Questions about feeding live...

[jenaero]

Ok, my bp has been acting strange and has been refusing food for a few weeks now. I have her on f/t small rats. I wondered if tossing in a live one would get her attention and maybe get her eating again. What should I know before I attempt this? I do know not to leave them unattended and to take it out if she ignores it...anything else?

Also, she has eaten before without constricting...if it's struggling will she know to constrict? I don't want her getting injured.

[Kilo]

Yea you could try live if you would like to. As long as it has been one week since the last feeding attempt. How long has she been feeding on f/t? All her life? Only with you? Definitly monitor a live feeding... never leave her unattended! She will eat without constricting if she feels the prey will cause her no harm. she will deifnitely constrict if a live prey gives her a struggle (probably for any live prey at all for that matter). Well you do or don't want her getting injured you must realize when feeding live prey there is always that possibility. Most people on this forum that feed live for all there snakes will tell you that they have never had a problem (including myself). Hope this helps.

[jenaero]

The last attempt was last night so I'm going to wait at least a week. I've been wasting so many rats it's insane. She's been on f/t since I got her in May. The pet store was feeding live fuzzies. I'm not sure how long they had her..I suspect about a month. I had absolutely no problem switching her to frozen.


Ok, for the sake of argument, lets say the rat puts up one hell of a fight and injures the snake...would I intercede or just leave it be till the struggle is over?

A couple more things...should I try this with a smaller mouse or the same size rat as the f/t I've been feeding? If she refuses, how long do I wait to take the lil bugger out?

Oops..one more thing. If she does take it live, do I switch back to f/t for next feeding or will that turn her off again?

Thanks!

[TheAudOne]

I watch ours like a hawk, I've had some rats that are more aggresive then others and keep coming back to the snake and really freak them out to the point where the snake attemps to hide or stays balled up, if this is the case then yes I get the rat out and try again in a few days. Usually my snakes dont give there prey a chance to harrass them, but there is that rare case.
All of the injurys my snakes have gotten have been from a jab here or there when they constrict the mouse/rat, minor little scrapes.

[Slithers]

so this ball python was eating fuzzies in May and is now eating small rats? How big is this snake? Perhaps it is not hungry.

A little background information is always helpful.

[jenaero]

Well, I really have no way of knowing how old she is. She's never been sexed but I chose a female name so that's what I go with. She was being fed 1 live fuzzy mouse a week at the store for however long they had her, like I said, I guessed about a month or so. For her size, she was definetly underfed. When I got her, I upped her to hoppers then switched to small rats as she grew. I feed every 5 days unless she's in shed. She's now a bit over 2ft and last weight was 350g.

One more thing. Do I need to stun a rat/mouse if I'm there keeping an eye on her? I'll do it if I have to, but I'd really rather not.

[djslurp1200]

I feed my smaller snakes adult mice if the pet store is out of rat pups. And I feed the mice live without stunning them. but unless its a rat pup with its eyes still closed I stun the hell out of them. HOld by the tail and wack up against something hard (like my porch ledge lol) My biggest female on the other hand won't eat pre killed only live or stunned. I accidentially killed one of the rats a couple feedings ago and she wouldn't even pay attention to it. Couple flicks of the tongue at it and just tried to get out of my feeding box.
Best of luck to ya!

[jenaero]

so rats are more dangerous than mice?

[rabernet]

so rats are more dangerous than mice?

I don't think so, but I don't feed any larger than a small rat, and I do not ever stun prey - that makes them even more dangerous should they "come out" of it. There are humane methods for pre-killing, and

stun the hell out of them

is most definitely not humane in the manner described.

[djslurp1200]

Ya, that was my only real method of doing it. Never really heard of anything else except for the paper bag trick. I will say though, One time I did stun it and it did come back to life just as my snake went for it. As if it got a quick shot of adrenaline.


Any other methods please fill me in. I'm always accepting constructive critisism and helpful tips.