Feed

[Cheshire_Python]

Hii I'm new here =). Great place, yea.

I've been feeding my ball live food, his previous owners (I've had him for a year) said he was doing just fine with live food. Buuut I just don't like the thought of them biting him and stuff like that. The pet store sells them live already, and I cant bare the thought of killing it myself, because I used to have mice/rats as pets so I automatically care about the little buggers, even though they're gonna be eatin by my Skittles (my snakey snake). So what do you guys do? Something that's not so brutal, I've been told you can smack em up against the wall, which sounds horrid. What else?

Also, the rat I put in a few days ago for him to feed, he hasn't eaten yet. And we have nowhere to put her...She sleeps with him though, but this has happened once previously. Nothing bad will happen to Skittles right?

[Nate]

Lots of people around here use RodentPro.com. Order in bulk, they're shipped frozen to you. It's known as "f/t"

Also, the rat I put in a few days ago for him to feed, he hasn't eaten yet. And we have nowhere to put her...She sleeps with him though, but this has happened once previously. Nothing bad will happen to Skittles right?

Yes this could cause problems. This is where problems usually happen, when inexperianced owners leave live prey in with their predator over night. You need to remove him from the enclosure and find something else....maybe a box or something, but don't leave him in with the snake.

The more research you do, the more horror stories you will find that include pictures of snakes that have been literally eaten alive....this generally happens due to irresponsibility on the owners part.

Please take the rodent out of the cage.

[SatanicIntention]

Get that rat out of there! NOW! If she/he gets hungry, what else is there to eat except for snake? Either take it back to the pet store and get store credit for future prey items or put it in its own cage with food and water. Your snake could get very badly injured if you leave a hungry, thirsty rodent in the cage for days on end. 30 minutes, no, hours/days, yes.

Feeding live is fine and if it works for you and your snake, then keep doing what you are doing. If you supervise and feed live responsibly, the snake won't get a scratch on him.

I feed 9 of my snakes live food, the Ball Pythons get mice that I breed and raise myself and the Boa Constrictor gets 4 week old live rabbits. The 2 corn snakes and the rat snake eat both live and frozen/thawed mice/rats. They all do just fine each and every week.

If the snake doesn't show interest in 20-30 minutes of the rodent being placed in the cage, remove the rodent and try again in one week. Leaving a prey animal in the snake's cage for longer than that just stresses the snake out and predisposes them to not want to eat. Stressed snakes won't eat.

[Cheshire_Python]

Get that rat out of there! NOW! If she/he gets hungry, what else is there to eat except for snake? Either take it back to the pet store and get store credit for future prey items or put it in its own cage with food and water. Your snake could get very badly injured if you leave a hungry, thirsty rodent in the cage for days on end. 30 minutes, no, hours/days, yes.

Feeding live is fine and if it works for you and your snake, then keep doing what you are doing. If you supervise and feed live responsibly, the snake won't get a scratch on him.

I feed 9 of my snakes live food, the Ball Pythons get mice that I breed and raise myself and the Boa Constrictor gets 4 week old live rabbits. The 2 corn snakes and the rat snake eat both live and frozen/thawed mice/rats. They all do just fine each and every week.

If the snake doesn't show interest in 20-30 minutes of the rodent being placed in the cage, remove the rodent and try again in one week. Leaving a prey animal in the snake's cage for longer than that just stresses the snake out and predisposes them to not want to eat. Stressed snakes won't eat.

I've been feeding the rat, putting slices of bread in with it. But I didn't know that the live rat will stress out the snake. Thanks for the information. I'll ask my dad to take me back to the pet store tomorrow to bring her back.

Now, when I feed Skittles, I normally just pull out most of the stuff out of his cage and put the rat in, that's okily dokily right? Sorry I seem so ignorant on the subject, but at least I'm asking questions now instead of never right?

[Nate]

Cheshire_Python, we were all new at this hobby at one time or another, so please don't feel bad about asking questions around here. It will always get answered.

I normally just pull out most of the stuff out of his cage and put the rat in, that's okily dokily right?

It is probably not necessary to pull everything out. You can if you want to

It's purely preferance...i've done this in the past:

get a big box...put your snake in the box, put the rodent in the box with it and monitor the feeding. When he is done eating and begins crawling around a bit, you can put him back in the cage.

[sweety314]

Balls are ambush hunters. For my snake P***y, taking out the furniture caused more stress than just leaving it in. A sep. feeding box isn't necessary either. Handling after feeding can cause them to regure, or if they're still in hunt mode when U try to pick them up to put them back into their home, you can increase your chances of getting tagged.
I feed all mine (except Oreo who burrows) in their tanks and tubs w/o any problems. Most of them like it, because (esp. Wrigley & Precious) they snag the rat from the doorway of the hide. Silly thing was, Precious did it & tried to drag it back inside, but he filled the "doorway" hole and the hide so much the rat pup wouldn't fit. I had to take the lid off, and dump him out so he could coil & then eat.

The more moving around before feeding, usually the more stress & less likelihood that your snake will eat.

RuLyn

[lillyorchid]

Also, the rat I put in a few days ago for him to feed, he hasn't eaten yet. And we have nowhere to put her...She sleeps with him though, but this has happened once previously. Nothing bad will happen to Skittles right?

FIRST OFF - GET THAT RAT OUT OF THERE -NOW-!
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

This is exactly what will cause a snake to get chewed up!
You only want to leave a rat in with a snake for 30 mins top! Normally if the snake doesn't whack it off in 15 minutes, it's not going to eat.

[Naf Eeknay]

Balls are ambush hunters. For my snake P***y, taking out the furniture caused more stress than just leaving it in. A sep. feeding box isn't necessary either. Handling after feeding can cause them to regure, or if they're still in hunt mode when U try to pick them up to put them back into their home, you can increase your chances of getting tagged.
I feed all mine (except Oreo who burrows) in their tanks and tubs w/o any problems. Most of them like it, because (esp. Wrigley & Precious) they snag the rat from the doorway of the hide. Silly thing was, Precious did it & tried to drag it back inside, but he filled the "doorway" hole and the hide so much the rat pup wouldn't fit. I had to take the lid off, and dump him out so he could coil & then eat.

The more moving around before feeding, usually the more stress & less likelihood that your snake will eat.

RuLyn

I agree about not having to move the snake to feed them. I do with mine just because he is a great eater and it doesn't bother him to get moved to a tub. This helps on cleanup after the rat does his thing before dying (if you know what I mean). I am going to try to move Monty to F/T just because of the cheaper cost factor. If I feed this way, I will just put it in his tank with him then.

Peace!!

[frankykeno]

But you say you've had this snake a year haven't you? Have you been live feeding in this way the whole time (leaving in unattended live prey for extended periods of time).

You need to realize that any kind of feeding method is something you have to learn to do properly so your snake is never at risk from your decisions and lack of information. Please use the search feature here and read the many threads on various types of feeding methods (live, frozen/thawd and pre-killed) and how to do each one properly so that it is safe for your snake and humane for it's prey.

There is also a sticky thread on humane euthanisia of live prey so it can be either frozen for later use or offered immediately as a pre-killed prey item.

There's no excuse for leaving a live rat in with a snake like you are doing. If you buy live you need to have planned ahead and have housing for that prey item if the snake refuses to eat that week and you have to hold over a live rat or mouse. A simple small tank with a secure lid, a bit of bedding, a water bottle and a food dish is all that is needed. It's certainly not appropriate to leave it in with your snake and feed it bread.

[Cheshire_Python]

But you say you've had this snake a year haven't you? Have you been live feeding in this way the whole time (leaving in unattended live prey for extended periods of time).

You need to realize that any kind of feeding method is something you have to learn to do properly so your snake is never at risk from your decisions and lack of information. Please use the search feature here and read the many threads on various types of feeding methods (live, frozen/thawd and pre-killed) and how to do each one properly so that it is safe for your snake and humane for it's prey.

There is also a sticky thread on humane euthanisia of live prey so it can be either frozen for later use or offered immediately as a pre-killed prey item.

There's no excuse for leaving a live rat in with a snake like you are doing. If you buy live you need to have planned ahead and have housing for that prey item if the snake refuses to eat that week and you have to hold over a live rat or mouse. A simple small tank with a secure lid, a bit of bedding, a water bottle and a food dish is all that is needed. It's certainly not appropriate to leave it in with your snake and feed it bread.

It's only happened once before, and the next day we had gone to talk to the snake people over at the place where we get the rats, they said that he should eat it within a few days and just leave it in there. I wasn't really sure about that, but I did it anyways. Of everything I'd read about snake care, I'd never seen anything about keeping the rats out of his tank when he's not eating.

But anyway, I just finally caught the stupid rat. She kept jumping in Skittles home while I was getting her out of her hiding corner and pissed both him and me off. I put her in the box she came in with food and water. It's got screens on two sides and I put a little bedding from the snakes terrarium in it for her. How long should I wait before I try to feed him again, a week or so?