjoyment.

i appreciate you taking the time to reply with the well intended, descriptive, informative response. Even moreso, I appreciate that your delivery of your oppositional stance, even though only through text entry, was easy for me to read and perceive as one without any anger, aggression, blame, or any other less-than-friendly emotion that often comes from those who speak out against the other side of a controversial subject. I respect your opinion and appreciate your concern.

when i got the snake from petsmart, i was aided through the adoption and equipping process by an employee who had led me to believe that she was the reptiles’ and fish dept only or primary caretaker. i forgot to ask how long the snake was at the store in its quite small section of a stacked, multi-terrarium aisle endcap. i wish i would have. however i did ask what it has been getting fed and how often, and she informed me that she fed it a frozen and thawed pinky every saturday and advised me to do the same for a couple to few more weeks before it was going to most likely be ready for “fuzzies.”

when i asked how to offer the frozen and thawed mice to the snake, she had responded with a very vague and seemingly generic and improvised answer that i believe to have been an uneducated and unsure explanation of a technique that she had not been successful in administering. she said to thaw them completely and place them in a small and clean tray or bowl that would keep the substrate off them, then set them in the tank at dusk and then offer privacy and try to not disturb or interfere with it for the remainder of the night… just leave it to be found/eaten when the snake decided to leave his hide and seek food during the night. she said nothing specific about keeping it dry, warming it up to realistic endothermic temperature, using tongs, making it move as if living, nor how long it should be left in the tank uneaten, or if it could be refrozen and thawed for another attempt.

trying and failing to get the snake to eat them, then reading and trying all the tips and tricks i read about here on bp.net without success, in addition to the petsmart employee’s failure to provide any and all of that specific information i have read since then (much of which came from experienced bp owners within these forums in response to others expressing feeding troubles) was a revelation, in hindsight, that the snake was not eating pinkies every saturday and may have not eaten anything for several weeks for all i knew. without knowing how long it had been fasting, and discouraged from my own failure to successfully feed it for over 5 weeks of having it under my care, i was willing to go against all the advice that discouraged live feeding,

because i had tried “playing” with the tongs, warming and temp scanning and serving at healthy rodent body tempterature, tried poking a little hole to cause bleeding and add blood scent, tried a different brand name of f/t pinkies, tried with no tongs or playing motion and left it in a few different sizes/shapes/materials of dishes/bowls/paper plates, tried no dish or bowl with setting it on a flat stone in his terrarium, tried all different times of day/night, tried a lot strategies and failed.

i had not tried a live mouse yet, and i knew it was supposed to be eating a small meal weekly at its stage of youth, so i was concerned it would starve before i ever even picked it up to hold it( i had read it was advised that snakes with new homes/owners would be stressed and should not be handled until they showed enough comfort to have eaten their first meal in the new home and allowed them a digestion period of at least 24-48 hours).